Don Wildmon
AFA/AFR founder
November-December 1998 – For the past three decades or so the Christian moral ethic has been under attack in our society. We have seen this attack in the entertainment industry, in education, in the legal realm. In fact, there are few areas where the Christian moral ethic has not been under attack. Even within the leadership of the Christian church there are those who seem determined to rewrite the moral laws of Christ and the New Testament.
Who suffers most when Christians fail to take a stand and fight for the moral teachings of the New Testament? Our children.
Recently the Josephson Institute of Ethics released the findings of a poll they conducted during the past two-and-one-half years. They surveyed 10,000 10th-12th graders about their actions in the previous 12 months.
Their findings should cause us great concern:
➤ 46% say they have stolen something from a store (up from 39% in 1996).
➤ 70% say they have cheated on an exam (up from 64% in 1996).
➤ 92% say they have lied to a parent (up from 85% in 1996). And 78% say they have lied to a parent two or more times (up from 73% in 1996).
Michael Josephson, president of the California-based institute, says that, if anything, the numbers are low. “Thieves and cheaters will lie on a survey,” he said.
He also warned that “the impact of this growing hole in our moral ozone” will only begin to be felt as this generation enters the work force. “They’re going to be nuclear inspectors and bank auditors and legislators and mechanics – and if they bring to their workplace the same kind of attitudes revealed here, just imagine the havoc.”
Want to know something even more scary? Teens who say religion is very important in their lives nonetheless confess to significant levels of dishonesty. For instance, 73% of students who say religion is unimportant say they have cheated on exams – but so do 69% of students who say religion is very important to them.
Those of us who call ourselves Christian have our work cut out for us. We have been too silent – even inside our churches – when it comes to taking a stand for righteousness. And our children are paying the price.
Our society – including our youth – are being told constantly that lying is acceptable. Look at our White House. The leader of our country admits that he has lied to the American people for eight months. How does our society react? The majority say that his lying is OK because he was lying about adultery.
OK, pastor. OK, Christian. We have our work cut out for us. Let us get busy doing it before even more of our children become the victims of secular humanism’s great lie – that lying is acceptable. 
