by Monroe Hawley

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following essay was actually written more than ten years ago, but its message is timely. It wasn't written in the aftermath of Littleton, which makes it sound almost prophetic.

The Milwaukee Journal of October 30 carries the report that teenage suicides have tripled since 1950. This is but one of a growing list of statistics that demonstrates that something is drastically wrong with society. Senseless vandalism is rampant. Sex crimes and murder are way up. Divorce is at an all time high. Teenage pregnancies are common place. Illicit drug use is the order of the day. None of these indications of the malaise of society is new. What is new is the alarming increase in all of these areas.

We recognize that there is a major problem. It is evident in the disruptive students in the classroom, in the lack of safety for women to walk the city streets, and in the staggering tax burden caused by illegitimate births, broken homes, and alcohol and drug addiction. The usual answer to the problem is to treat the symptoms - beef up the police force, spend more money for welfare, and make sure the teenagers use contraceptives.

These are not solutions because they do not address the cause of the problems. We live in a pluralistic society in which there are many different points of view. This is not new. America began as a pluralistic community. However, because the right of each one to his own views has been so stressed, it has become the accepted philosophy that values must not be taught.

The problem with society is not so much that people have wrong values as that they have no values. We live in a valueless society. Television drama seldom depicts a character with moral values. The bad guys are made to look good. Teachers are forbidden to teach moral principles in the public schools because this might intrude on the views of others. The public agencies dealing with teenage pregnancies never tell the young people that sexual abstinence would solve the problem if practiced because so many don't believe in confining sexual relations to marriage. So why do so many teenagers commit suicide? Because they have been taught no values and have nothing to live for! Don't blame the youth! Blame the society that does not have the courage to instill a sense of right and wrong, yes, and a sense of hope into our young people.

Tragically, these problems spill over into the church. There is no room for Christians to be self-righteous. We face exactly the same problems that society does. Quoting the Bible to unbelievers will do little good unless we live by what we teach.

The church must be willing to live in tension with society. The Christian must have the courage to live according to the moral teachings of Jesus, even if the whole world does not. We no longer live in the society of the '50's in which the values of society roughly correspond to Christian values. Today's society has no values. As God' children we must find our values in Christ and as opportunity affords share them with others, giving hope to those honest souls who are searching for answers.

Monroe Hawley lives and ministers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.