I wonder
if Martin Luther would have thought that our current attempts at ethics education were destined for failure or something worse, maybe even blasphemy. Our society as a whole wants ethics to avoid crime, and chaos, but otherwise we want no restrictions on our ability to please ourselves. Ethics comes from truth, and we refuse to embrace truth but hope to hold onto the vestiges of ethical behavior…it cannot be. I believe Jefferson said you cannot legislate morality, and that is what ethics education attempts to do, I believe. Teach people that this is right and that is wrong, but give no reasons why this is so. Is that not law, just like legislation. Do that…why? Because it’s the law….because if you don’t you’ll go to prison. No reasoning, just compliance. And compliance never lasts, because it will only continue as long as outside forces enforce it.
