Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9303010216
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
`NEW MORALITY' BEQUEATHED MORAL MALAISE
THE EDITORIAL Feb. 6 entitled "What hath Clinton wrought?" espouses a moral philosophy that cannot go unchallenged.In it, you state that the action by President Clinton to reverse the ban on fetal-tissue medical research "represents an end to morally repugnant policies."
Bush's ban on fetal-tissue research was motivated by his desire to protect human life within the womb. His fear was that lifting the ban would provide further encouragement to a people who annually kill 1.5 million of their unborn children.
I cannot comprehend how Bush's effort to protect innocent human life can be considered "morally repugnant." In my thinking, morally respectable behavior would always seek to do so.
Further, you add that "suspension of discharge proceedings against military personnel for no other reason than sexual orientation represents a start toward morally respectable policies."
The 1981 Department of Defense directive, which Clinton abolished, prevented the admittance and required the discharge of those who admit that they are homosexual. The policy presumed, and reasonably so, that those who admit to being homosexual will engage in the conduct by which they define themselves. A court supported that presumption.
With the stroke of a pen, Clinton outlawed that directive and placed our government's tacit endorsement on the homosexual lifestyle. When did it become "morally respectable" for the government - and thus the people - of the United States to accept conduct that civilizations and religions throughout human history have recognized as being morally repugnant?
Evidently, the editorial staff of the Roanoke Times & World-News subscribes to what some have called the "new morality." Under this "new morality," long-held societal mores have been abandoned and virtue has been redefined. In effect, right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right.
I believe that this "new morality" has bequeathed a moral malaise unseen in our nation's history. To it we may attribute the rising tidal wave of violent and sexual crime, alcohol and drug abuse, teen-age depression and suicide, teen-age sexual promiscuity and pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, and more. It frightens me to think where the end might be if Clinton's recent actions are, as you say, "a start toward morally respectable policies."
In his inaugural address to Congress, George Washington affirmed the need for our nation to be guided by morality that transcends time. He warned that "the propitious smiles of heaven cannot be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which heaven itself has ordained."
Amen, George! May we all give heed. JOHN LEMASTERS BLACSKBURG