· Meeting of 23 May 2011: ‘When good ethical principles clash’
We often find ourselves in situations where we must decide between two courses of action each of which seems to be based on sound ethical principles. Do we tell a lie to save a relative or friend some pain? (‘No your clothes don’t make you look like mutton dressed as lamb’. ‘No I don’t think your husband/wife is having an affair’.) More seriously legislators sometimes have to weigh up the relative merits of competing ethical principles when framing laws. The issues may be obvious when the principles are derived from different ethical traditions such as the religious and the secular but conflict may occur even within a tradition. Current or recent controversies in various countries have included: ‘The banning of Burqas in public’ ‘Genital mutilation’ ‘Voluntary euthanasia’ ‘Religious education in public schools’ ‘Flag burning’ ‘Same-sex marriage’. While each of these issues may have begun as a clash between religious and non-religious viewpoints even people from the same tradition may hold opposing views.