Men to Men Perspectives of Sixteen African-American Christian Men

Chapter 1 Lee N. June The Importance of Moral Character A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. (Proverbs 22:1) In those days ... every man did that which was right in his own eyes. (Judges 21:25) And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? (Job 1:8) INTRODUCTION Morality has to do with what is right and what is wrong. The word moral, according to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (1985), is defined as "relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior." A synonym for moral is the word ethical. The word morality, according to Webster, is defined as "a doctrine or system of moral conduct." The word character is defined by Webster as "the aggregate of distinctive qualities or characteristics of a breed, strain or type; the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation." A closely related word to character is reputation. Thus, as the definitions imply, one can think of the moral character of an individual, group, organization, or nation. Few of us would disregard the importance of moral character. If we were to examine the moral character of our nation, however, we would probably have to agree that it has received some severe blows over time. These blows have come from the legacy of slavery, segregation, and discrimination as well as from scandals such as Watergate. Moral character is something that can be taught and learned. As men, we can all look back to our upbringing and see the values that we were taught. We can also examine ourselves and determine the values that have been incorporated into our lives. Even though values can be taught (Lofton 1991), they do not automatically become a part of our lives. We all have occasionally seen examples of children who, in spite of having had "good" parents, become "bad." We have also occasionally witnessed the reverse-wherein bad parents ended up having good children. However, parents and role models contribute significantly to the development of moral character. MORAL CHARACTER AS A CONCEPT We frequently hear persons speaking of reputation, character, or integrity, though they are too often downplayed as central virtues. Even though we often hear these terms, there seems to be another central value that supersedes them. That value is success-making it-and doing whatever it takes to be successful. During the 1970s, situation ethics became popular because of the work of Joseph Fletcher (1974). Fletcher described situation ethics in the following manner: The situationist enters into every decision-making situation fully armed with the ethical maxims of his community and its heritage, and he treats them with respect as illuminators of his problems. Just the same he is prepared in any situation to compromise them or set them aside in the situation if love seems better served by doing so. Situation ethics goes part of the way with natural law, by accepting reason as the instrument of moral judgment, while rejecting the notion that the good is "given" in the nature of things, objectively. It goes part of the way with Scriptural law by accepting revelation as the source of the norm while rejecting all "revealed" norms or laws but the one command-to love God in the neighbor. The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to love's need. For example, "Almsgiving is a good thing if ..." The situationist never says, "Almsgiving is a good thing. Period!" His decisions are hypothetical, not categorical. Only the commandment to love is categorically good. "Owe no one anything, except to love one another" (Romans 13:8). (p. 26) Although situation ethics is still visible, the ethic that seems to be modeled today is captured by the following five phrases: 1. "Do whatever needs to be done, don't get caught." 2. "DJune, Lee N. is the author of 'Men to Men Perspectives of Sixteen African-American Christian Men' with ISBN 9780310201571 and ISBN 0310201578.