The Soil of Morality

Regardless of the position you hold in terms of ethics and morality, these are confusing times in America. Much that was once assumed to be right and honorable is now being questioned even as morality is being redefined. In some cases this “questioning” is just plain silly, as in suggesting that the courts should decide if prayer can be part of a public school event. Really? Is the whole reason America is declining to be found in the fact that some citizens, who persist in believing that the God in whom we trust should be consulted from time to time, might actually do it publicly? I wish those who think this is the kind of issue that merits national attention would open their eyes to what is really ailing our nation.

Today there are much weightier issues that deserve our questions and our intervention. I speak here of certain business practices, the majority of political methods and promises, the sincerity of pharmaceutical testing, the motives and methods of the modern food industry, and whole host of other arenas that we have recently found to be operating in ways that are just plain criminal.

But the greatest question is this: How, in a land built on the courage and integrity of men like Washington, Adams, Lincoln, and Truman, have we become a nation of pragmatists, where success and wealth define morality? If we were to really take some time to look closely and think carefully we might just come to the conclusion that the real problem in America is a basic lack of personal integrity and ethical soundness.

And the next question might be: What do we do about it? I am afraid that too many of us look to government to solve the problems in our land. We have been lulled into thinking that legislation and policy can corral the human will and force it’s energy into noble and honorable channels. But the cruel fact is that law, while somewhat effective at controlling activity is almost never the primary factor in growing a pervasive attitude of integrity. The soil of true integrity is a worldview grounded in truths that put the betterment of others, and accountability to a righteous God at the forefront.

I will go further and state categorically that my preferred worldview – the Biblical/Christian worldview - is not one that can or should be legislated. I am not for throwing away 235 years of American history and pretending that our nation was intended to be a Christian kingdom. We are a pluralistic nation, where no worldview – be it religious or philosophic or economic – can become the law of the land. I don’t want it any other way. But, having said that, no thinking person can actually believe that pluralism means every worldview is right. Logic demands that, where competing truth claims exist, they can’t both be the truth. In a pluralistic nation, proponents of each worldview have the right to champion their views in an attempt to influence as many as they can to follow. Just because I don’t believe Christianity should be the law doesn’t mean I don’t think you’d be better off in every way if you were to follow Christ. I know you would.

Today we are seeing the effects of an eroded ethical foundation in our nation. We see it in many of our political, business, and religious leaders. We see private practices leak out that are diametrically opposed to the public personas we are asked to revere. We watch as promises are spoken, and then parsed in such a way as to be largely devoid of any meaningful fulfillment. We wonder at the increase of incivility in our public discourse even as we despair that our political systems can ever be productive again.

And so, to the increasing number of regular folk who are feeling as I am, I offer this. If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve got. We can’t look to government to solve the problems because they exist in the human heart, beyond the reach of Senate bills and House resolutions. What we need is for parents to teach their children right and wrong; demand that they learn to respect those around them, and the institutions of ordered society including God, law, property, age and experience, and sacrifice to name just a few. Most of all, we need to fight against the increasing notion that morality can be defined by personal preference and pragmatic success. In a pluralistic society where every worldview is free to exist, I’m suggesting that we return to the most basic element shared by almost all of them: There is a God, and we are accountable to Him. The ethics that flow from this one element have, for those who abide by them, been a preserving and beneficial core for ordered society. And these ethics begin, not in the actions of government, but in the soil of the family and the heart of the individual.