# Can you legislate morality?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 30, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799 "2006-06-30T20:50:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799/21 "2006-07-03T13:49:06Z")

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[QUOTE=Captain Amazing]  
Of course you can’t, and I don’t think anybody is claiming that. But you can say, “From now on, black people are equal to white people under the law”, and then consistantly enforce that for a few generations, and people will come to think that black people are equal to white people more than just legally.  
[/QUOTE]

As Plato said, the law is a moral teacher.

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**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799/22 "2006-07-03T14:16:45Z")

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I agree that it can be taught by forcing an example, but that’s a bit different than legislating it.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799/23 "2006-07-03T14:46:18Z")

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[QUOTE=jeffrice]  
**Can you legislate morality?**  
[/QUOTE]

No, of course **you** can’t, but **I** can.

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**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799/24 "2006-07-03T15:34:33Z")

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[QUOTE=Zoe]  
Should she be forced by law to dispense the drug?  
[/QUOTE]  
Yes, because that’s a pharmacist’s job. If they didn’t want to dispense drugs (ALL drugs, provided they are prescribed by a doctor), they shouldn’t have become a pharmacist. I never understood why there is controversy over that particular issue.

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**Author:** ![rwjefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a6a055/32.png) [@rwjefferson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rwjefferson)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-legislate-morality/362799/25 "2006-07-05T22:52:25Z")

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Define morality. You can _attempt_ to legislate religious “morality”; but that is done only at great cost and invariably fails by natural law. The truth is that legislating religious “morality” is not only immoral, it is also crime. It not only violates the [separation of church and state](http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am1); it also violates our inalienable rights: those rights [retained by the people](http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#Am9) (us); no matter the words of law. Legislation of religious “morality” violates even the very morality that most of these zealots claim to follow: the words and spirit of [jesus](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=8&verse=7&version=31&context=verse)

Even the attempt to legislate religious “morality” is the greater immorality.

ItS  
r~

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