CPR
Spring 2000 |
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Page A-5 |
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Personal Integrity
Judge Calls It Indispensable By William L. Zvara |
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Circuit Judge Brad Stetson described the importance of integrity in American culture, particularly in the judicial system. Integrity is steadfast adherence to a strict ethical code, he said. Judge Stetson said integrity comes from the word for wholeness or completeness. Without integrity we are incomplete. He asked, "can you have integrity without God?" Speaking to the Jacksonville Christian Legal Society luncheon on February 11th, Judge Stetson described the positives and the negatives concerning integrity in American culture. "The good news is that we have the best and fairest system of administering justice in the world," he said. By and large the judicial system and the church have maintained a commitment to integrity in America, he said, tough not perfectly. The bad news is that there is a revolution against integrity taking place today in the other institutions of our culture, Judge Stetson said. The death of integrity is shown when truth is replaced by spin, compartmentalization and tolerance. "Who gave us the right to overrule God?" he asked. A trial judge can be overruled by a higher court but people have no power to overrule God, he observed. If we reject the strict ethical code which is the basis for our laws then we fail to guard integrity.
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