Moral-free children
Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, has blamed the devaluing of marriage for producing a generation of children who do not know right from wrong. In a speech at Westminster on Wednesday of last week he said that youngsters have no “vestige of stability” in their lives, “have no concept of a family-focused upbringing” and are exposed to drugs and alcohol at “a ludicrously young age”. He puts much of the blame for this on family breakdown and the whole culture that has been fostered by Government policy. “A perverse sense of political correctness” has devalued marriage and stable relationships, he claimed, and that has left the nation effectively paying couples to “break up, not stay together.”
There will of course be many people who would dispute Mr Grayling’s explanations for the problems we face, but no honest commentator can close their eyes to the reality of falling moral standards within the nation. In June of this year the Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a report based on a consultation with 3,500 people on the seven evils that scar British society. The results back the analysis that Mr Grayling presented last Wednesday.
The Rowntree report listed the following seven evils -
Individualism and Greed - People who spoke to the researchers had a deep loathing of the “me, me, me society”. Many thought that large numbers of people cared only for money.
Drugs and Alcohol - It is interesting that a similar survey undertaken by the Joseph Rowntree in 1904 listed these two items, and has done so down through the past century. It was felt that many people in Britain “don’t seem able to drink in moderation”.
Declining Values - Moral boundaries have been lost or blurred, and right and wrong no longer exist. Many of those questioned, including atheists, linked this to the loss of Christian values.
Social Virtues - Tolerance has declined, bigotry is on the increase and individuals and institutions have become less honest. There is no respect shown to public servants such as the Police or health workers.
Family Breakdown - Family breakdown and inadequate parenting were the main reasons given for children falling victim to drugs, crime and poor behaviour.
Poverty - This is a condition that cripples successive generations and brings poor health and education. Many felt that enormous wealth and huge pay and bonuses contrasted badly with the poverty of others.
Failed Institutions - Deception was seen as a political tool. Education was named as a “failed institution”. These comments were made before the recent expenses scandal.
It is, of course, too easy merely to produce a list of evils. The question to ask is why are things like this and what answer is there?
We can deplore certain aspects of public policy, such as the advice given to parents by Beverly Hughes, Children’s Minister, that they should not try to teach their children right and wrong. But we have to see that the root causes do go deeper than that. The atheist in the Rowntree survey was right to point out that the loss of Christian values has a massive influence.
A generation ago, and before that, the teachings of the Bible, with an emphasis on the Ten Commandments and the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, were concepts generally known to everyone in Britain through schools and public discourse. That gave a moral framework to enable people to make decisions and choices about their lives. Now no such moral framework exists. Of course, in some areas there are attempts to give guidance. The fight against drugs has led to a massive campaign in schools with the D.A.R.E (Drugs Abuse Resistance Education) programme. But even here there is no moral imperative behind it - rather a pragmatic approach that deals with dangers and consequences, and the providing of skills to enable children to recognise the dangers and to deal with the issues that are around drugs. That is all very important but without a fundamental set of reasons for not doing something there is no real power to resist the pressures that will come.
In many areas of life, however, there is an absence of even the level of help that D.A.R.E gives. The politically correct emphasis on choice and on parents merely presenting the smorgasbord of moral values for children to make up their own minds sounds enlightened but means that children get guidance from other sources. The media and world of entertainment are not shy of promoting their particularly unsavoury and sordid values. And conversations with friends are much more likely to go down the road of giving things a try rather than promoting self-restraint or purity of behaviour. Children need guidance and it is increasingly clear that too many children are receiving none from either their parents or the educational world.
So we have abandoned our children to a moral-free world. And then we complain when the inevitable unacceptable behaviour occurs. The cause and the answer to this tragic situation is not ultimately in political initiatives, nor even in better education programmes. The answer lies in returning to the Bible and hearing the wisdom and guidance of God. The answer is for parents and children to start once more to hear the invaluable words of the Lord Jesus as He teaches us how to live and how to know God. When this is done there will be stable families, solid values, concern for others, the pursuit of the best virtues and, in short, an answer to all the evils that we can so easily describe. People will be fully aware of what is right and what is wrong. For when God’s truth is in our hearts and when there is a living knowledge of God there is not only a set of values that can safely guide us, but there is a strength in the soul that can resist pressures and enable a pursuit of a lifestyle that is wholesome, useful and rewarding.