Texas Faith: When society’s morals shift

SHIFTING MORALS OF THE SOCIETY :: FOUNDATION FOR PLURALISM

Each one of us struggles daily with the question of what is right from wrong, and that is very human. As a futurist predicting the changing landscape of religions and morality – I am pleased to share my understanding of the issues.... The sense of right and wrong are not set values either, they are dynamic and a reflection of the majority.... There was a time when a man and a woman living together was not acceptable and both of them would have been hung or shot, it is still the case in Iran and Saudi Arabia but not in the western democracies.

Continued at: http://foundationforpluralism.blogspot.com/2015/06/texas-faith-when-societys-morals-shift.html

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net 

......

Texas Faith: When society’s morals shift
Rudolph Bush | Published at Dallas Morning News June 9, 2015 8:00 am

Many of us wish to be good, and we work to be good. But in a complex world, the question of what is good and what is moral is always shifting. Society’s sense of morality, of how we should act and react, changes.

The growing acceptance of homosexuality and the sense that marriage between couples of the same sex and couples of the opposite sex are equivalent is a powerful example. Or take the ever sensitive question of abortion, something that fewer and fewer Americans now believe is morally acceptable versus a generation ago.

It is often hard to know what is good and what is moral. It is easy to be pushed by popularity.

The writer Rod Dreher recently opined that America is no longer a true home for Christian people and that “we have got to prepare ourselves and our families and our churches through intentional living, through disciplined living, and through an awareness of the cultural moment to deal with perhaps even persecution.” He suggests that our nation is on a confused path of the sort that drove St. Benedict away from Rome and into the woods during the empire’s decline. Conservatives, he suggests, should “consider what I’ve come to call the ‘Benedict Option’ —that is, pioneering forms of dropping out of a barbaric mainstream culture that has grown hostile to our fundamental values.”

This appears to be in reaction to the changing cultural sense of morality. Dreher believes his views are a true morality, just as those who disagree with him believe theirs are.

How does a person who wants to good and moral find a true path of goodness and morality? How do we sift right from wrong? When do we bend to change and when do we stiffen our resolve?

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith matters, Dallas

Each one of us struggles daily with the question of what is right from wrong, and that is very human. As a futurist predicting the changing landscape of religions and morality – I am pleased to share my understanding of the issues.

The struggle continues for many, those who feel a sense of freedom from within want acceptable answers to the new issues that come up, and sincerely wish the others see it through and accept it. And those who think and want to find acceptance to new solutions are branded as liberals.

Whereas, those who resolutely follow the tradition are comfortable with it, but they also wish that others stick to the traditions as well. We usually label this group of people as conservatives, and those who want to force others to ‘behave’ are labeled as fundamentalists now.

To struggle is human, that is our nature.

God or evolution broadly created life and matter. The matter is pre-set to be in self-balance like the planets orbit around the sun, as though NASA’s computers have programmed them to function precisely, so is much of the nature. But life on the other hand was not created to be on auto-pilot, a mind was given to humans and complete freedom to figure out their own balance. We had the freedom to mess it up or continuously maintain that balance.

The struggle will always be there between conservatives and liberals. To maintain that elusive balance, both ends push and pull. The third group, which is the moderate majority, takes action at the tail end of the struggle and tilts the decision one way or the other, but usually they remain on side lines even though they are a majority, but their nature is not passionate to fight for the change.

If conservatives had their say, we probably would have lived in caves and resisted any discoveries and changes. Many of us would have died because we would have opposed ‘modern’ medicine or any new things that made the life ‘un-natural’ or went against God. On the other hand if liberals had their way completely, we would have fallen off the earth, we would have tried every new thing without opposition and would have faced disastrous consequences.

The sense of right and wrong are not set values either, they are dynamic and a reflection of the majority. Much of the morality was determined by the fact of co-existence, and religion has contributed much to this, and it was necessary to hold people accountable for messing up the balance.

There was a time when a man and a woman living together was not acceptable and both of them would have been hung or shot, it is still the case in Iran and Saudi Arabia but not in the western democracies.

Same sex marriage was an ultra liberal value a decade ago; it was shunned by every form of civilization, western or eastern, but now there is a growing acceptance. It is still not acceptable in many counties, and even in a democracy like India, it is declared illegal.

Death penalty has survived in many nations, but is vanishing where the majority of the people feel differently about it. I am opposed to death penalty but until a majority of Texans feel that way, it remains the moral value of the state, and thus people.

It seems morality is determined by the majority acceptance, if the majority supports, it becomes a norm over a period of time. I predict the definition of sin would change from what God says to what is acceptable to the majority.

To read the views of other panelists go to Dallas Morning News at - http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/06/texas-faith-when-societys-morals-shift.html/#more-56519

Thank you

mike
Mike Ghouse, Speaker
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
........................................................................................................
Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism, Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politics and other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film " Sacred" to be released on 9/11 and a documentary "Americans together" for a July 4 release.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.