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blog (coffee shop)
by Recently I came across George Washington's Farewell Address translated into everyday speech. Something that George Washington wrote caught my eye (emphasis added):
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
For those who think robust lexicon is less than affable, here is XKCD's modern translation:
"Now, religion and morality are vital here, and it’s silly to say that patriotism could ever be more important than those. Politicians need to be pious and respectful folk; it would take forever to list all the ways that being a good politician is tied to being moral and religious. All you need to do is ask — without religion, how can we trust anyone who swears an oath? And be awfully careful before suggesting that we can be moral without religion. There’s a lot of philosophical junk out there, but the bottom line is we can’t possibly suggest that we can keep our morals as a country without religion."
Was George Washington right? Can morality can be maintained without religion? If so, how? And then, what role does (or should) morality play in politics? What role should religion play in politics?
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According to an article I just came across, Rep. Fortney "Pete" Stark from California is the first member of Congress to publicly admit he does not believe in a supreme being. Some other interesting facts from the article indicate that in addition to being an atheist, being a Mormon is also a huge political liability.
Only 45 percent of Americans said they would vote for a "generally well-qualified" atheist, according to a February Gallup Poll, ranking them lowest on a list that included Mormons (72 percent), candidates on their third marriage (67 percent) and homosexuals (55 percent).
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Either way, some kind of moral code would be nice. by gnifyus :: NR7 :: Show
As continually argued on this site alone, it comes down to whether you believe in Universal morals that are hardwired into the fabric of our existence by a supreme being, or whether these morals are only relative to our time and culture, and determined by a general democratic process in society, but subject to change over time. In the United States and some other countries, politicians are elected by the people in the hopes that they will lead and make decisions for the common good, whatever that is perceived to be at the time. In many cases it’s the means to the "common good" that is the subject of the debate, not whether the intended result is desirable or not.
So what role should morality play in politics? Each individual politician has to apply his or her own sense of morality to any given situation. If this morality is based on what they feel to be universal truths; their religion, then they should adhere to that and not back down. (What good is religion principle if one who says they believe backs down at every test?) On the other hand, I would hope that anyone elected to office would have some sort of moral code that they adhere to consistently for the short period of time of their term even that code is relativistic in nature. In other words, I would hope that the principles portrayed at campaign time wouldn’t drastically and suddenly deviate over the course of the elected term. Not all politicians have adhered even to this aspiration though, which is probably what Washington was afraid of.
As a side note, look what came up on the Google Ads when I was reading this coffee shop entry.