In one of my favorite bits of a well-regarded speech, Barack Obama said:<\/p>\n
Since my own political philosophy falls somewhere between Swedish Socialism and John Rawls, this pleased me; like most folks, I enjoy hearing my own views fed back to me, but eloquently.<\/p>\n
But Jason at Positive Liberty<\/a>, who is (as best as I can make out) a small-l libertarian, wasn’t so pleased. And he makes a good point about the story of Cain and Abel: it’s a lousy <\/i>story for illustrating a moral principle, because it papers over the rather large gray area that lies between “taking responsibility for my sibling’s well-being” and “beating my sibling to death and hiding the body.”<\/p>\n The problem with Cain isn’t that he lacks charity; it’s that he murders people whom God seemingly likes better. So, in context, “I am not my brother’s keeper” doesn’t seem to illustrate the moral problem with indifference so much as it illustrates the moral problem with beating people to death and hiding the bodies.<\/p>\n * * *<\/p>\n By the way, since I’m plugging Jason’s site, make sure to read his sensational series on attending GALA (the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses annual event). Jason thoughtfully discusses questions of religion, family, and “why do we need a gay chorus?,” among many other issues.<\/p>\n Jason’s site isn’t set up to let you read a series of individual posts. So the best way to read the GALA post seriess is to go to the July archive<\/a>, and then scroll down to July 26 or search for “???” to find the first GALA post. Then just scroll upwards to read the more recent posts, as well. (Jason: maybe it’s time to add “next post – previous post” links to the individual post template?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In one of my favorite bits of a well-regarded speech, Barack Obama said: It is that fundamental belief, it is that fundamental belief, I am my brother\u2019s keeper, I am my sister\u2019s keeper, that makes this country work. It\u2019s what … Continue reading