Expediency – Sunday, November 14, 1943
The question of expediency frequently arises to plague us—the question as to whether or not, under pressure of circumstances, to accomplish seemingly desirable ends, we should resort to things which, ordinarily, we would not do—the question as to whether or not evil is to be condoned in some people, and some places, and under some circumstances, and not under others. Expediency, in the terms in which we have reference to it, has been defined as “subordination of moral principle for the sake of facilitating an end or purpose; conducive to special advantage rather than what is universally right; characterized by mere utility rather than principle”—and much has been written and spoken in justification of the uses of such false expediency—in justification for employing evil devices with allegedly good motive.
But the fact is that evil is where you find it, and the expedient of making an alliance with it is hazardous even when it would seem to serve good purpose. If evil comes with high credentials, it is still evil. If it is found in places that are ordinarily above reproach, it is still evil. A public lie that deceives millions is fundamentally no different from a personal untruth from one man to another, except that its results are more far-reaching. An official proclamation based on falsehood in any man’s country, even though it seems to be the expedient thing, is no different fundamentally from a vicious story whispered over the back fence.
A misrepresentation of fact concerning a world problem is no different, fundamentally, from the swindling of widows and orphans on a small scale, except that it is worse by the multiple of the number of lives it affects. Evil is where you find it, and it is what it is, no matter where you find it, or who proffers it, or for what purpose. And if we want to live in a world free from it, we must fight it where we find it, without regard to personalities or expediency; and we must be equally as wary of it when it comes with high credentials as when it comes with no credentials. On the question as to whether or not an allegedly desirable end justifies false and evil means, perhaps we can do no better than read again the immortal utterance of Abraham Lincoln: “You will never get me to support a measure which I believe to be wrong, although by doing so I may accomplish that which I believe to be right.” He who makes an alliance with evil for a present advantage is inviting future trouble. False expediency always returns to be paid off.
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, Nov. 14, 1943, over Radio Station KSL and the nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1943.
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November 14, 1943
Broadcast Number 0,743