“You Took No Thought”
Many who work with
youth and young adults have noticed the moral drift among them. (Moral here has
to do with the larger issue of discerning right and wrong and not just the
narrower understanding of sexuality morality.) This presents something of a
challenge to researchers. “Emerging adult thinking about morality (ass with
most of the rest of adult Americans) is not particularly consistent, coherent,
or articulate.” It is not that young adults have been thinking about how to be
degenerate or anything of the sort. Not many of them have previously given much
or any thought to many of the kinds of questions about morality that we asked." One manifestation of this situation is that people who have doubts
complain that they have never heard about a particular issue before. This often
does not mean that those issues have not been discussed in public or even in
church. Often it means that the individual has never paid much attention, or
sometimes any attention. I remember things like the failure of the Kirtland
Safety Society, polygamy, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre all being taught in
seminary. I wonder when I hear accounts of those being surprised by something like
that why they have not heard of those things. I have taught enough to know that
not all students pay attention and that not all that pay attention understand
what is being taught even if it is taught plainly. The fact that most young
adults (or adults for that matter) have not given much if any thought to moral
issues is a disappointment but not a surprise. Nevertheless, the lack of giving
thought beforehand to these issues can and does have disastrous consequences.
Not only can it be a
problem when young adults have given no thought to these moral issues, but it
can also be a problem if parents or local church leaders have not either. After
all, “without awareness or moral issues, ethical decisions are compromised." Thus failure to give thought to issues can create a situation where
actions are unintentionally misaligned with words. A breach in integrity
ripples out into breaches in the trust and faith of others.
Problems with moral
reasoning are prevalent among young adults, and these problems were summarized
under the following headings: moral individualism, moral relativism, moral
sources, moral instincts and happiness, moral dilemmas, and moral compromises. (John
Gee, Saving Faith: How Families Protect,
Sustain, and Encourage Faith [Provo/Salt Lake City: BYU Religious Studies
Center/Deseret Book, 2020], 131-32)
