bq. When you eat a hamburger, is that a moral issue? Some people in India would seem to think so. “#”:http://open-dialogue.com/blog/?p=105#comment-258

When I say that everything is a moral issue, what I am driving at, what I am actually trying to say is that every single action we take and every decision we make is informed by our worldview, which is nothing more than a set of morals, a set of value statements about the world around us. When I get angry and make the choice to react with violence or respond with peace, that decision is informed my values about human life, about how to react to situations that make me angry, about self-control. When I see something I want and make the choice to steal it or leave it alone, my value system, the morals I live by inform that decision. When I eat a hamburger, yes, that decision, too, is informed by my values. And since I have nothing morally against eating meat (or beef) and since there is nothing against the practice of consuming beef in my Bible, which serves as the foundation for my moral beliefs, then I can eat a hamburger with a clean conscience. If a Hindu, for example, takes issue with that, then I engage him in conversation, explain my beliefs and frame them in juxtaposition to his, with hopes that we can at least arrive at a peaceful and agreeable relationship. We may still disagree with one another, but we can continue to have respectful fellowship.

Everyone’s worldview is informed by the morals and values by which they live, even down to the smallest thing. Some of these may seem trivial by comparison to the major issues of our day, but they are values and morals, nonetheless, and they do inform our worldview.