Moral courage

Moral courage is the courage to take action for moral reasons despite the risk of adverse consequences.^[1]

Courage is always required to act when one fears the consequences. Moral courage therefore involves careful thought. Reflex action or dogmatic fanaticism do not involve moral courage because such impulsive actions are not based upon moral reasoning.^[2]

Moral courage may also require physical courage when the consequences are punishment or other bodily peril.^[3]But as Robert F. Kennedy pointed out, physical courage is usually easier to show than moral courage. Society understands the soldier in uniform. The moral agent, however, has no uniform. Indeed, she challenges uniformity itself. That is why, Kennedy said, "moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle." ^[4] That is why, he concluded, moral courage is more influential.

Moral courage has been seen as the exemplary modernist form of courage.^[5]

THE MORAL COURAGE PROJECT

New York University is home to the Moral Courage Project (MCP), founded by Irshad Manji. The MCP has three dimensions.

1. Scholarship: Manji teaches the graduate-level course, "Moral Courage and Your Purpose."

2. Peer counseling: The MCP partners with an online service called the Guidance Team. It advises young people around the world about how to advance human rights in their own religious, cultural, or political context.

3. Social media: Moral Courage TV, the project's YouTube channel, tells the stories of individuals who are risking backlash from their communities in order to achieve social progress. Examples of such individuals are:

Omnia Hegazy, an Egyptian-American singer/songwriter who uses her voice to promote women's equality inside Arab culture.

TJ Leyden, a former neo-Nazi who now rescues youth from the white supremacy movement in America.

Kenneth Edwards, a "violence interruptor" who trains other young men to stop gangs from shooting guns.

Marsha Coleman-Adebyo, an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency who risked her career to blow the whistle on government corruption.

Kevin Santiago, a high school student who stood up to bullies.

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, an ex-Salafist who came out of the closet and established the first gay-friendly mosque in Europe.

Jane Akre a reporter who refused to be bribed into covering up a story about the Monsanto corporation.

Nuchem Rosenberg, a rabbi who created an emergency hotline for victims of sexual abuse within his ultra-orthodox Jewish community.

Hasan Chalgoumi, an imam who openly calls on fellow Muslims to end anti-Semitism.

In November 2013, Moral Courage TV won the Ron Kovic Peace Prize, named for the Marine veteran who became an anti-war activist and inspired the Oliver Stone movie, "Born on the Fourth of July."

FAMOUS READINGS ABOUT MORAL COURAGE:

Robert F. Kennedy speech at the University of Cape Town: In June 1966, Senator Kennedy went to South Africa and urged white students to rise up against apartheid. He came with empathy for the challenge, since he himself had to be pushed to fight the racial firewalls in his own country. "Few men," he observed, "are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society." He went on to describe moral courage as "the one essential vital quality for those who seek to change the world, which yields most painfully to change."

Anne Hutchinson heresy trial, transcript in F. Lowenstein, S. Lechner and E. Bruun, eds. Voices of Protest: Documents of Courage and Dissent (New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2007): A believer in the grace of God rather than the politics of man, Anne Hutchinson challenged her Protestant community to reform. Today, as in her own time, the transcript of her heresy trial makes for riveting reading.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail in Why We Can't Wait (New York: Harper & Row, 1964): Eight moderate clergymen in Alabama accused Dr. King of creating needless tension by bringing the fight for civil rights into their state. King's response is blazingly articulated in this letter.

John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957): A winner of the Pulitzer prize, this book opens a Pandora's box about how to practice moral courage. One of the profiles, for example, is that of Daniel Webster, a U.S. senator who diluted his opposition to slavery and betrayed his abolitionist supporters in order to keep the Union intact. Was this moral? Even JFK would not hazard an answer.

References

^ P. Aarne Vesilind, "The Courage To Do The Right Thing choose between right and wrong", The right thing to do: an ethics guide for engineering students
^ Douglas N. Walton, "Moral Deliberation and Conduct", Courage, a philosophical investigation
^ Daniel A. Putman, Psychological courage
^ Kenndy, Robert, F. "Day of Affirmation Speech". Retrieved 11 December 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ T. A. Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth (1992) p. 72-3

Moral courage

See also

References

Further reading