exasESSAY

Sue Thy Neighbor

What the new Texas law means for the rest of us

Love thy neighbor. That’s what we were taught when we were children. The principle of treating others as one wants to be treated is a maxim that is found in most religions and cultures. The idea dates at least to the early Confucian times (551–479 BCE), but appears prominently in all of the world’s major religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism.

According to Greg M. Epstein, it is “a concept that essentially no religion misses entirely,” but belief in God is not necessary to endorse it. Simon Blackburn also states that the Golden Rule can be “found in some form in almost every ethical tradition”.

Today, a Texas law has gone into effect that upends the very tenant of the golden rule, or loving thy neighbor, let alone the long-standing principle of the West to live and let live. It is not love thy neighbor, but punish thy neighbor. It encourages us to enforce our ideas on our neighbor, and most effectively in America, to sue our neighbor for things we believe, regardless of whether they share those beliefs.

The Texas law, known as SB8, goes into effect today after the Supreme Court failed to intervene. The law essentially outlaws legal abortion in a state for the first time since Roe v…