(May 5, 2015 at 6:54 am)Ben Davis Wrote:Quote:Also, take for example someone who is a Muslim and defends his/her book of teaching by saying that the evils it presents (like how a little girl was wed to Muhammad when she was only 6 years old...) ...were considered "correct" or "acceptable" at the time they happened.
As intimated above, I argue the harm. A non-consenting child being traded, as property, to an adult for social and sexual gratification is harmful...
In a culture that lacks a concept of "underage for consent," and for that matter doesn't seek individual consent in most decision-making on any issue regardless of age? People were considered full adults at age 12 to 14 in Muhammad's day, and old enough to assume the duties of a king by age 16. A lot of them were dead by age 25, our own definition of "full brain maturity." And is harm to the youngster inevitable? Or would that depend on whether the adult was gentle versus rough? The Greeks had man-boy love of the kind that gets you in prison now, and such luminaries as Aristophanes and Plato took their turns on the "boy" side of the equation without seeming to have suffered permanent mental harm as a result. Much of the harm of incest, adult-child sex, and so on derives from our shaming of these situations and the walls of silence we've always built up to deal with them.
None of that means today's world should approve of sex with persons under 18. There's a potential for serious harm even if such harm doesn't strike in every case, and we have a social contract guaranteeing a "protected" childhood. In addition to consent or ability to understand, this may be based on the fact that the adult is more powerful and can coerce a child. I don't think we have to refer to absolute morality or to the morals of past ages to defend our decision to put kids off limits. I think morals progress as our society acquires the wealth to afford more protections. There's nothing wrong with Muhammad's actions in the 7th century; what's wrong is people thinking we should still be doing it the same way.
