Morality concepts and applications

Morality in America

Morals are defined as a set of principles of right action and behavior for the individual. The traditional morals of any given society are the set of moral principles by which the majority of its members have lived over a long time, a consensus which that society has reached on what is considered correct and decent behavior. It is the way one's society expectsone to behave, even if civil law-does not require it (Luce p. 1).

Many believe there is a universal morality that knows no race, no geographical boundaries, no time, and no particular religion. John Ruskin, the English social reformer, wrote, "There are many religions, but there is only one morality." Immanuel Kant, the greatest of German philosophers, called it the Moral Law, which, he said, governs all mankind. Kant compared this Moral Law to the Sublime Law that rules the movement of the stars and the planets. "We are doomed to be moral and cannot help ourselves," said Dr. John Haynes Holmes, the Protestant theologian (Luce p. 2).

In most civilizations truthfulness or honesty is considered the main principal of morality. "The aim of the superior man," said Confucius, "is Truth." In Judeo-Christian lore, the Devil's other name is "The Liar" "An honest man is the noblest work of God," wrote Pope in his Essay on Man. "Every honest man will suppose honest acts to flow from honest principles," said Thomas Jefferson (Stout p. 5).

Morality involves being just. "Justice is the firm and continuous desire to render to everyone that which is his due," wrote Justinian. Honoring one's word is considered a high priority. President Woodrow Wilson said, "The Roll of Honor consists of the names of men who have squared their conduct by ideals of duty." The moral person takes responsibility for his or her actions does not put the blame on others, blaming his or her failures, weaknesses and vices on the way parents treated them in childhood. And this takes courage, the quality on which other principles must stand.

The Golden Rule points out one of the main points in many religions: reciprocity:-"Do unto others as you would have them do to you" (Luce p. 3)

When a country's principles and values are based on money, it can never succeed. Even in education, the question is never, "How well can we educate the next generation so that they can live well and happily?" It is, "How much money are we willing to spend on making them memorize information in order to pass the standardized test?"

In Americans' quest for money, services and objects in our daily lives have all their value measured by how they cost. Businesses increase their worth and gain profit by ignoring laws, ignoring the environment, and ignoring the safety and security of their employees.

Some say our quest for profits have made our government run our national debt into the trillions to fund wars. Taxes have been cut for no one but the rich.

Today, looking at Gordon Liddy and other members of congress and the Senate who have been arraigned,"Christian Politician" becomes a misnomer. Every politician claims to be moral and have Christian values, but hey still lie, don't help the poor, and support wars when they get into office (Steven 1).

The "universal morality" is based on the virtues of-truthfulness, honesty, duty, responsibility, unselfishness, loyalty, honor, compassion and courage. Americans in the past built moral values into our society, in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. And the passing along these values to consecutive generations has been a reflection, however imperfect, of this universal morality. All of our great men in our early history, all of our heroes, have been exemples of some, if not all, of these virtues. The values they found taught in the Bible and other great philosophical works backed up their goal -- to build a just and equitable society.

One of the ten commandments is "Thou shalt not kill." Americans love violence. Our most popular TV programs and movies are based on murders, often with violent depictions of it. Until recently, it was legal to execute juveniles for committing crimes. America is one of the few advanced nations, besides those in the Middle East, that still execute people at all. We wage wars, not because we are fighting for our freedom, but for obscure reasons, funding troups that kill hundreds of people we at home have no feelings about,"America wages wars abroad while Americans sit at home and watch the combat as cable news feeds it to them" (Murchison p 67).

Now, if all virtues do indeed represent the universal morality, then what do their opposites represent? Well, lying, dishonesty, dereliction of duty, irresponsibility, dishonorable conduct, disloyalty, selfishness, cowardice, cruelty and hypocrisy represent, of course, the universal immorality," which includes seuxual immorality (Simmons p 123).