Posts Tagged ‘morality’
A Return to Virtue
A Way of Life, Sister Elaine S. Dalton Last April, two days after general conference, we held our first meeting as a newly sustained presidency. We hiked to the top of Ensign Peak, and as we looked on the valley below, we saw the temple with the angel Moroni shining in the sun. For each of us, it was clear. The vision for our presidency was the [...]
Let Him Do It with Simplicity
A Way of Life, Elder L. Tom Perry Those of us who have been around a while—and Elder Wirthlin and I have been around for a long time—have recognized certain patterns in life’s test. There are cycles of good and bad times, ups and downs, periods of joy and sadness, and times of plenty as well as scarcity. When our lives turn in an [...]
Our Real Trouble
Called Unto Liberty, Stephen L. Richards: May 30th, 1948, 20th Century Sermons Unfortunately, many who support the cause of the dignity of man in public do not support it in their private lives. That’s the real trouble with our nation. We are trying desperately to sell the peoples of the world our concepts of liberty, of equity, and justice [...]
Patrick Henry on Right and Wrong
Liberty Letters Quote of the Day, Patrick Henry The eternal difference between right and wrong does not fluctuate. It is immutable. Source: Patrick Henry. Virginia Ratifying Convention: June 9, 1788
A Ulititarian Foundation of Morality
Daniel James Sanchez, Mises.org In Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, the rhetorical orations of ancient Greek statesmen often alternated between appealing to honor and to interest: to justice and to expediency. Similarly, modern classical liberals (libertarians) often take a dual approach to making the case for liberty. On [...]
Moral Discipline
A Way of Life, D. Todd Christofferson During World War II, President James E. Faust, then a young enlisted man in the United States Army, applied for officer candidate school. He appeared before a board of inquiry composed of what he described as “hard-bitten career soldier.” After a while their questions turned to matters of religion. The [...]
Samuel Adams—To Richard Henry Lee (January 15, 1781)
American Correspondence, Samuel Adams In 1781, while the war was still uncertain, Samuel Adams writes to his good friend and fellow patriot encouraging him to help inattentive citizens return to the first principles of liberty. It would be indeed alarming, if the United States should ever entrust the Ship in which our all is at Stake, with [...]
Samuel Adams—To James Warren (October 24, 1780)
Democratic Thinker, American Correspondence Despite the political shenanigans following the adoption of 1780 Massachusetts constitution, Samuel Adams advises his fellow patriot, James Warren, to not abandon public life. If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our [...]
Seeking to Know God, Our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ
A Way of Life, Robert D. Hales Some wonder, why is belief in God so important? Why did the Savior say, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”? 2 Without God, life would end at the grave and our mortal experiences would have no purpose. Growth and progress would be [...]
William Wirt: Address at Rutgers College—Education
Democratic Thinker, American Thought In 1830, William Wirt—late retired as U.S. Attorney General—delivers a speech before a group of students at Rutgers College. The address, widely reprinted—his opening statement particularly—, inspired generations of students. But, both the acquisition of solid learning, and the sagacious [...]
William Wirt: Address at Rutgers College—Private Character
Democratic Thinker, American Thought In 1830, William Wirt—late retired as U.S. Attorney General—delivers a speech before a group of students at Rutgers College. The address, widely reprinted—his opening statement particularly—, inspired generations of students. Whether you are destined for either of the learned professions, or [...]
William Wirt: Address at Rutgers College—Opening Remarks
Democratic Thinker, American Thought In 1830, William Wirt—late retired as U.S. Attorney General—delivers a speech before a group of students at Rutgers College. The address, widely reprinted—his opening statement particularly—, inspired generations of students. The Education, moral and intellectual, of every individual, must [...]
Noah Webster On Why The Scriptures Are Needed
American Minute with Bill Federer He left Yale for four years to fight in the Revolutionary War. After graduation, he became a lawyer and taught school in New York. Dissatisfied with the children's spelling books, he wrote the famous Blue-Backed Speller, which sold over one hundred million copies. After twenty-six years of work, he [...]
America’s Culture War and How to Fight It:
Marriage, Morality, and the Courts By Phyllis Schlafly America is engulfed in the flames of a Culture War, as we have asserted in recent Briefings. The current attack on the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) by Humanistic forces is a renewed explosion on one of the hottest fronts in this War of Worldviews — the battle against [...]
George Washington: Religion and Morality Are Indispensable Supports
American Minute with Bill Federer George Washington was born FEBRUARY 22, 1732. He was unanimously chosen as the Army's Commander-in-Chief, unanimously chosen as President of the Constitutional Convention, and unanimously chosen as the first U.S. President. After having the Declaration of Independence read to his troops, General Washington [...]
Principles of Right and Wrong Do Not Change
Called Unto Liberty, Albert E. Bowen, 20th Century Sermons Those courses of behavior which harmonize with and conform to absolute spiritual values must be eternally right just as their opposites must be eternally wrong. Between the two there is undying conflict. They cannot accommodate themselves one to the other. If it were attempted to make [...]
And We Thought It Was Wrong to Impose Your Values on Other People!
By Bryan Fischer The left ceaselessly bloviates about what a terrible thing it is for some to impose their moral values on others. You can’t legislate morality, they say. Well, tell that to two hotel owners in Cornwall, U.K. who in court now because a homosexual couple is seeking to use the full force of the English government to cram [...]
Yes, Folks, We All Would Legislate Morality
By Selwyn Duke Really, I must be a glutton for punishment. During the past couple of weeks, I wrote two articles on libertarianism and made the point that for a law to be just, it must have a basis in morality. These commentaries evoked quite a response, ranging from lauding me as brilliant to lambasting me for not having two brain cells to [...]
Cotton Mather: Through Defects Come the Works of the Lord — Democratic Thinker
American Thought Cotton Mather, a month after his eighteenth birthday, asks God for help with his speech impediment the day before he preaches a Sabbath sermon. He also writes down his daily resolutions. The Lord knowes, how miserably defective I have been, in the performing of what I have thus resolved. But my Defects, have been the matter [...]
The Newspeak of Paul Krugman
Free Enterprise Zone, The Freeman, Steven Horwitz In his September 28 New York Times blog post, Paul Krugman announced that “economics is not a morality play.” That turn of phrase is his way of defending the idea that in unusual times, such as the sort of deep recession we are in, we can get strange relationships between economic [...]
Lord of the Rings, and the Man Who Gave Away Power
American Minute with Bill Federer The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolken tells of man's lust for "the ring of power." George Washington had that power and twice gave it up. When King George III asked American-born painter Benjamin West what Washington planned to do now that he had won the war, West replied "They say he will return to his [...]
The Rise of Government and the Decline of Morality
The Freeman, James A. Dorn The recent financial crisis has expanded the power of government. Tea parties have revealed the disillusion of millions of Americans with the rise of government and the decline of morality. The crisis has damaged, unfairly, the vision of market liberalism. It is essential, therefore, to reexamine and articulate the [...]
Homosexuality, Hitler and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — Bryan Fischer
By Bryan Fischer The bottom line from what follows is this: Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Gays in the military is an experiment that has been tried and found disastrously and tragically wanting. Maybe it's time for Congress to learn a [...]
Contemptable Naked Capitalists — John Dickinson
Liberty Letters Quote of the Day, 1767, John Dickinson Some states have lost their liberty by particular accidents. But this calamity is generally owing to the decay of virtue. A people is traveling fast to destruction, when individuals consider their interests as distinct from those of the public. Such notions are fatal to their country, and to [...]
Are We Governed By A Sense of Right and Wrong? — Rufus King
Liberty Letters Quote of the Day, American Founding Era, Rufus King "I myself have been an advocate for a Government free as air," said Rufus King of Massachusetts, brilliant Harvard-trained lawyer and statesmen. But, he added, "my opinions have been established upon the belief that my countrymen were ... governed by a sense of Right and Wrong. I [...]
Moral Virtue and Republicanism — Richard Henry Lee
Liberty Letters Quote of the Day, Richard Henry Lee (with commentary by Steve Farrell) A corrupted people and republicanism cannot co-exist. - Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (1732 to 1794) was a statesman from Virginia, noted for his motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from Great Britain. This [...]
Definining Duty — Keith B. McMullin
A Way of Life, Keith B. McMullin What is this thing called duty? The duty of which I speak is what we are expected to do and to be. It is a moral imperative summoning forth from individuals and communities that which is right, true, and honorable. Duty does not require perfection, but it does require diligence. It is not simply what is legal; it [...]
Wild Women Cause Earthquakes — T.F. Stern
By T.F. Stern, Last week we learned that melting glaciers caused a volcano to erupt , a sterling example of Man Made Global Warming being blamed for everything under the sun. Today there’s news out of Beirut; promiscuous women are to blame for earthquakes . “Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their [...]
How Shall We Live?
Free Enterprise Zone, The Freeman, Paul A. Cleveland and Art Carden What is civilization and how is it to be achieved? How can we live together in peace and social harmony? What is wealth and how do we acquire it? Why are so many people poor and why do they remain poor? Finally, are there objective standards of behavior that must be [...]
Cash for Clunkers Part 2 — T.F. Stern
By T.F. Stern, Okay, all you fine folks wanting your neighbors to help you purchase that new washer/dryer, refrigerator or air conditioner replacement; the State of “Texas landed a $23 million slice of the $300 million appliance-rebate stimulus pie.” So reads the opening line of Tracy Hobson Lehmann’s article in the San Antonio [...]
Best Citizen Handbook: The Holy Bible — John Quincy Adams — American Minute
American Minute with Bill Federer President John Adams' son, John Quincy Adams, was U.S. Minister to Russia. In September 1811, John Quincy Adams wrote from St. Petersburg to his son, Charles: "My dear Son...You mentioned that you read to your aunt a chapter in the Bible...every evening. This information gave me real pleasure..." John Quincy [...]
Wow! I’m An American — Phyllis Schlafly
by Phyllis Schlafly At a time when American exceptionalism is under attack, psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin writes about his gratitude and enthusiasm for the blessings of American citizenship in his new book entitled Wow, I’m an American! The writing style is simple enough for middle school-age children to understand, and the content is [...]
The Armor That Renders Us Invincible — Steve Farrell
The Moral Liberal with Steve Farrell One of our sacred American hymns pleads for in behalf of America that "God mend every flaw," and most importantly, "confirm soul in self-control, liberty in law." The hymn's poetess, Katherine Lee Bates, apparently knew what most of America's Founding Fathers knew, what common sense knew, what every adult [...]
Houston’s Metro a Microcosm of Washington — T.F. Stern
By T. F. Stern, “Houston, we have a problem”, while spoken by astronauts on Apollo 13; the line has relevance in other areas closer to home. I caught a well written article by Bradley Olson and Mike Snyder in the Houston Chronicle, highlighting local Metro’s $2.6 Billion bond plan which exceeds by about “four times the debt capacity [...]
“Fighting Words” & the 1st Amendment –T. F. Stern
By T. F. Stern, If you walked up to someone and hit them with your fist, that’s assault. If you call someone a name, such as a racial slur intended to antagonize, that’s covered under disorderly conduct in most places. What’s different about an organized hate rally at the funeral of a fallen United States soldier, a rally intended to [...]
Activist Judge Should Step Down–T. F. Stern
By T. F. Stern There’s a story out of Houston this morning by Carl Willis which starts off, “A Harris County judge declared the death penalty unconstitutional in a ruling during a pretrial hearing Thursday, KPRC Local 2 reported.” That’s not what Texas state law says, not what the appellate courts have upheld or how the Supreme Court has [...]
Why Many American Christians Really are Un-Christian — Selwyn Duke
By Selwyn Duke In this age of media insolvency and newsroom job cuts, I sometimes think that restaurant reviewers are doubling as religion writers. After all, both today seem to treat their subjects as matters of taste. In fact, I expect to soon open a modern newspaper’s religion page and read something akin to the following: The steeple was [...]
The Great Principes of Religion, Moral Sense, and Civil Policy
Founding Era Political Sermons, May 12, 1785, Samuel Wales ever should it be forgotten that all the measures of civil policy ought to be founded on the great principles of religion; or, at the least, to be perfectly consistent with them: otherwise they will never be esteemed, because they will be contrary to that moral sense of right and wrong [...]
Culture In The Rye — Selwyn Duke
By Selwyn Duke Many years ago, I was told a story by a woman I knew whose son had been diagnosed with “A.D.D.” She said that she finally had to take from her boy a book a therapist had given him about how an A.D.D. child acts. The problem? Her son was reading it and then imitating the behavior of the child in it! Then I remember when [...]
Live Godly Lives — Brigham Young
A Way of Life, Brigham Young So live that when you wake in the spirit-world you can truthfully say, “I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.” I exhort you, for the sake of the House of Israel, for the sake of Zion which we are to build up, to so live, from this time, henceforth, and forever, that your characters may [...]
Folly, Vice, and Madness — Edmund Burke
American Minute with Bill Federer "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." This famous quote was from British statesman Edmund Burke, who was born JANUARY 12, 1729. Considered the most influential orator in the House of Commons, Burke stands out in history, for, as a member of the British Parliament, he [...]
A Christian Ethic Without Faith In God Fails — Albert E. Bowen
Prophet Statesmen, Albert E. Bowen A Christian Ethic Without Faith in God Fails. It cannot be forgotten that the scourging war, which has just devastated the earth, broke out right in the heart of so-called Christendom. Christian nation destroying Christian nation. The degradation left in its wake, the tragic collapse of morals, the earth-searing [...]
Firmest Props of the Duties of Men and Citizens — George Washington
Prophet Statesmen, George Washington Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.—In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens.—The [...]
Truth Eternal: Or Shifting, Vagrant, Opportunistic Substitutes — Albert E. Bowen
Prophet Statesmen, Albert E. Bowen Are there not, in reality, underlying, universal principles with reference to which all issues must be resolved whether the society be simple or complex in its mechanical organization? It seems to me we could relieve ourselves of most of the bewilderment which so unsettles and distracts us by subjecting each [...]
Good Government Requires Good Men — Brigham Young
Prophet Statesmen, Brigham Young Excerpt from an 1863 address by Brigham Young found in the "Journal of Discourses: Volume 10," p. 177. I like a good government, and then I like to have it wisely and justly administered. The government of heaven, if wickedly administered, would become one of the worst governments upon the face of the earth. No [...]
The morality of the Gospel doth exceed them all
The study of morality ... of this there are books enough writ both by ancient and modern philosophers; but the morality of the Gospel doth exceed them all, that, to give a man a full knowledge of true morality, I shall send him to no other book, but the New Testament.- John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Reading and Study, 1689Center for Moral [...]
Right, Wrongs, and the Law, by Steve Farrell
Silent No More, Part 1 One of the oddest, most harmful political beliefs to emerge in the past 50 years is the notion that one cannot legislate morality. What utter nonsense. Man has always legislated morality. Sir William Blackstone, the central legal mind the post-1787 U.S. courts looked to for guidance, wrote, "The primary and principle [...]
Moral Anarchy: Seedbed of Tyranny, by Steve Montgomery
Ok, so it's a bad movie. But even bad movies can have great lessons. I speak of the 1999 theatrical flop, "Wild Wild West." In this movie, set in post Civil War America, President Grant (Kevin Cline), has a great line, which as it turns out, bears great application to our modern American culture. Upon learning to his surprise that the arch-villain [...]
‘Thou Shalt Not Profane God:’ A Public or Private Principle of Law? by Steve Farrell
Missing the Mark With Religion, Part 17 “One man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric,” indicated a Supreme Court justice over three decades ago. (1) The justice said it, and many have parroted it ever since under the supposition that something very clever, very liberating, very American had been said. Building on this ‘maxim,’ the [...]
Why ‘One Nation Under God’ Matters, by Steve Farrell
Missing the Mark With Religion, Part 16 "One nation under God" was the nasty little phrase that aroused the righteous indignation of the infamous 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional, and still inspires secularists of various stripes to oppose it today. That the voluntary recitation of [...]
