Morality Now!

The last presidential election nearly broke my heart. But more than that; it saddened me very deeply. How could we, as a nation, have descended to such mean-spirited bickering? How could we tolerate so many lies and so much character assassination?

For several days I moped around, but then I had an idea. Someone had to fight for the moral renewal that our country desperately needed—and why shouldn’t that person be me? First, however, I had to do some investigating. I had to find out how other people felt.

While I was not surprised by the dismay most conservatives expressed, I was amazed by the consternation of my liberal friends. They too were appalled by the lies and the meanness. They might not agree as to the source, but they too hated the moral tenor.

All of this convinced me that there was indeed a widespread longing for moral renewal. The question was how to get the ball rolling. The starting point was easy. I had to create a non-profit foundation dedicated to this cause. But what to call it? After many dead-ends, I, and my collaborators, settled on Morality Now! Inc.

It was also clear that the moral values we sought to restore must cross party lines. They had to be standards upon which most Americans, whether liberal or conservative, could agree. It was also clear that they had to be few in number and easy to grasp.

And so it was that the core values of MoralityNow! came into focus. They were to be honesty, responsibility, fairness, family, and liberty. Of these, only the meaning of fairness was really controversial; hence, for us, it would stand for “the same rules being applied to everyone.”

The next step, after incorporation, was to create a website. As of today, it is almost complete and can found at www.moralitynow.net. We still haven’t finalized our tax-free status so as to obtain donations, but most of the rest of the pieces are in place.

One of our ideas was to permit ordinary citizens to expose significant moral breeches. To this end, we have established two “files.” One is the “dishonesty file” and the other the “irresponsibility file.” Here contributions vetted for their interest, and legality, will be posted to keep track of what is going wrong.

We are also working to create workshops to teach the ground rules of self-knowledge and strong relationships. Indeed, I am currently in discussions with the administrators of Kennesaw State University to determine if this can be done in conjunction with the school.

Added to this, I hope to write a book to argue for moral renewal, as well as to give talks to community groups so as to spread the word. No doubt other opportunities will arise if this idea catches on—but we will have to wait and see.

One more thing must also be noted. It is that this foundation is to be profoundly secular. Many people, especially on the right, have come to the conclusion that moral commitments flow only from religious commitments. This is wrong, and would doom our country if it were true.

Like it or not, ours has become a secular nation, with even religious people less likely to attend church than they once did. As a consequence, we need to establish a nonspiritual foundation for morality that is in tune with the needs of our techno-commercial society.

This is possible, but its outlines must be clarified. I hope to begin this process in subsequent columns where I will discuss each of MoralityNow!’s core values. If people are to agree on what needs to be done, they have to know what they are agreeing to.

Such clarity is especially important for the young who have grown up in an era of moral relativity and non-judgmentalism. Morality matters and can continue to exist only if we together stand up to defend it.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University