Is it morally right to break an unjust law?

[Kingpoleon]

The advantage of codified written law is that it provides an identical standard by which we can judge the actions of every person in a society uniformly. I have yet to see any sort of "divine law" pass this test. There is no consensus among believers in the divine as to what god does and does not condone. The subjectivity of belief does not only exist between faiths, it exists within them. So if you are arguing that you have the right to break the law because it violates your personal interpretation of the divine law, then you must logically extend that right to everyone else in the society. The end result of this line of thinking is indistinguishable from anarchy.

On the contrary! A people who do not agree on morality and what should and should not be law cannot exist together as a nation for long. Your argument thus undermines itself: if all people in a society disagree on moral and immoral laws - as you have claimed - then indeed, there would be anarchy and no laws should exist. But every society in existence and extinction then beggars belief; on a few minor things, there is great controversy and dispute. But most people follow most of the law most of the time - and thus come forth societies which agree on a certain social contract, both in lifestyles and in civil and criminal conduct.

The end result of your thinking is a uniform society, where all people follow all laws all of the time and have all the same beliefs. And if that’s what you’re into, I recommend you start a cult or something.

[Kingpoleon]

I was not talking about the general concept of morality. I was talking about "divine law." Regardless though, the extreme diversity in what is considered "moral" in America is evidence enough against your claim that such a society would automatically disintegrate. The only laws on which we have forged a meaningful consensus are based on self-interest, not morality.

It was not I who said such a society would fall into anarchy. You said that if you have the right defy break the law because it opposes your personal idea, whether your personal idea of divine law or your personal idea of morality, such a right would lead to anarchy. But whether such a right exists or not, the possibility of such defiance exists - and has our society then become anarchy?

Our society is governed by an unwritten idea: the idea of universal brotherhood of all mankind, and the application of such alone is disputed. Nobody disputes the idea in and of itself, and so we do have a common idea of morality and right and wrong.

Also, just a note to anybody else reading: notice that he did not disavow or disagree with that last line of my first post. His ideas are that of a universal, “utopian” uniformity - an entirely common morality, which he claims is needed so that laws are followed, will naturally produce such.