Billy,
I like your term moral-renaissance better than post-moral. Our society’s mores have clearly changed from the societal construct of the WWII era, but in many ways one could argue that things are now more moral. Women have been liberated from arguably amoral practices that kept them from achieving parity in the workplace, racial equality is much closer to being achieved than it was when the Tuskegee Airmen had to fight in a separate division. On the flip side, the hideous sex and violence that pervades popular media and video games clearly appear to me as post-moral. What should be the form of a moral renaissance? That is an incredibly good question. One answer that is easy to say but very hard to accomplish is to strengthen families. Married or not, the commitment to co-parenting children as a close and intact team seems to have eroded. If we can raise healthy children who have not suffered from undue childhood trauma, we will be building a stronger base for our society. Fair and moral children will emerge from families that support these strong moral values. Chris From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 2:38 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [RC] The Post-moral society The Post-moral society There are a number of implications that follow from the facts reported in the article cited below. And there are questions to ask. Granted, the 1960s saw the start of what may be called "post-moral society," but while there is correlation how does this say there was causation ? And even if we grant all of the particular "causes" for parts of the switch from a moral society to a post-moral culture : (1) Was there a meta-narrative force also at work and which drove the whole process far more than any individual elements of it ? To me it is obvious that there was, and still is, even if, so far, there is no easy way to identify this force-for-evil convincingly. (2) What is the remedy ? A call to "return to God," as good as the motivation for such a view may be, doesn't address the problem since it leaves out causality, as if the cure for illness was a call to good health. Sure, we want to be healthy, but if we don't understand how to get there we cannot get there. (3) If we grant that parts of the moral system as it existed prior to the late 1960s was dysfunctional, which seems to be a self-evident truth, just where do we draw the line ? (4) What are the best, most valid, true, etc, sources for necessary morality for the 21st century. Just saying "the Bible" hardly cuts it. Who's interpretation of the Bible ? Does this exclude the Buddhist sutras or other sacred texts ? To what extent should we factor in various errors within the Bible as relevant to moral questions ? What secular sources ought to be considered ? What is the legitimate role for psychology, anthropology, neurology, philosophy, game theory, sociobiology, and so forth ? (5) If we agree that there needs to be a "moral renaissance" exactly what form should this take ? For your consideration Billy ========================================== from the site: Freemason Information HOW DID OUR MORAL VALUES CHANGE? June 5, 2013 by TimBryce <http://www.freemasoninformation.com/author/timbryce/> BRYCE ON MORALITY - Was there an epoch event that caused us to change? Actually, Yes, I believe so. Following the publication of my book, <http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/morality1.htm> “Stand Up for MORALITY,” I was asked by a reader why there is a disparity between the moral values of yesteryear and today. Was there an event that caused it? I can only offer a theory as to the cause, but first let’s consider some fundamental differences between then and now: * Many years ago, declaring bankruptcy <http://www.debt.org/bankruptcy/> was considered a disgrace, now it is commonplace and a convenient way to avoid paying your bills. Over the last 100 years, bankruptcy in the United States has slowly climbed. It began to accelerate in 1980, when there were less than 500K filings, and skyrocketed to its height of +2M in 2005. True, bankruptcy will affect your credit and future ability to use money, but it has become the escape hatch of choice for people inundated with loans or bills. Declaring bankruptcy may get you out of the hole, but it certainly will not help your creditors. * Divorce was considered scandalous for many years. Attitudes change though and the 1970′s marked the decade where the divorce rate <http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends/divorce.html> began to skyrocket. * Pregnancies out of wedlock <http://firstthings.org/out-of-wedlock-pregnancy-fact-sheet> were also considered a family disgrace. Since the 1960′s though, it has steadily increased. For example, in 1980 18.4% of all births in the United States were to unmarried women; in 2007 the rate was nearly 40%. * Premarital sex <http://www.pbs.org/fmc/book/4family2.htm> , which was long considered a taboo, accelerated dramatically in the 1960′s, from 22% to 74% in 1991. * Being unemployed was considered a black mark against a person, particularly if you were fired. Not so anymore, primarily due to the financial instability of our economy. * It used to be, the very idea of accepting charity from anyone was considered an embarrassment. Not so anymore. Today, over 100 million people accept federally funded welfare <http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/over-100-million-now-receiving-federal-welfare_649589.html> . * Female-headed households <http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/socy441/trends/femhh.html> has grown considerably since 1960 at about 8% of households to 23% by 2000. * Whereas attending church <http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/church/stats/iss_church_stats_attendance.asp> was considered a natural part of life years ago, attendance has steadily declined since the 1960′s. So, what caused these changes? My theory is it was the cultural revolution of the 1960′s where attitudes and values began to change. This is the decade where young Americans protested the Viet Nam war as opposed to supporting the military as their parents did in World War II. It was also the decade of civil rights, of protesting how we were treating the environment, of burning and looting downtowns, and where Yippie power turned the 1968 Democratic convention upside-down. Places like Chicago, Watts, Newark, and Selma became icons of disturbance in our country. And it was a decade marred by political assassinations triggered by social change. The 1960′s was also a decade where a counterculture of drugs emerged; where people like Timothy Leary encouraged young people to “turn on, tune in, drop out,” and people like Dr. Benjamin Spock encouraged parents to give their children more freedom and independence as opposed to discipline and teamwork. It was a decade where our music changed, and the words accompanying it reflected the mood of the young people, of protest and change. Thanks to the space race of the 1960′s, our technology changed in leaps and bounds, and the electronic media became a dominating influence in our society. And it was a decade where lawyers dismantled old customs in our culture, such as the classroom, and people began to question if God really existed. Because of the 1960′s, all of the attitudes and values of our parents were challenged and a new libertine era of permissiveness was born. We lost respect for our government, our institutions such as schools and churches, and the concept of conformity. It was an era where we tried to “beat the system” and reinvent America. We revolted with youthful exuberance, but interestingly, most of us didn’t know it at the time. I can think of no other reason for such dramatic changes in moral values than the 1960′s. It was fascinating to live through, but we had no idea of the sweeping changes it would have on the personality of the country. Keep the Faith! -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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