My thoughts about secular laws that seek to enforce morality

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States.   As Americans, we have so much for which we should be thankful.  For one, I am thankful that the small group of men who wrote our constitution understood the proper distinction between the role that religious beliefs, government, and secular laws should play in American life.   It saddens me that so many in our nation seem to have forgotten the proper separation of these roles and insist upon the government having laws and policies that mandate morality on others.

Mahatma Gandhi once said that “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” He also stated that "God has no religion." Living your life according to principle, rather than by the rule of law, goes to the very core of Christianity. Ironically, many "Christians" appear incapable of grasping this concept.   Instead, they demand that our secular governments invade areas of life that should be left to the people, religious leaders, philosophers and public discourse.   Too often, Christians seek to pawn their persausive roles, duties and responsibilities off on to the secular governments and demand that moral issues be enforced by the rule of law or coerced by intrusive governmental policies.

Spirituality should guide our lives, but we should not use it to guide the lives of other people.  Spirituality should be encouraged, not forced.  Morality should spring from within; individuals should be given the freedom and responsibility to live moral lives. Governments should not have laws that merely seek to enforce morality when there is no direct victim. Every criminal law and every regulation should be narrowly constructed to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals. Therefore, every criminal law and every governmental policy, should seek only to control behavior that clearly affects another person's freedom to live; another person's freedom to practice their religion; another person's freedom to pursue happiness; another person's freedom to enjoy their property or even another person's freedom to make bad decisions.       

It is a perversion of Christianity, or any other religious philosophy, to integrate it with secular laws and secular punishments; the two domains should never be blended because when mixed, one will always destroy the other.

The Measure of Character

At Ecclesiastes 7:1, Solomon said that "a name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one's being born."    This was during a time when an abundance of oil was a symbol of prosperity.   To drive home the point, he suggested that merely having had the opportunity to build a good name for one's self, made the day of one's death more important than the day of their birth.     Our reputation is one of the most important assets that we will ever possess.   Although it is intangible, a reputation is very real and is formed by the way we treat the people around us.     

Jesus taught that we would eventually be judged by the way we treat the least of those around us, not by the way we treat him personally (Matthew 25:31-46).   This is the essence and essential message of Christianity (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31;Luke 10:27).   Fortunately, our salvation does not depend upon never making a mistake in life.  The important test of our character is determined by how we treat the people around us.  Especially the people who will never be in a position to help us.   

When someone takes on the mission to destroy someone else's reputation, their endeaver says more about them and their lack of character than the person they are seeking to hurt.   Competent people with the correct outlook on life are secure enough that they do not need to tear someone else down in order to feel good about themselves or the ones they are supporting.  Likewise, when we see a campaign largely built around the premise of smearing the other candidate's reputation, we should be wary, as that campaign likely does not have enough positive points to say about their own candidate. 

It is easy to talk about the importance of character or someone elses lack of it.    Living your life in a principle centered way, which puts the welfare of others above your own, is much more difficult.   Jay Leno once said that if he wanted to know what type of person his guests were, he would watch how they treated the paiges, janitors and others with menial jobs in the studio.   Some of his guests were always nice to Jay, but not always so nice to others.    

Therefore, when we need to judge someone's character, watch how they treat the "least of those" around them.    Watch what they say about their competitors and their willingness to destroy someone else's reputation for their own personal gain.   This is a true measure of character.