World News and Trends: Britain: repairing a broken society
As David Cameron speaks out against the lack of morality in Britain, liberals ridicule his stance.
Politicians of every stripe are notorious for their lack of ability to solve the deep-seated problems of our societies. However, sometimes they are able to state the problem clearly. On July 7, Conservative party leader David Cameron spoke in Glasgow on behalf of his party's national candidate there.
What he said about morality makes a lot of good sense. He stated: "We have seen a decades-long erosion of responsibility, of social virtue, of self-discipline, respect for others . . . Instead we prefer moral neutrality, a refusal to make judgments about what is good and bad behaviour, right and wrong behaviour.
"Bad. Good. Right. Wrong. These are words that our political system and our public sector scarcely use anymore . . .Refusing to use these words— right and wrong—means a denial of personal responsibility and the concept of moral choice . . . There is a danger of becoming quite literally a de-moralised society, where nobody will tell the truth anymore about what is good and bad, right and wrong.
"That is why children are growing up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and why no adult will intervene to stop them—including, often, their parents. The values needed to repair our broken society and build a strong society are values that should be taught in the home, in the family. I want a mandate for restoring responsibility to our society, to call time on the twisted values that have eaten away at our social fabric" (excerpts from text of East Glasgow speech, emphasis added).
During his speech Cameron said nothing directly about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, the Christian religion or any other religion for that matter. But his words about morality were generally based on the Judeo-Christian ethic. They ring true, not applying just to the United Kingdom but to the entire Western world and especially the English-speaking peoples around the globe.
Afterwards Cameron suffered caustic verbal punishment from members of the liberal press and the intelligentsia behind it. His words did not fit with their amoral stance on basic issues governing morality. But regardless of whether his political party can or would carry out a program designed to repair British society should it ever become the ruling government again, what he said in Glasgow remains fundamentally true.
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 2008
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Jerold Aust
Jerold Aust has served in the ministry for 52 years, as a public speaker for 58 years, a published writer for 38 years, and is employed by UCG’s Media and Communications Services. He is a Senior Writer, interviewer, and editor for Beyond Today Magazine and has taught Speech Communication for UCG’s ministerial online program and the Book of Revelation for ABC.
Jerold holds a BA in theology from Ambassador College, Pasadena (1968), an MA in Communication from California State University, Fullerton (1995), a distance-learning Ph.D (2006), and a Famous Writers School diploma in non-fiction writing (1973). Additionally, he studied post-grad communication at University of Southern California (1995), radio, TV, voice-overs, and Public Relations at Fullerton College (1995-1996), and graduate communication at Wichita State University (1978). Jerold has taught communication at the University of South Alabama (7 years) and ABC (17 years). His published works include, Ronald Reagan’s Rhetoric: Metaphor as Persuasion and EZSpeakers: Public Speaking Made Easy in 7 Steps. Jerold's overarching goal is to share with humankind its incredible destiny!
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
