Senator McCain has been widely and harshly criticized for saying “”If I were president today, I would fire him” referring to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox. In our scientific liberal culture there are no sins, only broken laws or problems to be solved. Consequently, our present national financial fiasco is a colossal problem, but no one thus far has been fired and only a few ((Artur Davis Congressman from Alabama has)) have even admitted guilt.
I am not arguing that Cox is the sole sinner in this gargantuan debacle, but shouldn’t someone be fired for a seven hundred billion dollar “mistake”? Oh sure, everyone is blaming someone else, but how refreshing it would be to hear some politician say, “I failed you the people, I have done wrong, please forgive me, and if you will give me another chance, I will give my best to correct the problem and protect you from now on, regardless of the cost to my political career.” Whoever he is, he has my vote.
Of course if we are all just a product of evolution, then there really is no moral problem, and assigning guilt is a waste of time and a distraction from solving the problem–as some psychologists and politicians proclaim–as long as no law has been broken.
However, if we are free moral agents and really do make decisions that not only create problems but are actually right or wrong–or God forbid–sin, then guilt and/or innocence is not some abstract philosophizing or a distraction, but rather an essential element of correcting the problem. “For the heart of this people has become dull, With their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes, Otherwise they would see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, And I would heal them.'” (Matthew 13:15)
