Pandemic of Disrespect

My through-the-Bible reading has me in Exodus right now. I am struck by how much of the Mosaic law was about respect. With the exception of Aretha Franklin, nobody is talking about respect these days. That is unless they are demanding respect for their particular cause. The grand American experiment of allowing freedom of thought has shuddered to a halt. One of the most ironic cases is the politically correct tolerance crowd being intolerant of anyone who disagrees with them. Hypocrisy, duplicity, and outright deception rule the public square these days. Respect and common courtesy are conspicuously absent.

Half a century ago when I was studying civics (a subject missing from curricula today), I learned that the three branches of the government were intended to be check and balance operations. The executive was to enforce the laws made by the legislative assuming they passed muster with the judicial. The reigning force in all this was to be the United States Constitution. In the final analysis we were to be a people ruled by law. The beauty of it was that we the people made the laws or changed the laws as the Constitution allowed and circumstances dictated. Respect for the Constitution has dwindled under the pressure of so-called dynamic interpretation which allows for rewriting or ignoring the very document that is supposed to govern.

Our nation’s founders borrowed the idea of being governed by law from Moses. God gave a specific set of laws to His people, Israel. The laws were presented as behaviors that were necessary for a person to be accepted by God. They were couched in religious language, but they were ultimately practical, defining the safest and most civil way to live in society. They were all about respect: respect for God above all else; respect for life itself; respect for authority; respect for all fellow humans; respect for livestock; respect for foreigners and slaves. The most intimate aspects of human interaction were covered, often focusing on sexual and parental relations.

Quite a few years ago I realized that one of the keys reasons God created male and female representatives who were to populate the earth through intimate contact was to build a solid foundation for social structure. The loving intimacy of the marital bond was to be the glue that held society together. The father-mother-child triad is the basic building block of society. This helps to explain the large number of laws governing marital and family relationships. For thousands of years, nations grew from on the family-clan-tribe roots ordained by God.

Because of the natural propensity toward sin, these structures did not often result in the respect God intended. To my amazement I see that the tribes descending from Esau and Ishmael still disrespect the tribes of Israel. Feuds almost as ancient are evident in the Serbo/Croatian, Hutu/Tutsi, Sino/Indian and Irish/English conflicts of recent history. Throughout history, failure to respect the opinions or cultures of others lies at the heart of most of the battles we fight whether personal or national. What’s missing is respect.

For the last one hundred years or so, respect has been draining from the tank of American values. I have written previously that the decoupling of procreation from sex made possible in the 1960’s by ready availability and reliability of birth control hastened the disrespect for traditional marriage. I have also suggested that the insidious unrelenting pressure from gay rights activists made it possible for society to redefine marriage itself, removing the God-given male/female element. Sociologist may debate the necessity of two genders in marriage, but anyone who respects the ordinance of God can see the fault in same-sex unions.

Another forbidden fruit that fell from the tree of social upheaval in the last century is disrespect for authority. The beatniks and hippies of my youth set the stage for the careless attitudes we now see a couple generations later. Growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s, I became the last generation to experience almost universal firm parental control and serious consequences for disobedience. I attempted with my children to carry forward the discipline I had experienced, but many of my peers did not. Societal pressures tugged at all the Gen-X parents, causing many of them to abandon firm parental discipline. I saw the result of that in my classrooms where students showed an alarming disrespect for teachers, fellow students, and property in general. Parents who were called in to discuss their child’s misbehavior often defended them against the authority of the school.

The sixth commandment sets the stage for societal respect: honor your father and mother. Families built on respect for authority should raise children who will carry the banner forward. However, even in Christian homes today, this is not always the case. Believing parents too often succumb to the societal pressure to allow children to have their own way. Another worldly pressure, consumerism, has pushed many families to require two incomes, abandoning their children to whatever structures the community provides. Unless they are fortunate enough to have Christian day-care and Christian schools, secular attitudes will inevitably be formed in their children.

The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that in the last days, respect would disappear from society. Whether or not these are the last days Paul spoke of, his predictions have come to pass. I cannot change our culture and bring back respect and common courtesy. Neither can you. However, if we could convince our churches to stand up and claim their right to influence the culture, we could hope to gain back some of the lost ground.

According to George Barna, the percentage of practicing Christians in America in 2020 dropped by half in the previous twenty years. Of those who dropped out, half quit believing altogether and the rest quit “practicing.” Other polls indicate that many who left are disillusioned because the church seems irrelevant. Perhaps taking on the challenge of making the world a better place would seem relevant to those who have given up on church. I am not talking about the “social gospel” of the 1960’s. I am talking about being light in a dark world – the stated purpose of the church according to its founder. We need to put flesh on the part of the “Lord’s Prayer” that says, “Thy will be done; thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. (For more see “Bringing the Kingdom.”)

I know I am harping on an old saw again, but there is something else we can do that doesn’t involve long-term effort: vote wisely. The Barna poll I referenced has the following encouraging statement: “While the decline of Christian engagement is real, the data remind us that one-quarter of the population qualifies as a practicing Christian. This represents more than 80 million adults—a level of churchgoing that is a statistical outlier among affluent and educated societies.” In other words, we the (Christian) people have the power to shape our government. I am not advocating a theocracy as some detractors claim. I am recommending a return to the Judeo-Christian roots of our country – roots that grow from the Mosaic law that demands respect. That is the cure for the pandemic of disrespect we now suffer.

Related posts: Conspiracy Theory; Adolescence. Ugh!; The Risk of Raising Children; The Perfect Father