Moral Choice

Moral choice is a key issue in human thought and human actions. Hallie on one level tries to connect moral thought with history and so to indicate that morality reflects the times in which we live, while Pope paul suggests that moral thought is not tied to a time but to something deeper and more lasting, to man's relationship with God, which is not dependent on history. The Pope discusses the issue of martyrdom in human actions and why it can be a correct decision to make. What Hallie writes about the people of Le Chambon in his book Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed extends what the Pope says in his encyclical "Veritatis Splendor" by providing examples from a Christian community.

Pope Paul discusses the issue of martyrdom and celebrates the reality of individual free choice as a determinant of behavior. He notes that the issue of freedom has become more important in our own day and that a variety of authors have thus addressed it and explained it in different ways. He makes his position clear:

There is no doubt that Christian moral teaching, even in its biblical roots, acknowledges the specific importance of a fundamental choice which qualifies the moral life and engages freedom on a radical level before God (Paul section 66).

Such a sense of moral choice is structured on the relationship of man to God.

Martyrdom is related by Pope Paul to the issues of human dignity and respect for human life, both of which are said to be found "in the dignity proper to the person and

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Hallie says they see the issue otherwise: If we could understand the goodness that happened in Le Chambon, we must see how easy it was for them to refuse to give up their consciences, to refuse to participate in hatred, betrayal, and murder, and to help the desperate adults and the terrified children who knocked on their doors in Le Chambon (Hallie 284). Hallie further states, "For certain people, helping the distressed is as natural and necessary as feeding themselves" (Hallie 284). The story of the people of Le Chambon thus suggests ways in which the moral person develops such a respect for human life that it infuses their every action and thought. Martyrdom then becomes less an extraordinary event than an affirmation of the life force itself, an affirmation that defines a community and shapes every moral act and lesson. Works Cited Hallie, Philip. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed. New York: HarperCollins, 1985. Pope Paul. "Veritatis Splendor." Origins (October 14, 1993), 297-333. PARAGRAPH Hallie says that ethical action "must not be a way of trying, by a use of abstract, traditional terms, to cast a fitful light within the inward worlds of men's souls" (Hallie 280). Rather, he sees the actions of human beings

Category: Philosophy - M