Brickboo,
As I said before, just because I cannot agree with what you are saying does not mean you are wrong. I have no desire to be confrontational with you or anyone else but surely I am as entitled to my point of view as you are to yours?

As far as I can tell my parents did their level best to censure my upbringing and to use your word to brainwash me into their religion, morality and life choices. After 17 years of being 'protected' I went off and did my own thing and became my own person. I know that my lifestyle and the 'way I am' is a great dissapointment to my Mum. You try living with that. I also know that IN SPITE of this she loves me unconditionally and I her. I tell you this because it proves that your argument is too simplistic. Yes I agree everyone knows what is right and wrong but ONLY within the context of their own personal moral code. I could list exactly what I TRULY believe to be right or wrong and you could do the same but the list would vastly different.

I am glad that you have a certainty about what you believe should and should not be disposed of withing society. I am not saying that to sound clever or to score a point I really mean it. I also feel strongly that you have the right to say so and to enforce the same within your own enviroment. However I feel just as strongly that you don't have the right to MAKE me conform to what you feel is right if I don't feel the same way.

To me this is plain and simple respect for the individual, allowing the same to enjoy freedom of choice and to take responsibility for his / her own life and actions.

Am I missing something or is that exactly the reason we felt the need to 'liberate' the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan. Those people had to endure prohibition and censure on a grand scale by the state, telling them what to think, what to eat, what to drink, when to pray, who to pray to etc. etc. It is a very slippery slope.
Tony