Right/Wrong vs Good/Evil

It seems that every few hundred years or so, western society undergoes a cycle of religion in government. That is, we go through periods where the government of the day is also, essentially, the church of the day. We find ourselves in this situation right now.

Despite the US constitution stating that the Church and the State must be two separate entities, and the Bush administration paying lip service to this claim, the general public are constantly told that the war on terror is about the US's God given duty to extinguish the evil forces in the world today.

There is a reason that the Founding Fathers of the USA wanted Church and State kept separate. They had enough objective vision to know that as soon as religion entered into any political debate, rational thought went out the window. You just can not win an argument against someone who is taking a position based purely on their own Faith. In these types of confrontations, everyone thinks that they are on the side of "Good". This belief is not negotiable. You can not expect someone to give up their belief structure, no matter how well presented your argument is.

This is a very complex issue to discuss, and there are many facets to this whole situation, but right now I want to suggest an important definition of the Good/Evil terms of reference.

Despite the Bush administration's claim to not be waging a religious war, the fact that they use the terms Good and Evil suggests that they are. To me, "Good" and "Evil" are two terms that can not be taken out of a religious context. They are very different from "Right" and "Wrong", but at the same time, they can be closely related.

To me, "Good" and "Evil" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being (natural and supernatural) in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by a question of Faith.

"Right" and "Wrong" imply a definition of the moral standing of a being in relation to a belief structure that is determined by a framework of standards of behaviour defined by the society in which the being is located and/or from.

Now these definitions are my own, which may explain why they seem a bit long winded. But I felt that I needed to explain my thoughts properly. In a nutshell: I think that Good/Evil are defined by a religious faith, and Right/Wrong are defined by society.

As I said, two separate things, but also can be closely related. In a society where the morals are dictated by the dominating religion, the Good/Evil vs Right/Wrong question could be irrelevant. Unfortunately, I see that western society is headed in this direction. We are becoming a culture where religious beliefs are dictating Government policy, and the majority of the unthinking population will believe what they are told to believe.

We should be able to tell the difference between issues of Right/Wrong and Good/Evil, but the line is becoming increasingly blurred.