Good, I’m glad you’re examining my posting history - I’m not ashamed of what I write or the positions I’ve taken.
I approach life using my head instead of blindly believing things either from childhood, in my church, or in school. I’ve changed my position several times upon reflection.
I have many beliefs, some conservative, some libertarian, some liberal - someone will surely have something to vehemently disagree with me, but that’s life.
Let me give some examples:
1. Yes, I supported Michael Schiavo against Terri’s family and the autopsy irrefutably proved his position was right.
2. I also support the legalization of all drugs, prostitution, and gay marriage DESPITE believing all these things are IMMORAL because I do not believe the state has the right to legislate morality.
I find it hypocritical people who can legally smoke or drink have the nerve to demand people who smoke pot be imprisoned and fined. Why should their addictive, harmful substances that kills millions every year be legal while pot with its zero deaths be illegal? If I, a person who hasn’t smoked, drank alcoholic beverages, partaken of harmful drugs, or even coffee and tea in 22 years, don’t demand the government punish drug users; what gives others the right?
Why is prostitution illegal but pornography legal when both have people getting paid for sex? The only difference is one has sex in front of a camera making the participants “actors”?
I’ve never cheated on either of my wives, but find it insane the government can fine and imprison a man and destroy his life for “solicitation” if he picks up a prostitute but it’s perfectly legal for wealthier men to hire “escorts” where sex is inevitable. Sure, one pays for “sex” while the other pays more for “companionship that includes sex”; but there’s still “money for sex” at the heart of both transactions.
While a missionary, I met a Catholic woman who was later abandoned by her husband with four young children to feed and clothe. Since she was always a housewife and had no work experience and no relatives willing to help; she resorted to prostitution to feed her children. Should she deserve to go to prison?
As for gay marriage, I frankly have no problem if gays want to marry as long as the government doesn’t force churches to perform the rites or recognize the unions if it is against their doctrines.
I simply reject the notion the government has the right to punish adults for what they put into their own bodies as long as they don’t harm others and similarly reject the notion it can punish consenting adults for what they do in the bedroom.
3. I believe any law-abiding citizen has the right to carry arms, and even concealed weapons, anywhere, including churches, schools, and shopping malls. An armed society is a polite society.
4. I believe doctors who perform late-term abortions where the fetus is viable outside the womb are murderers and should be executed.
5. I believe the media should be fair and balanced and their owners, editors, and writers should be imprisoned with lengthy sentences when they harm national security or endanger the troops.
6. I believe politics should be absent from the classroom. Any professor who shoves his political views down his students’ throats should lose their tenure and be fired.
7. I believe Islam the greatest threat to the West’s freedom, peace, and prosperity.
8. I believe “man-made Global Warming” is a myth and is just sheer hysteria. All man-made carbon dioxide and other emissions in history account for just .3 of 1% of “greenhouse gases.” IOW, 99.7% of all greenhouse gases are natural, not man-made. If you want a culprit for any rise in temperature, look upward to the sun.
9. I support the war in Iraq. The US and other nations did the right thing in removing a mass murderer’s terror regime.
10. I believe President Bush should resign or be impeached because of his refusal to secure America’s borders and for his immigration reform bill.
11. I believe tap water is better than bottled water.
12. I believe recycling is a water of money and resources - we’re not running out of trees, we’re not running out of landfills, we’re not running out of resources.
13. I believe in eating meat and in hunting.
14. I believe the government does not have the right to seize someone’s property citing eminent domain just because they want to build a development project.
15. I believe people have the right to access water and any minerals under their land.
16. I believe in genetically modified foods and that they are beneficial.
17. I believe there’s nothing wrong with DDT.
18. I believe we in the West are dying demographically and culturally and anyone wishing to preserve our way of life should have at least four children.
19. I believe multiculturalism, moral relativity, and liberalism are cancers that are destroying our society.
20. I believe the opposite of whatever Jimmy Carter says.
And a lot more.
Flame away!
You really need to re-think this declaration of belief. It is ill-conceived on many levels. Morality is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as:
1 a : a moral discourse, statement, or lesson b : a literary or other imaginative work teaching a moral lesson 2 a : a doctrine or system of moral conduct b plural : particular moral principles or rules of conduct 3 : conformity to ideals of right human conduct
Definitions 2 and 3 particularly apply as it relates to the enactment of legislation intended to enforce "a system of moral conduct" in society.
If your position were adopted, laws prohibiting theft, fraud, murder, bribery, perjury, embezzlement, forgery, domestic abuse, indecent exposure, and a myriad of other morally based crimes would be repealed because they are based on "a system of moral conduct."
Is that really what you want? I hope not. Your unstated assumption that drug usage and prostitution are "victimless" activities is also erroneous.
You state you have no objection to gay marriage as long as the government doesn’t require religious institutions to peform such marriages.
The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It contains the following statements:
“We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.”
“We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.”
How do you reconcile your position on gay marriage with the LDS Church’s Proclamation that “responsible citizens” should “promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family?” Is the Proclamation the “truth” you embrace? Do you really think that allowing gay marriage is a measure designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society?
You might want to re-think this declaration of belief.
With the exception of no. 10, we agree on most points. This was a reasonable post with no slams at anyone, and I applaud you on that. Our disagreements occur when there are personal comments made, usually at the end of your posts. BTW, while I agree with the DNR order since your wife was presumably conscious and able to indicate her wishes, I do disagree on the Schiavo case. After reading about what was involved in dying from dehydration, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
On another note, I have wondered what the LDS official position is on the Harry Potter movies?...I love them, but they do involve a lot of witchcraft.