Just because they did bad karma, does not mean I will not even look at them
Yet you, and most of society, already follows this. There are criminals locked up in jail that have committed such horrid crimes you would not even want to look at them, let alone shake hands or eat with them. Maybe you are not aware of the type of crimes a person has committed that results in his birth as a chandala.
Btw, there are 2 types of chandala - jati and karma (birth and action)
Jati chandala - Due to bad action in previous birth, born as chandala in current birth
Karma chandala - Due to bad action in current birth, considered as chandala in current birth.
By that definition, a brahmana drinking liquor may fall under this category. Shastras say the Karma chandala is to be treated worse than Jati chandala.
Na karyamaavasatyena naagnihotrena vaa punah, sa bhavetkarma chandaalo
yastu dharma paraangmukhah
That house holder who has no respect for Dharma, especially if a
Brahmana, is as fallen like the worst human being.
one verse was especially immoral, and luckily goes against the law of my country.. Marrying a girl so young?
You're confusing 2 things - marriage and sex. Sex is based on carnal desire. Marriage need not be based on carnal desire, although it commonly is.
The reason for child marriage, Sharda act is discussed in another question. Repeating some points here
In olden days, when child-marriage was prevalent, most people had their Kama under control. Both the boy & the girl would be quite young. Hence Kama would not have even entered their hearts. In that age of innocence, if a platonic attachment is formed, it lasts much longer and stronger than an infatuation based just on looks which comes in older people. And most importantly, there would be no sex until the girl reached menarche. In fact, the girl mostly would stay with her parents until she reach puberty, only then go to her husband & in-laws home.
I have come to believe Parashara smriti is highly interpolated.
Your belief is wrong.
There is nothing wrong with the Smritis, nor are they interpolated. They are a medicine for the ills in society. But people don't realize that medicine first tastes bitter, and later cures you. They mistake it for poison, which also first tastes bitter, and then kills you.
Carnal desire enters heart during teenage. If at that time, it's not controlled and channeled properly, you can guess what will happen. Society does not allow adolescents to marry before 18, and in most cases, parents don't even bring up topic of marriage until 21 for girls, and 25 for boys. Then what will they do from the age of 14 to 24 for 10 years when the natural urge for sex continuously stirs their mind ? Pornography, and if unchecked, illicit sex, like it happens in the West.
Are you, OP, aware of any normal college going student who has never watched aabhaas adult pictures/videos ?
On the one end, young girls are getting raped, men cheat them saying love, then use & throw them, unwanted pregnancies & heinous abortion crime. On other end, women not getting married because they want to be independent, then when they reach 30 years age, they and their parents lamenting that nobody wants to marry them.
The solution for both of these is early marriage. Not child marriage, since it's against current laws, but there is no valid reason to postpone marriage beyond legal age of 18.
If a scripture goes against my conscience, will I attain bad karma if I do not follow it.
Suppose a thief says "if a law goes against my conscience, will I attain bad karma if I steal?"
First, you and I do not decide shastras or laws. They were also not written by normal human beings' as an another answer claims. That answer links to one Vaishnavite Krishna Prem, who is known for shunning orthodoxy & blind traditionalism.
I know another Vaishnavite Krishna Premi Anna, who is known for advocating and following ancient traditions even today.
In Kali Yuga, people are degraded. Hence it is not possible for us to live up to the lofty ideals of Smritis. That is a disability on our part, it's not the fault of Shastras.
In the words of Swami Vivekananda (whom both @commonman and I are ardent fans of):
We must always elevate the life to the ideal, not bring down the ideal
to the level of our lives now.
The IDEAL is controlling Kama. The IDEAL is marriage at young age.
We people, being degraded, are unable to live up to it. So we brought some laws in 'constitution' to prevent exploitation of young girls, forced marriage etc. That is completely fine, and required in this age.
It's a little bit like "Law says no bribery allowed. We can't live up to it. So let's bring a new law that says it's OK to bribe through corporate election campaign funds"
Let's not pretend that the Smritis themselves are wrong. They are correct. We can't live up to them, so we gave ourselves some concessions.
but we shall not bring down the ideal, just because we are not strong enough for it