Divorce: not a moral, but an ethical debate

In the debate on the issue of the legalisation of divorce for which a bill was filed by the women's issues advocate party Gabriela, the Philippine Catholic Church, as expected has its say. EurasiaReview.com reports that Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the Church had this to say on the matter...

"Absolute divorce is and will remain against the teaching and morality of Catholic Church [...]"

The above is quite illustrative of the backwardness of the way the Church approaches debate, and this is how this dysfunctional approach can be summed up:

Rather than focus the argument on why divorce is wrong (or right), the Church focuses its position on how divorce contradicts Catholic dogma.

Therein the above statement is where the difference between what is ethical and what is moral lies. Ethics is the study of what is right or wrong without deferring to religion. Morality, on the other hand, is grounded squarely on religious dogma. Ethics is inclusive, while morality is exclusive in nature. That is why in a modern secular society, debates on any issue should be about what is wrong or right and not about what is "moral".