I’ve heard it expressed that certain actions are morally wrong because they are illegal. This sort of sentiment is surprising given the political climate of the past few years. We’ve seen the downfall of the ban on gay marriage, and real progress has been made in some states toward ending the war on drugs. People who subscribe to law as the primary determinant of morality are then left in a precarious position. Is gay marriage now magically permissible because it has been legalized? Is smoking weed immoral in certain states but then becomes permissible by crossing some imaginary line to enter a different state? A moral theory with the written law as its centerpiece is incredibly inconsistent and fickle, as you may find by attempting to answer the two questions above.

I aim to show that law is irrelevant to morality. Both good and bad actions would continue to be so with or without laws banning or encouraging them. For example, distributing food to the homeless without some special permit or license is illegal in Raleigh. Love Wins Ministry, according to its website, had an encounter with police officers in Moore Square back in 2013 when they showed up as they had every weekend for six years to provide biscuits and coffee to the homeless. A crowd of about 70 people had lined up for breakfast that day, but officers informed the church group they would be arrested if they attempted to distribute food. However, the church would have been more than welcome to distribute food if it had purchased a permit for $800 from the city (this would amount to $1,600 per weekend). Unfortunately, the officer with whom they were speaking indicated the city would probably not approve the permit anyway.

Less than a year after the incident, the ministry decided the best way to continue its mission of feeding the homeless was to open what is essentially a free restaurant (I guess you could also call it a soup kitchen). Because of coercive licensing and permit laws, this church is now confined to a building instead of being able to bring food to the hungry directly. All that money it spent on acquiring the building could have been spent on food for the hungry, but given the legal situation, it was probably the best choice it could have made. If the law dictates what is morally right, giving private charity without paying ridiculous fees to obtain permission must be evil. On a side note, it’s not farfetched to claim that private charity would be much more effective if it weren’t slowly being banned. Think twice before you help someone in need, or you may find yourself in a jail cell. 

In July of 2015, an illegal nightclub was raided and seven people were arrested, according to ABC 11. What could make a nightclub illegal, you may ask? The nightclub was accused of selling alcohol without a permit. This nightclub was presumably doing everything that other nightclubs do, but because they didn’t pay several hundred dollars for a special permit for each type of alcohol they were selling, they were raided. The permit to be a legal liquor importer/bottler is $500 alone. There are even permits for things like a winery special event ($200) or a spirituous liquor tasting ($100). These are all from the North Carolina ABC permit website if you would like to go look them up yourself. Fun fact: Nearly 30 percent of Americans must be licensed to work. This is up from the 5 percent of the ‘50s.

The nightclub in question, Luc Lounge, claims to have been transitioning to a “bring your own beer” establishment, but they were still raided, seven people were arrested and over $20,000 was stolen from the business by police. The first question should always be, “Were they hurting anyone?” I would say Luc Lounge was not, and Love Wins Ministry certainly wasn’t by feeding the homeless. In the end, some laws just aren’t worth the paper they’re written on.