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%JUDGEMENTS CONDEMNATIONS SANCTIONS PUNISHMENTS 970719
See the preceding essays for background information.
Each Christian community is bound to have occasions
when one or more members of the community willfully and
perhaps repeatedly behaves in ways which the community
regards as seriously alienative and immoral. The dilemma
which the community then faces is to discern how the
community should respond to such an individual's behavior,
so as to reduce overall alienation in keeping with its
fundamental principles of morality. An alienative/immoral
communal response to an individual's alienative/immoral
behavior --- is dysfunctional and not worthy of respect.
The communal dilemma is especially great if the community
is internally in conflict about its prescriptions,
proscriptions and principles of morality --- and the
conflict is generating alienation in anticipation of
judicial cases which may be initiated.
Especially difficult to deal with are cases where
there are members of the community who are of the
conviction that some other member(s) of the community has
(have) committed acts which should be punished by the
community --- condemning, rejecting, excommunicating,
and/or ejecting the accused person(s) from the community.
Such a communal response of course entails alienation
which may be difficult to justify in terms of fundamental
principles of Christian morality. Are there prescriptions
and/or proscriptions which should unconditionally be
enforced? If so, how can we be sure that enforcing them
is not idolatrous? And/or in violation of fundamental
principles of Christian morality?
Can a community have communal integrity if in the
process of enforcing the fundamental principles of
morality it violates those principles and engenders
increasing alienation?
It may be helpful for communities to articulate the
rights of the communities and its individual members and
state what fundamental principles of morality are to
prevail when conflicts occur between members and the
community as a whole. Clearly working for balance between
individual and communal rights is essential to personal
and communal integrity.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
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(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
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