No Gates Kept

           I have never actually had anyone ask me this question. However I have come across some people who are locked in a struggle between their faith and their believe in Santa Muerte. Occasionally, I have seen comments online about this being wrong, or "Jesus loves you," or "Find God," or "Only God exists," or "God first," or some variation of that. I can sympathize with those that may have grown up in a religious household. This kind of environments could contributed to a foreboding scene of anxiety around anything that is considered unholy and could contribute to black and white thinking. I too grew up in a household where we believed in an almighty creator that made all. However, other than that my parent's never really pushed any other kind of religious beliefs on me, though that doesn't mean that they didn't instill a healthy dose of moral fiber.     So why is it that I don't have this need to go around policing people...

     Firstly, let's talk about what we mean by evil. If you try to define evil or even look it up yourself I'm sure you will find that you will use some combination of bad moral character, wrongdoing and causing harm to establish what is evil. The issue is that bad and wrong are not objective and measurable terms. However that hasn't stopped people from trying to measure and study it.     In the 1960s during the early days of psychology, Stanley Milgram, a professor at Yale university created and executed an experiment that we now realize is very controversial and unethical, some might even call evil. To make sure that they didn't inadvertently affect their behavior and therefore outcome, the participants were told that the study was about memory however the study was more so about obedience. Participants were lead into a room with a large device that has all sorts of lights and indicators. The researchers explained to the participants that in ano...