People's Hypocrisy about Sex and Moral Standards in Religion
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Double standard of morality
People's view of sexual practices and preference tend to be hypocritical when base solely on religious teachings and the church's standard of morality.
We have in fact two kinds of morality side by side. One which we preach but do not practice and another which we practice but seldom preach ~ Bertrand Russell
We often find headlines such as these....
"The issue of sexual abuse is threatening to overshadow the annual meeting of church leaders..."
"Political sex scandals: Do they ever disappear?"
"Teacher in sex scandal,What's going on in our school?"
....Getting to be tediously repetitious.
Type in "sex scandal" on the internet and you get the idea.Officials in government.Clerics in religion,Teachers in education, and if we were candid enough include ourselves in our role as parents.
People who are suppose to be "moral" getting mired in sordid affairs.So let's at least be honest and admit that our definition and understanding of "morality" may be based on religious and ethical concepts but our primal instincts will always be our main consideration in most of our actions involving human relationship and interactions.
Between Heaven and Hell, where does "morality" come from?
Morality
is relative.Each person's moral standard is the product of years of
exposure to outside influenced beginning from infancy to
adulthood.Parents, institutions,religion, peer groups constantly bombard
us with their moral point of view.
Many of us believe that wrongs aren't wrong if it's done by nice people like ourselves ~ Anonymous
Morality
is also subjective.Taking place in our minds and modified by our
individual bias.The need to co-exist and interact among groups requires
us to develop complex systems of agreement regarding behavior.Some
systems work fairly equitably others only for those in power.Some
stagnate and become outdated and out of sync with the times.Beliefs
becoming "Sacred Truths" carve into stone and not in our hearts. Others
improve by constantly evolving and adapting
The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself ~ Jane Addam
This
codification of behavior we call "morality" is the RESULT of a long and
continuing process of human maturity.Although we all have an innate
sense of right or wrong. It will never supplant our Pleasure/Pain
instinct."Morality" after all is a man made creation unlike our basic
instincts which are fundamental to our survival.
Loud indignation against vice often stands for virtue in the eyes of bigots ~ J.Petit-Senn
We may be sensitive to unfairness and quick to punish anti-social behavior
but moral actions do not necessarily follow moral reasoning. We
constantly violate our own moral code when our gut instinct for
self-preservation overrides our moral scruples. A double standard of
"morality" exist. Anyone who is part of "US" is excused for moral
transgression and the moral parameters are leniently extended for the
sake of the group's cohesion.
They are not all saints who use holy water ~ English proverb
The
moral hypocrite has already convinced himself that he is acting
virtuously even when he does something that he would condemn in others.
This "Holier than thou" attitude is widely found in religion which is
one of the reason for the schism and factional bickering. Perhaps you
know someone who has this "Self Halo" image of himself/herself ?
People are very inclined to set moral standards for others ~ Elizabeth Drew
Having
already prejudge others and perceived their own actions as "moral", how
can these people apply their standard of morality on others? Or task
others to follow their point of view when those moral standards have
already been CONVENIENTLY ALIGN WITH THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR.
Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo ~ H.G.Well
The UNREPENTANT sinner
I dwell in the land of shadows
devoid of life's bright colors
gray shades of sorrow
an overcast of sadness
My heart fills with longings
for the human affections
bestowed once in abundance
now only a memory
The sinful joy of my existence
you gave without hesitation
we live the life we choose and
damn,daMN,DAMN those moral hypocrites
Their Gods heard their fervent cry
I now pay the price of non-conformity
still I smile :) at their puzzled askant looks
for once I lived in heavens paradise on earth
A great deal of what passes for current Christianity consists in denouncing other people's vices and faults ~ Henry H. Williams
*This is my personal rantings. It's something I wanted to get off my chest. A beautiful relationship that ended; Poisoned because of peer pressure and moral prejudice.
Why I wrote this hub
- 7 Haikus of My Sorrow
Writing from the heart And the words became alive Outpouring of grief.....
more QUOTES to reflect on.....
Hypocrisy - prejudice with a halo ~ Ambrose Bierce
All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance ~ Theodore M.Hesburgh
Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue ~ Francois,Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Few love to hear the sins they love to act ~ William Shakespeare
Forbear to judge,for we are sinners all ~ William Shakespeare,Henry VI
Go put your creed into your deed ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prudery is the hypocrisy of modesty ~ Anonymous
To hear many religious people talk, one would think God created the torso, head,legs and arms.But the Devil slapped on the genitals ~ Don Schrader
Hypocrisy and distortion are passing currents under the name of religion ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Why should we take advice on sex from the Pope? If he knows anything about it he shouldn't ~ George Bernard Shaw
He who is without sin, cast the first stone ~ Christ
Being gay is wrong?
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Well done. I believe one should observe one's own standards of behavior and be true to oneself. Too often what people do is try to justify their own defiance of standards-either their personal ones or those they claim to have espoused - by pointing fingers at others and "preaching" to them what they "should" do. We know when we have stretched the permissible standards when those standards are our own and set because we know them to be beneficial for survival that does not hurt self or others, which is a better measure of what is OK than a set of stringent rules to which cannot be adhered - and result in feelings of guilt and remorse and a trail of hurt and even illness - and too often new lives which are not wanted or beloved. Obviously it is good to plan for children and love them for the "long haul". Those are standards of "behaviour" which arise from the heart rather than the gonads without thought or planning.
The more folks defy their own better instincts, the more vocally defensive they become, and seem to want to preach all the louder and accuse others that much more stringently of similar behavior, - or else they begin to espouse decadent, hurtful practices as being the ideal, publish porn and champion and encourage decadence even in the young. And so a terrible opposition of supposedly 'GOOD" and "EVIL" is set into motion - as a result of badly handling our humanity and what is built into it. If one believes in God, it should stand to reason that this humanness is not opposed to the plan.
The hypocarisy of ruling bodies composed of mere other humans telling everyone how to conduct themselves really is a sad irony. The claim of divine guidance is simply what it took to establish them. But whatever divine guidance exists - is within each person and just enough for his or her own use. If children are shown kindness and good, fair treatment, they learn to apply those standards to their own actions toward others and are more likely to behave at a higher level than merely using others to satisfy their own appetites. They can respect their own appetites without USING others by deceptive lures to satisfy them.
Anyway - your article is well done and I love each of your quotations. Outstanding!!
Very well written. I am putting a link on Facebook. Thanks.
thephilosopher 899 ~ Let us agree to disagree :) Is "morality" a philosophical or a biological question? Thank you for your comments.
drbillfannin ~ Thank you for the buildup and the link. much appreciated.
Nellieanna ~ We need "morality" or life as we know it would become chaotic. and there lies the rub.With order and discipline some form of prejudice and biases is unavoidable. People will always look out for themselves and their own kind. that is why we have countries,boundaries and social classes.Except for the few enlighten ones,sad but a realityto most
Yes, we do need the standards to guide our acceptable behavior and the laws to handle those who defy the standards. However what we have is the exponentially expanded effects of lack of love and kindness, grown to proportions almost beyond control. When children shoot playmates for not giving them what they want - or "just because"'; when terrorists are willing to die in order to kill more "others" who hold different beliefs; when what we used to consider "common decency" not only no longer exists but is an object of ridicule and seen as an opportunity for taking advantage (especially of older folks who haven't yet seen its demise and still practice it and expect it) - - then we need to examine the basic society where this all begins: the HOME. Parents are too often not there to teach and to demonstrate kindness to their own children, who are raised by someone for a fee who has little or no interest in instilling the values in them which will make them good citizens and may even demonstrate the opposite. We wonder why the children grow up so lacking in morals, conscience - and then pass that on to the next generation?
Governments cannot fix what HOMES either fail to instill - or worse - the evil they do instill with incest, neglect, materialistic values and bad example. One or both - or a combination should be the constant - and GOOD - caretakers of children if they bring them into the world.
Nellieanna ~ You are right. In my first draft for this article I deleted a sentence which might offend others. On the first paragraph the sentence I deleted after clerics in religion,teachers in education...AND IF YOU ARE CANDID ENOUGH INCLUDE PARENTS. The traditional home as we know it has been eroded by the expediency of modern living.
Perhaps people must weigh & guage expediency by longer-term results and standards, think so?
Nellieanna ~ Whether we believe that it is from ethical and moral principles we learned or acquired OR it is a "God" given universal consciousness. "Conscience" would still be the final arbiter in each individual's decisions.We must believe, No....We NEED to believe that "Good" will eventually truimph.
.....reading this and other examples of your writing is like sitting front row and enjoying the best Royal Shakespeare Company in the World with a glass of good cognac and 'Larry' sitting beside me (Sir Laurence Oliver) ... because your writing takes me to another level where only a few others reside ......
..and although I am sorry about your background story - this hub is a really nice presentation of quotes and as an essay on human behavior and its deep deep well - great research here and I appreciate your time in doing so .....
epigramman ~ I wrote these 2 hubs as a means (hopefully) of closure. Thank you for your kind comments. They are much appreciated.
Yes we need to believe that, and at the same time, to believe that whatever IS, - is good - because it is TRUE. No matter how we may glorify anything, if it lacks truth, it is not good. That is not really up to us our our beliefs. The joyous news is that what IS will be and IS, with or without our help.
Everything connects in this universe and the master builder would not want to destroy his/her/its own creation. :) So yes, "Good" will eventually triumph.
Great job in bring out the truth. We need to keep remembering ourselves with something like this. Don't let us fall into Hypocrisy. Great job, SilentReed. Vote up and awesome!
As I was born and raised there, I can relate perfectly, SilentReed.
There are many masters who have not followed the standard code of morality as defined by society.
Osho, Chogyam Trungpa, Ram Dass...those are whose works I am familiar with.
"To him thus knowing, bereft of all traces of duality, there is nothing else to seek."
we seem to consider sexuality as the only field requiring regulation.they seem to feel that as long as you stick to sexual mores prescribed it does not matter if you are otherwise cruel dishonest,unfair etc.
moral codes are all made by society keeping specific requirements at specific stages of evolution in mind. they are not tablets set in stone.
Hi Freya, thank you for your comments. there would be less conflict in the world if people specially in religion would stop insisting that they alone hold the key to the "truth". :)
Hmmm... in my understanding all people of religion believe they hold that truth in their heart. The problem is will or will not they push that truth to others.
In my opinion, religion is personal. I enjoy sharing my knowledge about my religion but I will try my best to not harassing other who do not have the same belief with me, because it is their own life and their right to have. I hope among the believer, I can save myself from hypocrisy.
Staying on HubPages teach me a lot about how to avoid hypocrisy. :) I just laugh for every bitter jokes! My recipe.
Thank you, SilentReed.
msorensson ~ thank you for that insightful thought. When it was the rage, I did take an interest in the New Age movement although my knowledge is at best peripheral. I still have the Orange Book of BhagWan Shree Rajneesh somewhere in my bookselves :)
neeleshkulkarni ~ You are right in that laws are not tablets carve in stones. They must adopt and change to be relevant with the times.Yet there are still objectionable sexual customs and practice that are cruel and gender bias.
Freya, I share your sentiment too. We should respect the belief of others even if it runs counter to ours. Religion today seem to divide rather than unite. A sad indictment of our time.
It always makes me wonder why people emphasize the imperfections of others while they can be so forgiving and understanding to their own self when they commit the same mistakes that they condemn and loathe so much when it was done by others... Thanks for sharing this hub, very thought provoking and opens up the eyes of the readers how sad reality is, that we point fingers most of the time without really looking at our own selves first... that we often forget, that people who looks and thinks the other way that we do are humans too.
Your hubs touches my soul much more than you can imagine. I feel so blessed to have met you at HP! See you around! =)
Serious, deep-rooted problem of too many so-called educated people: And after this colon I can copy and paste your whole hub. The poem reveals acute sadness and powerlessness. And I wonder if the human race will ever reach maturity. There will always be those far ahead of the time versus those who are mentally still in a previous era. Great hub to be chewed over and over by many.
DjBryle ~ Somehow missed your comment. Thank you for your views on the subject. Because of how we were brought up in society, we sometimes are also guilty of being intolerant of opinions that may differ from ours. It takes courage to admit it but that is a good start towards a better understanding of other people's sentiments.
MartieCoetser ~ Thank you for your appreciation. When I wrote the poem there was sadness and indeed a sense of powerlessness. But there was also defiance. A refusal to bow down completely to those who because of their position of authority feel they have the right to dictate to us base only on dogmatic principles.
This is a very good Hub which I enjoyed reading. Sex is a very emotive issue for some people and they are so scared of it they make it a moral issue, when it really needn't be. Religionists of many kinds add fuel to the fire, so to speak. The openly we talk about it the less room there will be for such hypocrisy - the "practice of claiming to have higher standards or more laudable beliefs than is the case."
Love and peace
Tony
tonymac04 ~ I agree with you that talking about it openly would lessen the ignorance and fear that is exploited by some people whose "Higher standard of morality" is based solely on their bloated egoistic sense of importance that their position of authority gives them.
I read this and am reminded of a book I have called Religion & Morality, by Paul W. Diener. The book parallels the two, and discusses how they are relational, seperable and inseperable.
What prompted me to seek out a book like this, was because I needed my own clarity and understanding of bible-toten, Jesus-Jons'n folk who always point the finger at others, but live lives brimming with sin. I needed to understand how people who are so clouded in judgement of others, actually think that when they repent for their sins, are forgiven, yet sin again...and repent again, as if God can't see their insincerity.
The line that you deleted about parents, should not have been read offensive by anyone, because it's the truth; no different than the truth of the cleric, government official or teacher. Our world is de-humanized, because of a lack of moral values. Thank you SilentReed, this hub is a powerful statement!!
imatellmuva ~I am in complete agreement with you as to how some people are quick to judge and condemn and the phrase "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones"comes to mind.It is sad to see so many losing faith in the teachings of religion and leaving the church because of bigotry and hypocrisy.Thank you for your comment. I think I will put back that line about parents but I believe it deserves a hub of it's own.
Your article is very good. I suppose it follows, since all morality is relative in your view, that no morality is the only way to avoid hypocrisy. I mean, if one has no standards, one can never be a hypocrite.
James A Watkins ~ Thank you for your comments.For me the word "hypocrisy" is synonymic with the word "insincerity" We obviously have to set some standards of morality as a reference point against which to evaluate our values and beliefs.Else we will have chaos.The word "relative" taken in it's context of use I believe does not mean "absolute".
and like the comment of neeleshkulkarni above states "moral codes are all made by society keeping specific requirements at specific stages of evolution in mind. they are not tablets set in stone." They must adopt and change according to the times and their relevancy. I am not against morality.I only question the sincerity of those who take it upon themselves because of their position in society to be the EXCLUSIVE AND ABSOLUTE guardians,interpreters and arbiters for others of what is moral or immoral.
These are the same Moral leaders that impose laws on society. They will ban marijuana while sitting at a bar drinking alcohol. They will ban a willing woman from prostitution, while taking advantage of a persons fears of damnation if they don't please the flesh of the leader.
These hypocrites have existed thru out time and will wage war in the name of religion to eliminate any one that disagrees with them.
Right now, it's the Islamic extremest that believe that they should rule the world and will do anything to accomplish that goal.
R.Cochran ~ Thank you for your comments. It is a sad but truthful observation about the people who decide what is moral and what isn't. Extremist exist in all religion and we cannot be bias if we are to be honest.
thephilosopher899 18 months ago
I liked you article, well written and you defend your points. Even if I may not agree, you wrote a hell of article!