Roy G. Wilson’s Sept. 11 letter, “Religious freedom has limits,” is a short-sighted opinion with consequences. Wilson casts the Constitution aside when he unwisely writes that the religious community should suppress their opinion on society’s moral standards and “mind their own business.” Religious moral principles have been the foundation of all successful civilizations throughout human history.
The core teachings of Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Socrates, Cicero, and Joseph Smith all have similar common ground on what is deemed beneficial for society and what is not. Societies based on the absolute moral teachings of religious institutions or scholars tend to last hundreds or thousands of years, while societies based on moral relativism quickly collapse and rarely last a generation.
When foundational principles and debate are suppressed, it fosters an environment where someone like Wilson (or a single Supreme Court justice) can determine that today it is a “right” to kill the unborn. Maybe tomorrow they’ll include the elderly and next week the disabled — I guess we’ll have to just wait and see how they “feel” then.
