Moral Relativism Column

Alexis de Tocqueville came to the U.S. in 1831 and wrote Democracy in America, a two-volume study of the American people and our political institutions. He compared totalitarianism with democracy and stated that “In dictatorial regimes, despotism strikes the body: the dissenter is tortured into silence, but in democratic regimes that have succumbed to corruption, despotism ignores the body and strikes at the soul”. This is the very point we have arrived at in our nation. Our souls have been told to shut up and go away in the name of the latest fad of political correctness.
A recent Zogby poll related that in American universities 75% of college professors currently teach that there is no such thing as right and wrong. Rather, they treat the questions of good and evil as relative to "individual values and cultural diversity." The problem with this is that they see the world not as it is, but as they want it to be. Annoying questions about moral absolutes and unacceptable behavior are usually left unanswered.
Moral relativism is the view that ethical standards, morality, and positions of right or wrong are culturally based and therefore subject to a person's individual choice. We can all decide what is right for ourselves. You decide what's right for you, and I'll decide what's right for me. Moral relativism says, "It's true for me, if I believe it."
So goes the subject of Gay Marriage. We are told that these standards of old are no longer needed. The new cultural elites have redefined all of this stodgy moralistic thinking into six easy words: “If it feels good, do it.” The fact is in America over 85% of Marriages are performed as Religious Marriages. This means that the Marriage is between the Man, the Woman and their God. The essence of re-defining marriage from one man and one woman to any two carbon based entities is our latest fad. The liberal cultural elites want to take God out of Marriage permanently.
People marry for many reasons, legal, social and economic stability; the formation of a family unit; to have and to educate and nurture children; legitimizing sexual relations; public declaration of love or to obtain citizenship. Marriage has traditionally been supported by Governments as a way of safeguarding the values which are most likely to meet children's needs and protect their interests. Today’s culture places the needs of children way down the list, far behind the desires of the adults when it comes to marriage.
The truth is that every child needs and deserves the love and life lessons from a mother and a father. A family led by a father and a mother is the best environment for children—the place where children gain their identity, learn discipline and moral education that are essential for their full development. Families are the institution which most effectively teach the civic virtues of honesty, loyalty, trust, self sacrifice, personal responsibility, and respect for others. Not the state or our government schools. The family is an irreplaceable foundation for long-term social responsibility. Gay marriages by definition will only provide one genders influence on children. Men are not Mothers, Women are not Fathers.
There are many who wish to completely change society to one where all traces of religion and morality are burned at the altar of Secular humanism. Is this the America we want? One where God is a four letter word? In his September 19, 1796 Farewell Address to the nation, George Washington stated: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars?"
The Left wants a world where there are no rules, no morality, and little personal responsibility. In a morally relativistic world, those people who do have beliefs or morals must be held as the enemy. How many of you feel that in today’s society what was once considered good is now bad, and what was always considered bad is now labeled good? To accomplish this, the Liberal elites must seek to undermine traditional values and the status quo.
Secular Humanism, Evolution and moral relativism all go hand-in-hand, for they all teach that life is accidental, without meaning or purpose. Therefore, anything you do is OK, because it ultimately doesn't matter. If you believe we are created in the image of God, moral relativism cannot work. Creation implies a Creator. All things created are subject to a set of laws, whether natural or divine.
William McGuffey, author of the McGuffey's Readers, which were the mainstay of America's public school system from 1836 till the 1920's, wrote: "Erase all thought and fear of God from a community, and selfishness and sensuality would absorb the whole man."
We stand at this threshold as we ponder California’s Proposition 8. Do we want to reaffirm that Marriage, the most basic construct of our society, and the traditional family are really ready to be dissolved for the expedient laws of political correctness? You get to choose on November 4th.