Anne Farley Rolle alerts me to this article:
'Father Polanski Would Go to Jail' Says Jesuit
This whole affair makes a perfect illustration for my ethics class when we study cultural relativism:
1) abuse is wrong if it occurs within a community for which it is wrong. (i.e., priests in the Catholic church are blameworthy for abusing young boys).
2) Child abuse is permissible if it occurs within a community that has not specifically defined it as wrong. (i.e, it is okay for Roman Polanski to commit statutory rape, because he is an Artist).
It is interesting that this is the same reasoning that passes in some discussions of homosexual activity:
a) homosexual activity is wrong if it is performed by a heterosexual.
b) homosexual activity is permissible if it is performed by a homosexual.
1 comment:
That's an interesting analogy to the discussion about homosexual activity, Beth. What I've also heard is that people who have defined themselves as heterosexual, who then have a same-sex relationship (short or long term), really weren't heterosexual to begin with. Likewise, people who've defined themselves as homosexual, who then have a heterosexual relationship, really weren't homosexual after all. So, now we have the bi-sexual category to define those who don't use gender determinations in sexual relationships. Will humans infinitely parse our person/"being", as ethnic groups continue to seek partition from larger nation-states, or Presbyterians from other Presbyterians & everyone else? (The last was tongue-in-cheek, I admit! LOL)
What foundational misunderstanding do we harbor whereby we parse apart persons and thereby separate from our community rather than discern whole "being" within communities and examine our behavioral choices as contributing to or harming communities?
Ann
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