Conflicts in Conscience

Published July 30, 2006 - Glendale News Press - Los Angeles Time

IN THEORY

Conflicts in Conscience

Q: All around the nation, there have been reported instances of health workers refusing to provide services and products to patients because providers feel the patients' care needs violate their beliefs. In Chicago, an ambulance driver reportedly refused to transport a patient for an abortion. In Texas, a pharmacist reportedly refused a morning-after pill to a rape victim.

The clashes have led to lawsuits and political conflicts over religious freedom and patients' rights.

At federal and state levels, lawmakers are reportedly considering laws requiring workers to provide the care or to protect them from punishment if they don't.

Where do you stand? Should workers have the right to refuse such care if their conscience says so? Or, should they be compelled to provide care regardless?

A: When a law or a rule, whether imposed by a government or by an employer, violates our own standards of goodness, we have a right to protest that law.

In fact, it was by protest that our country got its start and we therefore place a very high value on this means of voicing conscience.

But the right to protest comes with a caveat, namely, that we need to accept the consequences to our actions. And so if a pharmacist refuses to dispense medication based on her/his particular beliefs, he/she must deal with the consequences of that protest-action, which may be a loss of employment.

While government protects our right to protest, it should not protect us from the consequences.

Without consequences, the protest does not have value.

Personally, I believe that we not only have a right, but also a responsibility to protest those things which violate our values and beliefs. For instance, if a particular movie violates your sense of goodness, don't see it. The consequence of this protest is minimal: you may be out of the loop at the water cooler. On a larger scale, if your company is engaging in activity you deem immoral, refrain from doing that work.

The consequence may be a loss of your job, but you will be at peace with your inner being.

While this may not seem doable in a society that is based on material wealth, the ramifications are much greater than they appear. As a pastor of 25 years, I will vouch that those who are at peace with themselves are much more productive members of society and therefore are in high demand.

In other words jobs come and go, but your conscience is yours forever.

So long as we are willing to accept the consequences for our actions, we are paying the price to exercise our conscience through protest.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Glendale