- Your Conscience
- By John Murtari
- AKidsRight.Org
- 21/03/2006 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 61 articles in 2006 )
Good People & People of Faith,
A few weeks ago we talked about introspection and examining our own lives before we 'critique' others. I found something on conscience (as in "let your conscience be your guide") at the Vatican web site. (Please, I'm not trying to convert anyone here. If you have studied ethics or morality you will have found similar ideas.)
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a6.htm
For many, we describe the feeling we had when a Court Order stepped between us & our kids -- as having our hearts ripped out. Not just one day, but each and every day. Living with a personal anguish that troubles us to the foundation of our being. Why?
A Court blocking a moral imperative, an obligation of conscience. What of our duty as parents to love and nurture our children? When we talk about GREAT Civil Rights -- don't they all come from the same foundation? The freedom to follow and act according to our conscience?
Our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, our Personal Liberty?
What of the Freedom to Love our Children?
How else can we feel when the "State" interjects itself as we strive to fulfill the duty of conscience. The positive acts we are 'obliged' to perform? Is it any wonder so many parents feel a pain that just won't (and should not) go away?
Public 'policy' should NOT block duties of conscience.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an important concept expressed above. No one should try to stop you from acting in accord with conscience. Allow someone else to determine what is in "the best interest" of your child? Allow public laws to exist that are based more on 'the law of averages' than individual justice?
Can we please stop looking for Scientific Studies that support equal parenting? We diminish ourselves and our GREAT right when we do that. >From my past NonViolent Actions I have had the chance to spend quite a bit of time in jail holding cells with other people who were just arrested. I can tell you that 90% of them were exactly guilty of what the police charged them with (if not worse acts).
Would you support a 'law' that said anyone charged with a crime should just be convicted then & there? Do we really want to run the risk of letting these dangerous people hurt other innocents? Let's not forget OJ? Better safe than sorry!
Why do have a presumption of innocence, require trials, and require a unanimous jury verdict? Because we are about to take someones Freedom. We are about to interfere with a GREAT right. Should not the same level of attention be required before we can't express the love we have for our children?
https://www.AKidsRight.Org/approach.htm
Introspection & Our Response
-------------------------------------------
Maybe a lot of you agree with the above? Maybe it helps stir your anger at the Judges, Lawyers, Social Workers, Politicians and (have I forget one) former spouses that stepped between you and your kids. That is the easy way and the wrong way. Review those two paragraphs again:
Why? It would be easy to blame the "Whites" and the people in power. But go back to that excerpt.
When a Black voluntarily walked to the back of the bus, peed in a different bathroom, or drank out of a different water fountain -- some would have failed to follow their conscience. They would have known how wrong the system was, how denigrating it was to them and their families -- but still they did it. Segregation did not go away. Why go along if their conscience told them it was wrong?
We know the answer to that one. The 'system' is powerful, it can throw you in jail, take your money, destroy your family. We go along, just like they did. Why?
A Failure of Faith?
-------------------------------
Because we don't believe anything we do will matter. Why should I risk sitting in the front of the bus, when the Klan will visit me tonight and burn my house down? Better to wait....what can I do? How will that kind of sacrifice matter? I'll so something safer....
Can we relate to that, can we see ourselves in the mirror? We want politicians to 'champion' our political causes because it is the 'right thing' -- but does our personal inaction speaks louder than our words? We want people who work in the 'system' to buck the system -- they have the same fears we do....
NonViolent Action
------------------------------
Take the time to look at some of the historical material we have on NonViolent Action, https://www.AKidsRight.Org/civil.htm -- especially the material on Dr. Martin Luther King and segregation. A Civil Rights Act passed Congress when Blacks recognized their dignity as human beings, and showed its GREAT value by their voluntary personal sacrifice. There actions changed the heart of the Nation.
It's been a long time since America has seen a grass roots Civil Rights movement. Before we see serious reform, it will need to see another. As parents we need to act in ways that will change the heart of the Nation if we want to see a Family Rights Act passed. An Act that will recognize & protect our ability to love and nurture our kids -- just as our conscience calls for.
Your thoughts? --
John Murtari
____________________________________________________________________ Coordinator AKidsRight.Org jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents"
Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211) https://www.AKidsRight.Org/
=======================================
Newsletter mailing list
Newsletter@kids-right.org
A few weeks ago we talked about introspection and examining our own lives before we 'critique' others. I found something on conscience (as in "let your conscience be your guide") at the Vatican web site. (Please, I'm not trying to convert anyone here. If you have studied ethics or morality you will have found similar ideas.)
https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a6.htm
-
1778. Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person
recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to
perform, is in the process of performing, or has already
completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow
faithfully what he knows to be just and right....
1782. Man has the right to act in conscience and in freedom so as personally to make moral decisions. "He must not be forced to act contrary to his conscience. Nor must he be prevented from acting according to his conscience...."
For many, we describe the feeling we had when a Court Order stepped between us & our kids -- as having our hearts ripped out. Not just one day, but each and every day. Living with a personal anguish that troubles us to the foundation of our being. Why?
A Court blocking a moral imperative, an obligation of conscience. What of our duty as parents to love and nurture our children? When we talk about GREAT Civil Rights -- don't they all come from the same foundation? The freedom to follow and act according to our conscience?
Our Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, our Personal Liberty?
What of the Freedom to Love our Children?
How else can we feel when the "State" interjects itself as we strive to fulfill the duty of conscience. The positive acts we are 'obliged' to perform? Is it any wonder so many parents feel a pain that just won't (and should not) go away?
Public 'policy' should NOT block duties of conscience.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an important concept expressed above. No one should try to stop you from acting in accord with conscience. Allow someone else to determine what is in "the best interest" of your child? Allow public laws to exist that are based more on 'the law of averages' than individual justice?
Can we please stop looking for Scientific Studies that support equal parenting? We diminish ourselves and our GREAT right when we do that. >From my past NonViolent Actions I have had the chance to spend quite a bit of time in jail holding cells with other people who were just arrested. I can tell you that 90% of them were exactly guilty of what the police charged them with (if not worse acts).
Would you support a 'law' that said anyone charged with a crime should just be convicted then & there? Do we really want to run the risk of letting these dangerous people hurt other innocents? Let's not forget OJ? Better safe than sorry!
Why do have a presumption of innocence, require trials, and require a unanimous jury verdict? Because we are about to take someones Freedom. We are about to interfere with a GREAT right. Should not the same level of attention be required before we can't express the love we have for our children?
https://www.AKidsRight.Org/approach.htm
Introspection & Our Response
-------------------------------------------
Maybe a lot of you agree with the above? Maybe it helps stir your anger at the Judges, Lawyers, Social Workers, Politicians and (have I forget one) former spouses that stepped between you and your kids. That is the easy way and the wrong way. Review those two paragraphs again:
-
"In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what
he knows to be just and right...."
Why? It would be easy to blame the "Whites" and the people in power. But go back to that excerpt.
When a Black voluntarily walked to the back of the bus, peed in a different bathroom, or drank out of a different water fountain -- some would have failed to follow their conscience. They would have known how wrong the system was, how denigrating it was to them and their families -- but still they did it. Segregation did not go away. Why go along if their conscience told them it was wrong?
We know the answer to that one. The 'system' is powerful, it can throw you in jail, take your money, destroy your family. We go along, just like they did. Why?
A Failure of Faith?
-------------------------------
Because we don't believe anything we do will matter. Why should I risk sitting in the front of the bus, when the Klan will visit me tonight and burn my house down? Better to wait....what can I do? How will that kind of sacrifice matter? I'll so something safer....
Can we relate to that, can we see ourselves in the mirror? We want politicians to 'champion' our political causes because it is the 'right thing' -- but does our personal inaction speaks louder than our words? We want people who work in the 'system' to buck the system -- they have the same fears we do....
NonViolent Action
------------------------------
Take the time to look at some of the historical material we have on NonViolent Action, https://www.AKidsRight.Org/civil.htm -- especially the material on Dr. Martin Luther King and segregation. A Civil Rights Act passed Congress when Blacks recognized their dignity as human beings, and showed its GREAT value by their voluntary personal sacrifice. There actions changed the heart of the Nation.
It's been a long time since America has seen a grass roots Civil Rights movement. Before we see serious reform, it will need to see another. As parents we need to act in ways that will change the heart of the Nation if we want to see a Family Rights Act passed. An Act that will recognize & protect our ability to love and nurture our kids -- just as our conscience calls for.
Your thoughts? --
John Murtari
____________________________________________________________________ Coordinator AKidsRight.Org jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org "A Kid's Right to BOTH parents"
Toll Free (877) 635-1968(x-211) https://www.AKidsRight.Org/
=======================================
Newsletter mailing list
Newsletter@kids-right.org
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