Jon Jones

Religion and Popular Culture

Health: A Moral Issue?

On page 14 of Liturgical Food, the author mentions that temperance went from a health issue to a moral one. He says that “while temperance began as a health issue, through a religious movement it seized hold of the public imagination.” It’s interesting to see how this works, because it happens quite a bit. This switch from health issues to moral issues happens with alcohol, drugs, and even staying in shape. But why? What is it about health concerns that make them able to be quickly transformed?

One way that it has been explained is that it is important for us to try to be as perfect as we can be. By being models of human identity, by having a physically fit form and beauty, we are closer to being what God wants us to be when he makes us as images of Himself. There is also some passage in the Bible that is quoted but that alludes me at the moment; suffice to say that there is reputed to be biblical evidence for why we should be as healthy as possible.

To see how this has affected the way we think of health concerns, think of a drug user. We don’t tend to think that a smoker of marijuana, for instance, is merely unhealthy, or that he is merely doing something unlawful. Instead, we think of this person, and portray these types of people in the media, as morally deficient in some way. These are “bad people”. If a crack smoker was good in every way, many still would not want to associate with him. But at base, drugs are just a health issue.

But why bother? What’s the point? I would contend that the reason that these health concerns become moral issues is because moral issues are simply more convincing. Moral arguments are more convincing than legal or most any other type of argument, for they have a direct influence on whether you are a “good” or “bad” person. As such, advocates of good health try to find reasons why it is immoral to act in ways opposite to their health ideas.