Mormons and Morals ethics
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Feb 20, 2024
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Mormons and Morals
Heather N Bowen
Chamberlain University
ETHC445N Ethics
Charles Richards
2023 November 05
Mormons and Morals
Growing up in a small town in southern California can skew your point of view. The town of Temecula was heavily inundated with those of the Mormon religion. My mother often had to go out of town for work, so many times I had to go with my friend to their morning church sessions called seminary. One day when I was talking to my best friend Kandiss, the topic
of polygamy came up. She is Mormon and has taken many trips to Utah, so her perspective made
sense to me, but I was shocked that she would agree with polygamy being morally justified. Any subjective moral relativist would say that it's simply the polygamist business regarding that practice being morally right or not. These specific relativists believe that it's up to every individual to determine what's right and wrong for them. For certain situations, I can agree with the subjective moral relativist approach. (Beckwith, F. & Koukl G 2002) To make a proper decision regarding these practices, I would need more detailed information. Luckily Kandiss was
not swayed by my lack of understanding about the Mormon religion. A cultural relativist would say that because it's part of their religion, we cannot have any judgments about their practices. There is no inherently right or wrong action for a cultural relativist when it comes to religious or cultural practices. (Rachels & Rachels 2019) That approach lacks growth and critical thinking. To reserve all judgments is to stunt new neuronal connections. As humans, it is innate for us to make judgments and observations for safety and other health reasons. I decided to hear Kandiss’ side about polygamy to get the most accurate understanding of
why a religion would promote having several wives. Kandiss explained that having several wives
increases the productivity of a large family lifestyle. Considering that the Mormon religion has reservations regarding birth control amongst many other things, those in the religion have several
children. Having several children can be difficult to handle alone while the housemate has gone off to work. She explained that to tend to the land, the home, and the children, there must be more than one wife. The approach isn’t morally correct to me because women may not have many husbands. The rule should apply to all those in the religion being equal and deemed the same type of lifestyle. It also cancels the religious confines of Christian marriage which includes one male and one female. Understanding that these practices don’t cause harm to anyone involved or attached on the outside allowed me to be less motivated about the immorality of such practices. In this situation, if those involved are ok with it then outsiders shouldn’t have anything to say regarding it. The only thing I could do was thank Kandiss for sharing her knowledge with me and accept that different people and different religions have their way of doing things and that’s not a bad thing.
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References
Rachels, J., & Rachels, S. (2019). The elements of moral philosophy (9th ed.). Mcgraw-Hill Education. Seven Fatal Flaws of Moral Relativism | Monergism. (n.d.). Www.monergism.com. https://www.monergism.com/seven-fatal-flaws-moral-relativism
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