I don't think children are capable of the kind of horrific evil adults are capable of, but I would equally say they are incapable of the highest forms of righteousness and love. They just don't have the mental capacity to make decisions or analyze their feelings as well.
I tend to think of babies as somewhat less than full adult people in moral scenarios. They have no aspirations, no profound thoughts, and little experience by which to judge things, so I would much rather have a baby die than an older child or young adult (at least in terms of the people themselves --I would also have to factor in the feelings of the parents of the dead babies).
So no, you're not evil. Children are innocent, but that's because they're ignorant. Adults can be much more.
I don't know if I agree with that last part. While I will say babies are ignorant, and thus it can be argued innocent, the older children don't fall into that category.
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If history is to change, let it change. If the world is to be destroyed, so be it. If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh.
The past is dead. It was all just a dream...
- Magus
To help protect the sanctity of marriage, please keep all affairs heterosexual.
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I think you have to be slightly more messed up to kill a child than an adult, because most people, rightly or wrongly, want to protect children from harm. That's all I can say about the matter, though, not believing in either free will or morality. :p I don't believe in evil, so I don't think children can commit it.
I think children are less aware of the consequences of their actions, but they're certainly still capable of reasoning things out. I am also increasingly annoyed by the insistence that they have no sexual feelings before they turn 16 (or whatever the age of consent is where you happen to live).
That last part made me laugh, since people do think that the hormone clock follows what ever the law of the land is...
__________________
.
..:
If history is to change, let it change. If the world is to be destroyed, so be it. If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh.
The past is dead. It was all just a dream...
- Magus
To help protect the sanctity of marriage, please keep all affairs heterosexual.
If no image appears, something has gone wrong. I don't know. Probably run out of squirrels.
I can think of two reasons crimes against children are considered more heinous than crimes against adults. Firstly, children are less able to defend themselves. And also there is less reason that someone should be provoked to commit a crime against a child than against an adult. Most people would agree that it shows a higher level of cruelty and depravity to victimize a child. (Same would be true for an elderly victim.)
It's true that from a strictly utilitarian viewpoint, children have less worth than adults. Their material value to society as a whole is almost purely potential rather than actual. I've always thought it incredibly silly that anyone would buy life insurance on a child. Very few children have significant earning power on which a family would depend. But few of us follow a strictly utilitarian ethic.
__________________ I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it. --- Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts
I think children are less aware of the consequences of their actions, but they're certainly still capable of reasoning things out. I am also increasingly annoyed by the insistence that they have no sexual feelings before they turn 16 (or whatever the age of consent is where you happen to live).
Children have sexual feelings all their lives. The concept of the age of consent doesn't say children don't have sexual feelings until a certain moment in time it says someone over that age shouldn't be exploiting the sexual feelings of those under that age. (and in many states the person who is not a minor has to be a specific number of years older than the minor to be charged)
__________________ If when we judged others our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is to be found, and that is in our own hearts. But if we are on the lookout for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves, for we are seeking to escape punishment for our own sins by passing judgment on others, and are assuming by implication that the Word of God applies to ourselves in one way, and to others in another (Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship).
How about selfish then, lacking the social constraints of knowing when to be selfish or not, giving the appearance of evil?
Selfish is not evil.. it might be a symptom of it ... children are definitely selfish up to a point it's to be expected, after they've reached a developmental point where they understand that others have needs as well selfishness that ignores completely the implications of ones actions could be caused by anything from bad parenting to brain injury, to psychiatric disorders.
I think the actions of people in one stage of development must be evaluated differently than the actions of people in another. I don't believe that generally the 8 year old who attacks someone can be considered the same as the 40 year old who attacks someone.
__________________ If when we judged others our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look for evil where it is to be found, and that is in our own hearts. But if we are on the lookout for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves, for we are seeking to escape punishment for our own sins by passing judgment on others, and are assuming by implication that the Word of God applies to ourselves in one way, and to others in another (Bonhoeffer, Cost of Discipleship).
If history is to change, let it change. If the world is to be destroyed, so be it. If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh.
The past is dead. It was all just a dream...
- Magus
To help protect the sanctity of marriage, please keep all affairs heterosexual.
If no image appears, something has gone wrong. I don't know. Probably run out of squirrels.
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Isaiah 8:12-13 (NIV) "Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread."
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