Moral hazards

re: "All for pride, pride for all" (BP, Life, June 27, 2022) 

Dear editor,

That the sacred text of a religion commands that "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (Exodus, 22:18), was never a just reason for burning wise women at the stake. No more was traditional religious endorsement of that evil ever a sound justification for slavery throughout the US and elsewhere. 

Equally, just as the recent debacle of the religiously inspired forcing their bad morals on others in society as seen in the overthrow of legal abortion throughout the United States, the same is true of the cited objections of some to marriage equality for all Thais. Good morals require equality of rights before the law. It therefore follows that were it true as claimed by some opponents of Move Forward's Marriage Equality Bill now before parliament, that "such a bill , if passed, would violate religious beliefs", then those religious beliefs contradict good morals. The followers of a religion are of course entitled to hold whatever beliefs they wish and freely practice the associated rituals. There are, however, limitations on what religious freedom allows its devotees to do. Their rituals may not directly harm or threaten to harm others, for example by creating excessive noise that disrupts daily life in the area, nor should such beliefs be allowed to trump good morals. 

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on July 2, 2022, under the title "Moral hazards" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/2338338/moral-hazards