The Trump-Pence split on same-sex marriage, brought to the fore by the presidential candidacy of Pete Buttigieg, clearly illustrates a major intellectual defect of our times. With Trump supporting and Pence opposing because of “religious conviction”, the presumption is that there is no intrinsic objective right or wrong on this or any act relating to the sixth precept of the natural moral law (sexuality) that can be known by human reason. All we are left with are personal desires and religious convictions, both deemed subjective. When one’s desires come up against others’ religious convictions, desire wins. This is interpreted as freedom.
Can you imagine if we saw the other primary precepts of morality this way? Lying, slander, stealing, murder, rape, neglecting family obligations, drug abuse, terrorism, verbal/physical abuse, and respect for the law – all judged as morally neutral since personal desire and personal religious conviction are all we have? There would be absolute chaos.
If we can see by human reason that drug abuse, cheating, and stealing are objectively bad because they contradict the goods of health, honesty, and private property respectively, why is it so difficult today for many on both sides of the political spectrum to see that sodomy and other acts contradicting our bodily life-giving nature are objective violations of the good of chastity, which is vital for the health of the individual and of family? Why is the suspension of reason and its resultant moral chaos acceptable with only the sixth precept of the moral law and not the others? These are rhetorical questions since I know the answer, but it illustrates the blatant contradiction our society is living today.