The issue of morality is one that each of us wrestles with throughout our lives. \u00a0Where does morality come from? \u00a0Why was it wrong for Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit?\u00a0 Why was it considered evil for Cain to murder Abel?\u00a0 Why is it wrong to steal the Hershey\u2019s bar from the gas station?\u00a0 Why is premarital sex considered to be morally wrong for some, but completely okay for others?\u00a0 Where once there was a system in which people could look to for the basis of morality, now the lines of right and wrong are becoming increasingly blurry.<\/p>\n
One of the questions that Christian Smith asks in his book Lost in Transition,<\/em> is that of where emerging adults (ages 18-23 year olds) find their sense of morality.\u00a0 What makes it so difficult for young Americans to find a basis of morality?\u00a0 Smith writes, \u201cSix out of ten (60 percent) of the emerging adults we interviewed expressed a highly individualistic approach to morality. They said that morality is a personal choice, entirely a matter of individual decision. Moral rights and wrongs are essentially matters of individual opinion, in their view.\u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 He notes later on that most emerging adults do not go to the extreme of moral relativism[2]<\/a> but that they still retain an individualistic approach to morality.<\/p>\n Having an individual basis of morality is not bad.\u00a0 Part of maturation is coming to the realization of where one falls on moral issues.\u00a0 However, the problem is when morality does not cross the threshold into community.\u00a0 In my church in Kentucky, one of my deacons frequently used the old adage, \u201cGod calls, but the church confirms.\u201d\u00a0 What he meant by this was that the individual call and individual growth is important, but it is ultimately realized in the face of the greater community.\u00a0 In the same way, emerging adults should be empowered to wrestle with moral issues individually while simultaneously testing them against the morality of the greater community.\u00a0 For Christians, this would also entail a discernment through the church, which is is then filtered through the Bible, tradition, reason, and experience.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Theoretically, this should be helpful.\u00a0 But there are other challenges that must be addressed within this sphere.\u00a0 For one, there is the issue of the global nature of the world and the church.\u00a0 Because of social media, it\u2019s easier than ever to post one\u2019s thoughts for the world to see as well as for one to catch a glimpse of where others around the world fall on various topics. \u00a0The issue of globalism has created a cultural relativism for some that makes it more difficult than ever to find one\u2019s feet on solid ground.\u00a0 Part of this reality is that it is easier to become aware of the teachings of other religions, which has led to the creation of pseudo-religions where one can pick the teachings one likes from different religions and form them into a personal conglomeration.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n One of the more striking statements that Smith makes is that \u201cfully one in three (34 percent) of the emerging adults we interviewed said that they simply did not know what makes anything morally right or wrong.<\/em>\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 While we can fault the education system for this due to its neglect of teaching proper critical thinking skills in favor of standardized testing[6]<\/a>, the passing of morality and values ultimately finds its deepest foothold at home.\u00a0 Kendra Creasy Dean writes, \u201cSince the religious and spiritual choices of American teenagers echo with astonishing clarity, the religious and spiritual choices of the adults who love them, lackadaisical faith is not young people\u2019s issue, but ours.\u201d[7]<\/a>\u00a0 As morality is often tied with religious institutions, we can see the church as a place where moral teaching can occur.\u00a0 However, young people are only at church once (maybe twice) a week; the rest of their time is spent with family and friends.\u00a0 What they are exposed to is what they get.<\/em><\/p>\n For young Christians, what can we do?\u00a0 If what Dean says is true, that faith is most consistently built at home, how can we empower parents to model their faith and morality to their children?\u00a0 Is part of the problem that we take for granted the morality that we were raised with and expect others to understand it?\u00a0 How can the dialogue between parents and their children be opened in a space that allows for both<\/em> sides to wrestle with their questions?\u00a0 If this space isn\u2019t created, there will continue to be a disconnect between the globalized youth and localized adult.[8]<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For the church, it is also important that it be a place for young Christians to be able to dialogue about issues.\u00a0 While in retrospect some issues are more black or white than others, it\u2019s in the gray that we find ourselves most often.\u00a0 The gray is where growth happens and it shouldn\u2019t be ignored, but rather embraced.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Christian Smith, Lost in Transition,<\/em> Oxford: Oxford University Press (2011), 21.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid., 27.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> The use of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral is a tool that would be useful in introducing to young Christians who must learn to wrestle with concepts of morality.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Recently I was talking to a friend who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian tradition who ultimately found it too stifling and rigid.\u00a0 Since leaving that tradition, my friend has become found a more \u201cpersonal\u201d religion that acknowledges the love of Christ, but mixes it with New Age and Buddhist teachings.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Smith, Lost in Transition,<\/em> 35.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> An interesting article on the subject can be found here <https:\/\/www.google.com\/amp\/s\/observer.com\/2018\/01\/american-education-system-suppresses-critical-thinking\/amp\/><\/p>\n