My ethics and morals are mine and mine alone. I am responsible for them, I pay consequences for them and I reap benefits from them.
What other people think of them is not important (legal issues aside). If I want to curse, I will curse. If I want to help, I will help. If I want to put a love spell on 15 men and giggle on the floor over it, I will.
It's no one else's business and other peoples opinion on it doesn't matter one bit.
You are indeed responsible for your own actions, however irregardless of your opinion, my opinion or anyones their has to be a set view in a society on what is and is not ethical and moral. How anyone could say ethics are yours to decide is incomprehencible to me. Just because you may not see anything wrong with it does not mean its not amoral or unethical. It just means you do not care about societies set standard. However, In agreement with you to a point, I doubt the cosmic forces that connect all things would have an ethical or moral code. Cosmic forces are to me a series of Positives, Negatives and Neutral energies in the strictest science sense.
I'm not saying such a protection isn't a compassionate thing to do but it's still compromising peoples free will. Way if one of those neighbors believed any an all magic is evil and association will get you a one way ticket to hell? You've just doomed tha man without a "by your leave" at least in his eyes. Wouldn't it be better to offer your assistance and get permission instead of just summarily taking action because you think it's what's best?
If they do not give permission and then die, how does that make it ethical? No I believe, for the ones that do not want the protection, it is better to do it quietly and protect them from bad spirits / energies / people and their own selves in the process. Now I am treading on thin ice as it may just be me alone who has this opinion.
I would agree it's the compassionate thing to do hit you can't deny the fact that even in that case you're overriding peoples free will. What is there is a bloke on the street who believes that any association with magic earns you a one way ticket to hell. You've just condemned that man in his eyes without a "by your leave". Even if it's a compassionate act without the subjects permission you're still compromising their freedom at the least if not there beliefs as well. And as most people would tell you in that instance they would probably rather due and go to heaven then live "knowing" they were doomed to hell because you acted without their permission.
Since the concept of free will is being thrown around so loosly here, let me throw out some definitions to better understand what is actually being said.
Free will :The power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at ones own discretion.
Necessity :something that you must have or do : something that is necessary
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/necessity
Fate :a power that is believed to control what happens in the future
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fate
Discretion :the right to choose what should be done in a particular situation
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discretion
So what does that say? Free will is the power of acting without being forced to do what you "must" or have an unseen power have control over it; the ability to have the right to choose what should be done in a particular situation.
Now..think about your country. Your home. Your life. By definition...how much free will do you really have? Not a whole lot. There are consequences for not doing what you "must", thus making your decisions influenced and not at all of free will.
What's ironic, Tylendel, is that while you are going on about others free will and encouraging ethical and moral behavior according to what you believe ethical and moral behavior should be, you are attempting to remove the free will of others by suggesting they should not do something that you personally don't agree with.
Everyone has a right to act the way they want and perform magic the way they want. They also have to live with the conseuences whether they be legal, spiritual or social in general.
If I want to curse someone, I have the right and ability to do so. The consequences (if any) are mine. You cannot talk about free will in one breathe, while attempting to take away free will in another. It's hypocritical.
Do what is best for you according to your own conscious and let others do the same.
I just do not believe you are hindering someones free will by shielding / protecting them. Especially if they do not know it. I personally do not believe in heaven and hell. Just the spirit worlds. :-)
It is no different than if a Christian prays for an Athiest to be protected from evil. It does not hinder the Athiest free will to shield them in my opinion. Not trying to be combative. I just do not see protection spells being the same as love spells when it comes to free will.
The main issue to this is morality and ethics are subjective. Everyone has different beliefs and I don't believe any ones is more right. There really isn't anything set in stone and people need to realize that. Hitler didn't know he was doing 'wrong', he throughly believed he was doing the right thing. And so did almost everyone in Germany. They loved their leader.
