What Moral Values?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

History is written by the winners, and so the instant history that's written about this year's presidential election is that it was decided by people concerned with "moral values."

All sorts of yammering has followed about the need for Democrats and progressives to be more respectful of the cultural and social conservatism of our country. But let's back up a moment.

What, exactly, are "moral values"? What does the phrase mean? When the same exit polls that told us Kerry would win asked voters what they cared about, what did voters who cited morals think they were describing?

There are a lot of different moral values out there other than the ones prescribed by evangelical Christians. And maybe, just maybe, it's time for progressives to start talking about our moral values.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0446/041117_news_geovparrish.php

[SaintAnne]

1. good idea

oh goodie, lets talk about our moral values! We all have some, and there is no way to tell which one is better than any other right? so they must all be equal! I don't know about you, but I consider it morally wrong to tell people who they can and can't marry. as well as morally wrong to tell people who will live and who will die.

[clydefrand]

2. We must promote "real" moral values...not the BS that

we heard for a year! I don't think they have a clue about what is really moral.

[seafey]

3. Personal morals or social morals????????

Seems the Christian Right is only concerned with the hate-filled narrow biblical interpretation of personal morals while social morals (like paying taxes and feeding the poor and caring for the earth etc. etc.) can go unchecked.

[SaintAnne]

4. right

good distinction, we should make it clear that all personal morals are good. and that we promote social morals that help everyone. or something like that

[salvorhardin]

5. Well, the difference, at least for them

is that they see morals as prescripts from god (their god) and while some progressives may have ethical values in their minds, that just isn't good enough.

[Warpy]

6. Morality that begins and ends with sex and only for other people

is what can and should be attacked. Jesus Christ said very little about sexual morality beyond telling people only the utterly pure could cast the first stone. He was silent on abortion, which was legal under Judaism until fetal movement could be felt. He was silent on homosexuality. The heavy sexual repression parading as morality stems from Paul and from the Old Testament.

Christian morality was more about how one treated one's neighbors with a lack of judgmental baggage, of dealing fairly with each other, of generosity to anyone worse off than we are, and of love of god, not public posturing about god.

You bet the "morality" of these Repuglican cesspits they call churches should be under attack. Mainstream churches on the whole have dropped the ball on this for decades, and they should be ashamed of themselves. They've sacrificed their core principles on the altar of Repuglican parishoner donation.

That's where the battle lines in the real culture war need to be drawn.

[meow2u3]

8. DING, DING, DING, DING, DING!!! We have a winner!

You have answered correctly! "Moral values" is indeed a code word for other people's sexual conduct.

Regressives are obsessed with sex!

[colonel odis]

7. friend mine sent me a sermon that said to those folks "moral values"

means nothing more than opposition to gay marriage, stem cell research, and abortion.

i think it's up to the left to reframe (as they would say) the issue. moral values should mean making sure children have enough to eat, that we are good stewards of the earth god put us on, that those who through wealth abuse their fellow man are brought to justice, and war isn't used as an excuse to steal a country's oil.

those are the moral values america should stand for. if we're going to be the big guy in the schoolyard, shouldn't we be the guy who keeps bullies from picking on the smaller kids, instead of the bully whose size allows him to pick on anyone?

if you look at a lot of the more evangelical protestant churches -- baptist and more affluent pentecostal, for example -- their membership is riddled with sexual scandal. look at paul crouch, the head of tbn. jim bakker. in the baptist church i grew up in, two prominent men left their families for each other.

look around the congregations and see how much obesity there is. these people say you can't drink, dance, or most anything else fun. but you can sure abuse your body with food.

they divorce and remarry left and right. yet jesus -- who didn't say squat about homosexuality -- specifically said anyone who remarries after divorce is an adulterer.

they preach the gospel of prosperity and back a man who preaches tax cuts for the wealthy. yet jesus also was defnitely against the wealthy. (part of the reason he was crucified.)

these are the people who claim the high road of moral values? 'scuse me, but i don't think there's too much that's moral about their behaviors. they're nothing more than the conservative pharisees that controlled religion during jesus' time.

something needs to be done to throw that back into their faces. something whereby we can claim moral values. because the principles of the democratic party promote values that are more healthy to our country, our people, and the world we live in.