Volume 6, Issue 3B, November 1996

CONSCIENCE MUST BE SEEN AS A VERB

Who decides what is good and what is evil?

Could the answer be "ourselves" - the fact of value, the presence of goals (and of humankind's self-transcendence). In conscience we recognize the value which is our meaning and reason for being.

Conscience must be thought of as a verb. It is the process of reason making moral judgements. We not only enact the values of our culture but we also create and refashion our culture to fit evolving ethical norms. Norms that remain static may become outdated and inadequate in the light of continuing knowledge and experience.

An aboriginal man once told me the conscience is like a square wheel inside a person; when the person does what they believes or knows is wrong, the wheel turns and the person feels intensely uncomfortable. If the person keeps doing the wrong thing the wheel wears off the corners, stops hurting, and the conscience is lost.

We must always remind ourselves that in a democracy, where society controls the policies of a nation, the problem of corruption of the public conscience becomes our problem. Within the average person there is a moral judgement faculty that is difficult to compromise. We find ourselves compelled to act on this value, put it into practice, and make it more so.

Moral conduct cannot be reduced to a code of ethics or a set of rules. What is demanded of us is character built upon knowledge and conception. One has to live with ones conscience and sometimes that means one has to move from the common position. Indeed, conscience cannot be given too high a place in ourselves and society.

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"Religion NOW" is published in limited edition by the Rev. Ross E. Readhead, B.A., B.D., Certificate of Corrections, McMaster University, in the interest of furthering knowledge and participation in religion. Dialogue is invited and welcomed.