What distinctions should be drawn between what's "moral" and what's "legal"?

Question

Either in terms of making laws or discussing morality. Should we outlaw things that are immoral? Should we think of things as moral if they are legal?

Answer 1

You cannot legislate morality.  Besides, who gets to decide what is moral and immoral - Big Brother?????  

Answer 2

depends on your morals.

i personally think g*y marriage is a-ok.

but someone else might not think so.

Answer 3

If by "moral" you mean anything beyond personal liberty and protection of citizens from danger, then I don't know what kind of morality you're looking at bringing into the law.

Answer 4

Of course we should outlaw some things that are immoral. Murder is immoral and it should be outlawed.

Not everything that is immoral should be illegal, however. Lying to a friend is, in some situations, wrong, but that doesn't mean it should be illegal. For this reason it is a big mistake to think that "legal" equates to "moral." Slavery, to use a common example, used to be legal. But surely that didn't make it moral. It just meant the law was immoral.

Answer 5

ask an evolutionist this ? were did morals come from. s. gould said i don't know i guess they evolved. legal is man.morals come from GOD.right and wrong from GOD.

man it's just and opinion.

Answer 6

Jeff M's answer is why people should separate "morals" from "legal" - he's a homophobic bigot who attacks equality whilst claiming the tragedy of Sept 11 is linked to equality!!

People's idea of morals can vary for every individual - people shouldn't discriminate against people though or anything and people should all have equal basic rights

Outlawing immorality will never work as no-one will ever agree on what is immoral things

Answer 7

No.  Some people think that standing for the flag is moral..but if it were legalized then it wouldn't be fair to everyone else who doesn't normally stand for it.   Abortion is immoral, but there shouldn't exist a law to make it illegal. Why? Because as sad as it is, it's still a human's choice and there are life threatening situations where abortion is necessary in order for the mother to survive..and if it were illegal...then it's like sentencing her to death.  

Answer 8

The distinction's already there.. Legal is what society dictates is to be authorized by law and moral is concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human action and character. Morality does play into the concept of law but it cannot be exclusively so. Otherwise, we end up with sharia law.

Answer 9

If you're speaking of the US, we already have public policy-making methods in place and already follow them in the making or not of new laws.

Most of our current laws are legislating morality.  Murder, theft, etc.

Answer 10

Definitely not. That is what is wrong with our country today. The founding fathers, which is the reason we are here today, are proof that when you leave morality out of any aspect of our lives, bad things are going to happen. Our country has had it' trials, but we have overcome them as a nation. But in the early 60's that changed. The Supreme  Court made a unconstitutional, illegal decision in the definition of the term "church". Ever since then there has been a chartable change in the "morality" of our nation. Based on statistics as per every 100 persons, immoral conduct  has risen beyond belief. All one has to do is study history. Every great nation fell due to immorality.  When a nation writes law contrary to The Word of God, sooner or later there will be a price to pay. Earthquakes and destructive flooding in the midwest, Massive forest fires, hurricanes, the twin towers. You can't kill more innocent babies than two world wars, approve homosexual acts, and turn our backs to God, and expect Him to just let us continue. He holds His Word above His name. He is slow to anger, and quick to forgive. Wake up America. So just because it's legal make it moral.? No way.