The Concept of Innocence in Today’s World (tags)
This short paper does not pretend to a thorough analysis, however, it is hoped that the few indications would suffice both to verify assertions and to indicate a rich direction for further research.
Innocence implies a lack of guilt or blamelessness; the images humans readily associate with the concept of innocence are those of infants, suckling babes, children and the newborn. A species tends to identify and place value on itself. In contrast to instinctive emotions we have the superimposition of cultural values/demands. Religion is the traditional repository and medium of constructed/cultural values. A cursory analysis would reveal that cultural values are not usually compatible with strong instinctive emotions. The value placed on the lives of defenceless children, infants and the newborn will be the criteria utilised to easily prove our assertions.