MoralityMeter

How do our morals and the law fit together? Do we need our government to make laws so that we know what's right and what's wrong? Or can we make up our own minds? Maybe there's no clear answer. After all, it seems that the purpose of laws is to 'teach' us that something is bad. Take the issue of legalization of drugs for instance: if drugs were legalized, would that mean that our lawmakers are telling us that it's OK (i.e., morally correct) to do drugs? Or would it mean that lawmakers had given up the 'war on drugs' as a futile, un-winnable fight? When speaking of moral issues like drug use, prostitution, and abortion for example, perhaps what we're afraid of is that if we didn't have laws against these acts, then people would view them as morally correct or at least morally neutral. But do we need laws to make the distinction between right and wrong? This is an interesting question; and is one that comes up often as we ask our MoralityMeter questions.