| Last Updated:
Jun 25, 2010 - 5:05:38 PM |
 |
The following item from the Christian Civic League ran as an opinion piece in the Kennebec Journal on Thursday, June 24th as "As Oil Spill Imperils Life in the Gulf, Immorality Imperils our Society."
Oil is a natural treasure, a dark stream of energy running through the hidden chambers of the earth, a thick, black gold that powers our machines, fuels our industries and enriches our life. But an uncontrolled overabundance of oil where it is not needed is an impurity, a poison that chokes off life at its roots.
When BP sank an oil shaft deep into the earth — a mile below the surface of the Gulf, and another two miles through rock — it showed a stunning lack of prudence and foresight. For the sake of economy, the company left off an indispensable safety valve; and out poured an unstoppable torrent of oil. The heavy crude oil and asphalt immediately began killing all the creatures that swim in the sea, fly through the air or build their nests on land.
Those who viewed the environmental damage — Christians and non-believers alike — called the damage “apocalyptic.” Our culture is awash in a flood of impurity of another kind, and that is the loosening of the rules intended to conserve and perpetuate life.
The shining whiteness of the bridal gown, symbolizing purity and the power that purity conveys, has been stained — or smudged, if you will — by pornography, sex before marriage, marital infidelity, divorce, abortion and, now, so-called marriages between people of the same sex.
Like the dirty oil that pours uncontrollably into the waters of the Gulf, this withering tide of immorality at times seems impossible to control. No one has been successful in stopping the onslaught, since many parts of our society share a mistaken view of human freedom. When used properly, freedom is good and life-enhancing, but when misapplied, freedom works against life.
Not all free actions are moral; and not all actions that are legal are good. In the case of slavery, free and legal actions were profoundly cruel and hateful. The same is true of abortion, the worst moral evil of our time.
Those who justify immoral actions in the name of freedom, while failing to discuss the ethical dimension of those actions, keep society in moral obscurity and darkness. They may appeal to free enterprise, as BP did, or they may appeal to the First Amendment, as did the people who paraded half-naked through Farmington.
But the actions, viewed from the aspect of the purpose of the participants, were clearly motivated by greed in one case and perhaps confused rebellion on the other. The proper symbol for such behavior is not a sunflower, as in the case of the BP logo, but a killing tide of black oil.
We here in Maine have been spared the effects of many recent natural or man-made calamities. But we should not allow our presumed immunity from disaster to divert our attention from the many moral problems that confront us. If these problems are not cured, they will prove worse than any catastrophic oil spill.
We count among these problems the indecent march in Farmington, the increasing number of so-called Gentlemen’s Clubs, the dangerous disrespect for women in the media and the incessant attacks on the natural family by government and advocates of same-sex marriage.
All these are violations of natural law, and as result, poison the life of society at its root. Much good can come of the oil spill in the Gulf, if the natural calamity reminds us to restore purity and innocence to America. Those in positions of authority, especially those who instruct the next generation, must work to preserve morality and right order in society.
They must stop justifying harmful and immoral actions by a specious appeal to freedom. If they do not, our continued existence as a nation will be imperiled, just as surely as the growing tide of oil imperils life in the Gulf.
Send us feedback on this page by clicking
here
Copyright by
Maine Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.
Top of Page
|
