- Mar 10, 2006
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In the United States, one of the biggest complaints non-believers have about christians is what we consider to be interference with our lives. One of the main instances is legislated morality. For this discussion we will ignore violation of separation of church and state and uninvited evangelism and being forced to listen to prayer at public events.
Most moral issues are agreed on by pretty much everyone. Acts which inherently harm other people are immoral (murder, assault, theft, rape). These are harmful by definition.
There is another category of acts which can cause harm to people in certain circumstances. Harm is possible, but not inherent. I don't agree that such acts are moral issues, nor do many other non-believers. Yet christians do, simply because some alleged god is claimed to have prohibited them. Nearly all "commandments" related to sex fall in this category.
With the lone exception of adultery, I do not consider any sex act between any number of consenting adults in any combination of genders to be a moral issue.
Now in the case of most sexual issues, christians give people grief for performing "sinful" acts, but they are not illegal. (Though the continuous attacks on the sex industry show that christians want to make them illegal.)
But for this discussion, we will consider a sex act that is illegal: prostitution.
Now obviously christians think they are commanded not to be a prostitute or to engage one. The question is why they think non-christians, who do not believe in any gods or their "commandments", should be prohibited from prostitution via legislation.
In other words, legislated christian morality.
Now christians may say: "but there are many non-christians who are also think prostitution should be illegal!" But they also say "this is a christian nation based on christian values". While this can be disputed, there is no doubt that christian morality has had an influence on society and that everyone, including non-believers, has been drummed with the idea that "prostitution is bad" since the day they were born.
So the questions are:
1. should prostitution be illegal?
2. if so, why?
Since we are talking about actual harm and not the pronouncements of some god, the ground rules are that there will be no mention of the christian god, his "commandments", or his "plan". All discussion will be based on the actual real world harm that has been observed. Not just the potential for harm. There are many things that have a potential for harm that are not illegal.
We already know why christians think they are not allowed to engage in prostitution. What we want to know is why unbelievers should be forcibly prevented from engaging in prostitution.
If there are unbelievers who think prostitution should be illegal, they also have to provide an actual reason.
And be aware, I do not plan on a superficial treatment. If you say "prostitution is stressful for the prostitute because of the shame", you have to explain why she has shame in the first place. Shame presupposes what she is doing is wrong. Where did she get the idea that it is wrong?
Have at it.
Most moral issues are agreed on by pretty much everyone. Acts which inherently harm other people are immoral (murder, assault, theft, rape). These are harmful by definition.
There is another category of acts which can cause harm to people in certain circumstances. Harm is possible, but not inherent. I don't agree that such acts are moral issues, nor do many other non-believers. Yet christians do, simply because some alleged god is claimed to have prohibited them. Nearly all "commandments" related to sex fall in this category.
With the lone exception of adultery, I do not consider any sex act between any number of consenting adults in any combination of genders to be a moral issue.
Now in the case of most sexual issues, christians give people grief for performing "sinful" acts, but they are not illegal. (Though the continuous attacks on the sex industry show that christians want to make them illegal.)
But for this discussion, we will consider a sex act that is illegal: prostitution.
Now obviously christians think they are commanded not to be a prostitute or to engage one. The question is why they think non-christians, who do not believe in any gods or their "commandments", should be prohibited from prostitution via legislation.
In other words, legislated christian morality.
Now christians may say: "but there are many non-christians who are also think prostitution should be illegal!" But they also say "this is a christian nation based on christian values". While this can be disputed, there is no doubt that christian morality has had an influence on society and that everyone, including non-believers, has been drummed with the idea that "prostitution is bad" since the day they were born.
So the questions are:
1. should prostitution be illegal?
2. if so, why?
Since we are talking about actual harm and not the pronouncements of some god, the ground rules are that there will be no mention of the christian god, his "commandments", or his "plan". All discussion will be based on the actual real world harm that has been observed. Not just the potential for harm. There are many things that have a potential for harm that are not illegal.
We already know why christians think they are not allowed to engage in prostitution. What we want to know is why unbelievers should be forcibly prevented from engaging in prostitution.
If there are unbelievers who think prostitution should be illegal, they also have to provide an actual reason.
And be aware, I do not plan on a superficial treatment. If you say "prostitution is stressful for the prostitute because of the shame", you have to explain why she has shame in the first place. Shame presupposes what she is doing is wrong. Where did she get the idea that it is wrong?
Have at it.
