Sunday, March 07, 2010

The Majority Is No Guide At All

Wendy McElroy reposts a short essay penned by R.C. Hoiles back in 1956.  The title of Hoiles’ essay is The Most Harmful Error Most Honest People Make.  The meat of this short essay.

From a religious standpoint, it is attempting to serve two masters. It is a violation of the First Commandment, ‘Thou shall have no other Gods but me.’ The most common method is worshiping the divinity of the State, representing the majority. This attempt to serve two masters or have two standards of right and wrong—one for the individual and one for the group—is undoubtedly a result of individuals using as a guide what their contemporary environment regards as right, just and proper. They use this as a guide rather than eternal principles, eternal moral law that never changes with time or place to determine right from wrong. So the individual who intends to be guided by what is currently regarded as right by the majority has, in reality, no guide at all. The individual who is guided by moral law that never changes has a guide. He does not get into moral trouble. He does not injure his fellow-man. He was goodwill in his heart. He does not enter into any collusion to promote his own interest at the expense of another. he does not try to benefit one by injuring another. (bold by ed.)

Choose your guide wisely.

Posted by John Venlet on 03/07 at 11:19 AM
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