Mandatory

We should be careful about saying an action is mandatory, without further qualification. Mandatory often means different things to different people.

1. God requires this action from all people

2. God requires the action from all Christians

3. The state can penalise those who fail to comply with the standard and compensate those who were aggrieved.

4. Active state action to make people take particular actions.

5. The state can take action to achieve a general goal, eg taxing people to achieve inequality.

When saying something is mandatory, we should be more precise about what we mean.