Blowing the Dust Off America’s Moral Values

Mike O’Connor

Dr. Hart

English 112

25 November 2009

Blowing the Dust off America’s Moral Values

In one of his many public sermons, Dr. Martin Luther King said, “If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values - that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control” (Holloran 4). Dr. King’s quote illustrates our country’s need to revive the values that helped establish our great nation. America is coming under fire as many social concerns continue to emerge. For instance; more Americans are moving away from religious faith, traditional American families have broken down, crime rates are at an all-time high, and our public school system is producing below standard students. These issues and many others are products of our fading value system.

In today’s society, the subject of religion is considered taboo, while sex and violence seems to be a focus of our daily entertainment. “Christmas Parties” are now “Holiday Parties” with the word “C-word” infringing on people’s religious beliefs. Schools are going away from The Pledge of Allegiance since it mentions the word “god” in its passages. Others are aiming to have “In God We Trust”, our national motto, removed from US currency as well. The separation of church and state is one thing, but when we start trimming sources of tradition, we are in sense, trimming our values.

Why are we so adamant on completely doing away with public reference to religion? In a study conducted by The Barna Group in Ventura, California, they found that most young men and women disengage from practicing religion early in their adulthood (40). Only twenty percent of young adults maintain their spiritual activity from their high school experiences (Barna Group 41). This spiritual withdraw is a direct effect of religious “trimming.”

Some have argued that busy college life is it to blame for our religious withdraw, but the majority would agree that the current...