Today was the last day of our course. This is going to be a brief reflection, not because the content wasn't stimulating and thought provoking, but because it's late on Friday night and I need to finish this off before getting to bed so I can catch my flight home in the morning!
We discussed the difference between beliefs, morals/values and ethics. In my view each informs the other, moving from the abstraction of beliefs through specific moral or cultural values through to specific actions as they occur in community. For instance:
BELIEF: God requires that all men obey His will
MORAL: Homosexuality should not be tolerated by society, as it against the will of God
ETHIC: Actively working to deny equal rights to my homosexual neighbor
Although it was agreed that there is generally a lot of confusion between the three in social discourse.
A few key points Penny wanted us to take away, with regard to what might constitute the kernel of a queer ethic:
- If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred (Whitman)
- The ethical battleground is the human body
- All bodies matter (this is the meaning of the incarnation)
- We need to make sex (not just sexuality, but sex) sacred again
- Ethics need to deal with the essence of relationships, not with their form
- Ethics must involve truth-telling about our lives and our bodies
Now, to get home and put all of this into practice.
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