The morality question

[joywitch_m_curmudgeon]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, <jrober4 at b...> wrote:

> The issue of lying is certain something I have wrestled with.  I 
don't believe in the concept of "the end justifies the means", which 
seems to be what's involved in the HP books.  I mean, if Harry lies 
so that he can do something that results in something good, that 
should be okay, right?  Sorry, but I have a problem with that.  I'm 
not naive about this -- I wrestle with the  question of what would I 
do if I were hiding Jews in Nazi Germany and soldiers came to my 
door?  To this day, I don't have the answer to that.  

I agree with the comments that bboy and Mel and others have made in 
response to Judy's post (welcome, Judy, and thanks for sharing your 
concerns) so I'll just comment on one small part of Judy's post.

It seems to me that the above example is just not a moral problem.  
What right thinking person *wouldn't* lie to protect the life of an 
innocent person?  How could it possibly be immoral to lie and 
say "No, sir, Mr. Nazi, no Jews here."?   OTOH, how could it possibly 
be moral to say, "Yes, Mr. Nazi, I cannot tell a lie, here's a bunch 
of Jews, take them to the concentration camp now."?  I just can't 
believe that there's any decent person in the world who would 
question what the moral decision is here.

Of course, there are very few situations in which the more moral 
choice is obvious, which is why we need to discuss issues, especially 
with our children, such as "When is it OK to lie?" and why we need to 
not blindly follow "the rules."

--Joywitch