Kim du Toit has a very insightful commentary on
morality and manners:
But the basic tenets of religious precept are critical to the proper functioning of society-- it's why I as an atheist send my son to a parochial private school, and why the two homeschooled kids are held to rigorous standards of behavior. Children have to be drilled in the basic concepts of behavioral restriction-- theft is wrong, killing is wrong, etc.-- and the instruction is easier to do with religion, but not impossible without it.
Ditto manners. Our kids are all constantly drilled on manners and need for such. Rudeness and other such manifestations of poor behavior are punished on the spot. This doesn't mean that our kids are shrinking violets [pause for derisive laughter], but it does mean that they get on extremely well with almost everybody, and are popular both with other kids and with their parents.
Up to this point, his essay is very common sense and could be written by just about anyone. What makes this particular work special is the conclusion that Mr. Du Toit astutely derives from these observations:
Where we have screwed up as a society, is in the lapse of both religious precept and manners-- which results in ever-expanding laws to deal with all the exigencies which were once covered by religious and mannered proscription-- and which is also why more lawyers graduate from college each year than the year before.
I agree that all law is based upon a framework of morality and manners. As those continue to fade, laws expand to fill that void. Unfortunately, there is a point where civilization cannot be maintained by laws alone.
I believe our liberty depends on the morality fabric of our nation in order to keep freedom-stifling laws to a minimum. If the current trend continues, I fear this country will become more and more authoritarian, followed closely by a dramatic increase in lawlessness.
It is often said that every great civilization falls from within. This is a key challenge that the United States must face, but it is easily dealt with when parents instill these values into their children.
As for me and my house, we will have morality and manners.
