The problem is not a “shared” morality, but recognition that morals have to reflect truth in order to have any meaning, and from that, where truth comes from.
Our Founders lived under a system where morality was dictated by a King. They saw first hand what happens when a single man, helped by some advisers perhaps, gets to decide what is right and wrong for everyone else. It ends up being a matter of how moral the man is himself. Sadly, history teaches us that ultimate power corrupts ultimately, as seen in the Roman Caesars, Egyptian Pharaohs, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and every other despot throughout the story of our world.
What the Founders wrote in our Declaration of Independence was not something they just thought up. Much of it comes from philosophers and writers like John Locke and others of his era that expound on the importance of elevating morality into a divine and out of the hands of men who may or not be or become corrupt. These Founding Fathers understood, being victims of despotic laws, the vital need to place morality as a central core belief in the hands of God and God only.
“That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights…”
This document was not just written as a philosophical/theological exercise; it was written to dissuade the other European monarchies from automatically rushing to the aid of Britain’s monarch as was the custom among monarchs. A threat to the lawful rule of one was a threat to all of them, or so it was commonly accepted. By placing the core of morality (rights in this case) into the hands of the Creator, then listing tens of examples where a lawful sitting king was violating God’s basic given rights, it placed those other monarchies in the position to choose between God or King George III. And we all know what they chose.
Today is a different situation. We no longer respect that source of morality as a core belief. For example, in the late 1700s, Blackstone’s Commentaries (on the law), a primer that anyone studying the law would have to read and know, taught that there were two kinds of laws: laws given by God, and laws made by man. Man was free to make laws provided that they did not negate or interfere with the God given laws. A legislature then is NOT free to make a law making murder lawful since God’s law forbids it.
When society turns secular and turns from a central belief in God to a belief that man is capable of filling God’s shoes through man’s own reason and thought, you end up back with the despot making the laws AND the morality. This is perhaps personified in the often said words of our current majority political party - “Hey, we won!” Be extension, they mean “we get to make all the rules, and we are free to chose what to consider and what not to consider.” Now we’re back in the days of the Herods… all we can do is wonder if the next Herod will be more or less oppressive than the current ones.
The last survey I read stated 84% of the population did not support abortion on demand. If that be even close to the truth, why then do we still have abortion on demand right up to the final trimester in some cases? Over 60% favor prayer in schools - how come we don’t have it? Answer: morality isn’t thought to be above man anymore, but trusted to people who win elections. They decide the morality of not offending is more important than a freedom and freedom is slain on the spot. Or they decide in another situation offense to some doesn’t override perceived “rights.” Welcome to chaos! It will continue until we fall apart, just as Jesus himself said (and Lincoln repeated) about a house divided against itself.
The only way to stop it is to reestablish a standard of Truth and thereby morality. Our Founders used the tenets of Christianity as that moral compass. Their vision was that Americans would always hold those dear even if their personal faith was something else. That’s why their writings include statements like “Religion is the only solid basis of good morals. Therefore, education should teach the precepts of religion and the duties of man toward God.” Who said that? Gouvenor Morris, the man who’s penmanship you see in reproductions of the authentic US Constitution. He was the one who actually, physically, wrote it on paper. I’d say he’d qualify as an expert witness on what the Founders intended.
Some of the Founders themselves went around speaking IN schools about the importance of a Christian moral sense. Samuel Johnson, signer of the Constitution and first President of Columbia College spoke this to one graduating high school class:
“You this day, gentlemen, have received a public education, the purpose whereof has been to qualify you better to serve your Creator and your country.”
“Your first great duties, if you are sensible, are those you owe to heaven, to your Creator, and to your redeemer. Let these be ever present to your mind, and be exemplified in your life and your conduct.”
For the next twenty minutes he went through specific Bible verse after specific Bible verse. It was more of a sermon than what we would think of as a graduation speech. It’s important to note this was done by a man who was there, who signed the Constitution. If it was so clear the intent was a totally secular government, why did he do that? If his actions were an aberration against what the Constitution meant, why was he not set upon with criticism by the other signers? He wasn’t because many of them did the same thing.
Bet you won’t hear that in any history class in a public school today.
Truth isn’t allowed anymore because it might make someone uncomfortable or feel left out, or, heaven forbid, offend them.
