#natural law – @fathershane on Tumblr

Anonymous asked:

Is listening to songs from Youtube okay? I mean, songs that aren't uploaded by the artists who sang/created them? Thank you very much! God bless you!

Good question! You'll get different opinions from different ethicists on this, since there's this gray area where copyright law doesn't necessarily align perfectly with the moral law. At times, copyright law can be very restrictive because it's at the service of raw profitability rather than expressing real moral norms. That, of course, has to be balanced with the basic moral precept to follow justly constituted civil law except for serious reasons (for example, breaking a speeding law to get someone to the hospital).

Okay, that was complicated. But the rest of the thing is complicated too:

When you listen to a song repeatedly, you're becoming more and more attached to that band, and more and more likely to actually buy that band's music at some future date.
When songs are made available in digital format, the record label is automatically taking the risk that the songs be reused.
You're also helping fund YouTube (and sometimes the person who uploaded the video) as you're exposed to ads that other people paid for.
It's likely that you'll also eventually watch the official music video on YouTube at some point, which directly benefits the band financially.
There is no potential for future distribution on your part if you don't download the song.
All of these factors are similar to what happens when you listen to radio stations, Pandora, Spotify, etc. Lots of people are benefiting financially from your consumption, and you're more likely to spend in the future.

So there are several "mitigating factors" in play that make this form of listening a lot less culpable than outright piracy, and probably minimally culpable anyway. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but definitely it would be good to have the attitude of knowing that you're receiving something free and that you have some degree of obligation to keep the system (and your favorite people) strong. Again, you may get stricter opinions on this, but we're in the realm of moral theology where opinions are guaranteed to be diverse because our intellects are limited, and mine is more limited than most... so take it as an opinion.

And as always, "you are what you eat," so if the songs you listen to glorify God, then you're on the road to spiritual health. If not, "GIGO!"

God bless you!

- Father Shane

#youtube #music #bands #band #musicians #artists #artist #ethics #morality #moral #ethical #law #natural law #copyright #catholic

fathershane

The Church in the United States is called, in season and out of season, to proclaim a Gospel which not only proposes unchanging moral truths but proposes them precisely as the key to human happiness and social prospering. ... With her long tradition of respect for the right relationship between faith and reason, the Church has a critical role to play in countering cultural currents which, on the basis of an extreme individualism, seek to promote notions of freedom detached from moral truth.

Pope Benedict XVI, today

Source: visnews-en.blogspot.com

#catholic #pope #catholicism #church #natural law #morality #moral #moral law #moral teaching #happy #happiness

fathershane

thelightofhislove-deactivated20 asked:

Fathe Shane! Can Protestants commit mortal sin? I mean, many of them from ignorance don't have full knowledge, so in those cases would their sins only be venial? I'm sure they can, as we all do, count on God's mercy, but still.)

True! It's a question of knowledge of God's law. The Church talks a lot about "natural law" on purpose: The principles of natural law are the ones that every human should know "by nature." They're the basics of morality, more or less corresponding to Commandments 4-10 (some scholars would even argue for including 1-3). Definitely things regarding life (against suicide and murder), reproduction (according to the basics of God's plan written into our nature) and wisdom (that we should seek God and live together in peace) are basic components of natural law.

Sure, they can be blurrier in some people's minds than others thanks to education, but the idea is that those first basic principles can't be erased. Even the Nazis working in the gas chambers knew (deep deep deep down) that it was wrong, no matter how much they might have tried to convince themselves of the opposite.

All of which is a little off-topic. Back on track: Sure, ignorance can excuse us of some errors in particular cases, but not ignorance of the moral law as such and certainly not ignorance of its greatest precepts. Actually, to extend that, it's not just Protestants but anybody, baptized or atheist or Buddhist or nothing, who can commit mortal sin by knowingly acting against their own nature and therefore God's plan for them by freely knowingly choosing to commit grave acts against the basic principles of natural law.

And yes, we can all definitely hope for God's mercy and forgiveness somehow, but we can't "count on it" in the strict sense of the word, since he too is free and has to grant it freely. Clearer knowledge of the moral law of course implies greater moral responsibility, too.

The Church never rejoices in sin... God gave his Son to the world (and his Son gave her to the world) to cleanse the world from sin! Part of the mission of you and I is to help make sure that each other and then everyone else get to share in that cleansing.

God bless you!

- Father Shane

#sin #theology #moral law #moral #morality #natural law #natural #theological #moral theology #moral teaching #ignorance #venial sin #venial #mortal #mortal sin #murder #suicide #ignorant #catholic #evangelization