A moral nation?
James Forsyth 4:47pm
Under the arresting headline “Wanted: a national culture”, The Times carries an extract from the Chief Rabbi’s new book. Here’s the key section of Jonathan Sack’s argument: “In 1961, suicide ceased to be a crime. This might seem a minor and obviously humane measure, but it was the beginning of the end of England as a Christian country; that is, one in which Christian ethics was reflected in law. It was a prelude to other and more significant reforms. In 1967 abortion was legalised, as was homosexual behaviour.
Collectively these changes represented a decisive move away from the idea that society had, or was entitled to have, a moral code at its base, covering many areas of life that might otherwise be regarded as private. Society was no longer conceived of in terms of a moral consensus. The law would intervene only to prevent individuals from harming one another.
What happens when we lose moral consensus? Morality is reduced to taste. “Good” and “bad” become like yum and yugh: I like this; I don’t like that. Imagine two people, one of whom says: “I like ice cream”; the other: “I don’t”. They are not arguing. Each is simply declaring his or her taste.” I’m sympathetic to the need for a common sense of identity but I find this fairly unpersuasive stuff. First, it assumes that any moral consensus must be based around religion which I don’t think is necessarilly the case. Second, it seems to confuse fairly narrow elements of personal morality with morality per se. But there is no doubt that Sack’s book is going to play a key role in the emerging Britishness debate, so I’d urge you to read the whole thing.
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John Whitworth
October 20th, 2007 6:05pm Report this commentWhy on earth should I be interested in what a Rabbi has to say about morality? He's just an Imam with a different hat.
Struan Jamieson
October 20th, 2007 7:00pm Report this commentBearing mind that suicide was not an offence in Scottish Law, with respect the the Chief Rabbi, Scotland was and still is a Christian Country. There almost certainly a moral dceline in both countries but changes in the law on suicide do not account for this
George Steiner
October 20th, 2007 7:24pm Report this commentWell Mr. Whitworth and who would you be intersted in, about morality, if anybody?
Purple Scorpion
October 20th, 2007 8:48pm Report this commentWaste my time reading the book if that is one of its more interesting arguments? I don't think so. If points like this are going to feature in debates about Britishness, who will make them except a small number of wistful, out of touch religious authoritarians? So precisely why should I take any notice?
Mark Smith
October 20th, 2007 8:59pm Report this commentI found Sack's argument compelling - not least in making the (alas unfashionable) point that once you take away the foundations of a society (i.e. Christianity), you can't act suprised if the walls began to fall down around you.
Dave Bartlett
October 21st, 2007 12:24am Report this commentThe book is called 'The Home we Build Together: Recreating Society'.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Home-We-Build-Together-Recreating/dp/0826480705/ref=sr_1_8/202-4263313-8867835?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192922486&sr=1-8
michael spring
October 21st, 2007 10:55am Report this commentWhat moral decline? I don't see it happening, and the reason is that, as a society, we all know what's good for us and for our prosperity.
Max Kaye
October 21st, 2007 10:56am Report this commentWhile disagreeing with some of what Sacks's has to say (not just here, but also in his other articles which appear regularly in The Times), his writings are always interesting, compassionate, well thought out and free of the bigotry and/or the mysticism that imbue the thoughts of most religious leaders.
John Whitworth
October 21st, 2007 12:44pm Report this commentGood question, Mr Steiner. Here are some people. The politician Frank Field, the philosopher Mary Warnock, the novelist J.L. Carr, Michael Oakeshott, my mother. About one thing at least, the politician Robin Cook. Not an exhaustive list and some of these people are dead but then I'm getting on myself
jfrancishill
October 23rd, 2007 1:33am Report this commentGod's Word, not society, should be the moral consensus. Society is most often a rainbow of behaviors covering all tints of the spectrum. Not good as a moral guide!
Max Kaye
October 23rd, 2007 9:38am Report this commentJfrancishill - which god would that be then? Yours? Mine? Theirs? The one that looks like an elephant or the one with six arms?
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