The different concepts of purity today

Kirsten Birkett  |  Comment
Date posted:  1 Sep 2023
Share Add       
The different concepts of purity today

Jonathan Haidt is a moral psychologist who has been extremely helpful in explaining why people think about right and wrong in the way they do.

One particularly useful insight of his was to point out that those who leaned to the liberal left tended to decide that things were morally wrong if they harmed people; conservative people would agree, but also tended to have a whole extra moral category – purity.

So, for conservatives, acts that did not seem to harm anyone could still be immoral; but liberals were more likely to see harm as the only moral category that mattered. That is why conservatives cared more about such things as sexual purity and the sanctity of marriage, whereas liberals would not consider a sexual act outside marriage as immoral, as long as it was consensual and didn’t harm anyone else.

Share
< Previous article| Comment| Next article >
Read more articles on:   theology
Read more articles by Kirsten Birkett >>
Comment
Why is modern storytelling so disappointing?

Why is modern storytelling so disappointing?

Recently, I started reading three new novels.One of them I came across on a table in Waterstones, a new …

Comment
Lily Allen's 'four or five abortions': How can we respond?

Lily Allen's 'four or five abortions': How can we respond?

"I don’t want a f***ing baby right now."This was pop singer Lily Allen speaking of her "four or five" …

Need to advertise?

We can help you reach Christians across the country

Find out more

Give a subscription

Our monthly newspaper is the perfect gift for those who love to think deeply

Give here