The phrase that I am tired of hearing—because it is shot through with holes and excuses—is the unimaginative and immoral, “As long as two consenting adults are doing something and not hurting each other, why is it wrong?” It seems sad that we’ve come to this impasse where morality, decency, imagination and responsibility have been replaced by so flat and dull a statement. Whoever utters it eventually learns, after a great deal of heartache that all the trouble comes from what the adjective and the verb—consenting, hurting—conceals
As a liberal and a Catholic I have seen that what masquerades as liberalism now is often this lack of responsibility. It is increasingly news to people of my generations that 1. you are a human being who 2. lives in community with human beings—that means lives contingent upon and not against others and 3, are responsible to your fellow human beings. The first two statements are merely facts. The last can be debated, but only a fool would.
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