Whatever Happened To America’s Moral Center?
Published 18 March 2010
I believe we are in the midst of a crisis of conscience in this country. What was once considered normal is suddenly considered abnormal. What was once considered abnormal is suddenly considered normal. It truly is a world turned upside down. Matters that seemed unthinkable only a decade ago are suddenly becoming the standard by which we are measured in public.
The biggest change we have experienced is a loss of our moral center. Our founding fathers understood the moral center that comes from a biblical world view—even the founding fathers who were not Christians understood this value. Our grandparents and our parents understood the value of the Ten Commandments.
Benjamin Franklin summed it up when he said, “I believe in one God, creator of the universe; that He governs it by his providence, that He ought to be worshipped,…As to Jesus of Nazareth,…[I] have some doubts regarding Jesus’ divinity.”
My point is this; Christianity was so prominent in our founding that even those who did not believe felt that there was a great value in the system of Christianity that allowed the governance through democracy in a republic form of government.
We no longer have that moral center. Now, we find ourselves in a culture that not only does not believe, but actually mocks belief in one God. We have gone from the place where it is okay to make fun of belief in God in limited cases, like a Hollywood movie or a book. At the same time, it was not okay to make fun of the core beliefs that surrounded the belief in God.
Now we do not have the mockery limited to Hollywood, it is the core of how our average citizen thinks. We cannot offer any type of spiritual help to struggling youth because we have no place for God in our schools. We have nothing to base our moral core on because we suddenly do not believe in moral absolutes.
Then we wonder out loud why it seems that evil is so much more present in our society. Why is there a problem with drugs? Why do we have an increase in out of wedlock pregnancy? Why are we in a seeming downward spiral?
I believe it is all tied into the fact that we no longer value the things that God values because we no longer really believe in God. He was good for our ancestors. He was okay for children, but we are enlightened and have no need for God.
From the AJC:
The announcement of a new chief of staff was viewed as surprising. Erin Hames, who had served as policy director for Gov. Sonny Perdue and had been deeply involved in Georgia's Race to the Top application, was put on the job only weeks ago.
Barge asked her and two others -- Courtney Burnett, coordinator of external affairs, and Buck Hilliard, the agency's liaison to the state board -- to resign, a DOE official said.
