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The Need for a Standard

The Ten Commandments monument in Alabama has been removed from public view. Is this a drastic step, signaling a new attitude against religion? No, but it is a symptom, an outward revelation of critical changes in the moral fabric of this country. There is a growing rage against anything that would define what is right and what is wrong. A new standard is emerging, one designed to be a weathervane that shifts with every wind instead of a compass which always points a true direction.

The Ten Commandments define man's relationship to both God and to his fellowman. It provides a moral standard, a definition of right and wrong that enables men to live at peace with one another. It establishes property and personal rights and provides boundaries to ensure that one person's rights do not trample the rights of another. Our system of laws and implementation of justice was modeled after this standard. There are laws which directly correspond to most of these commandments; many of which are still in place today. For this reason, representation of this model can be found in courthouses across the land, all the way to imagery of Moses holding the stone tablets both outside and inside the U.S. Supreme Court. These images and sculptures are not religious symbols or shrines, but rather acknowledgements of their contribution to this country's basis for justice and rights.

An early observer of our country, Alexis de Tocqueville, once said:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast world commerce, and it was not there; in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution, and it was not there.
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.(1)

The moral standards continue to fall, and the result is not beneficial to this land. No one can argue that the high promiscuity in the youth of this country is beneficial. Modern society provides countless examples of people who place themselves above others, be it road-rage on the highway or impatience in the grocery counter line. Theft, murder and rape have increased as moral foundations continue to crumble. Even the State Department cannot discern any moral difference between Israel and Palestine. The former is condemned for taking out militants bent on destroying her people while the latter bombs innocent civilians and celebrates their death.

There is still hope, and there always will be. There continue to be many examples of good in this country. Earlier this week, we had a major blackout in the northeast, yet cases of rioting and civil disorder were few and far between. U.S. soldiers in Iraq carried out a war where they took extraordinary measures to reduce civilian casualties, even when doing so increased the risk to their own lives. There are teachers and coaches who mentor and train and mold the kids under their care. There are neighbors who keep an eye out each other and volunteers who sacrifice their precious time to serve others.

Jesus once said "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you."(2) This religious statement has value to men and women with faith and without. A person living according to this standard benefits not only themselves, but also those around them. This is the attitude of the great America of the past, and prayerfully of the great America of the future.