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| April 26, 2002 |
Debating the Good Society
Andrew Bard Schmookler
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A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide. Sometimes I think things
were easier back in Sunday school when I was a student and not a
teacher, when I believed issues fell easily into categories of black
or white, when I took my moral code straight out of the Bible. These
days my sources tend to be a little more diverse, and I see many
shades of grey between right and wrong. But the quest for truth can
be pretty confusing sometimes, and trying to come to an agreement with
others is often damn near impossible. This last thought is the
predominant conclusion I took away from Schmookler's book, in which he
creates an imaginary Internet conversation among a very diverse group
of imaginary people about the state of morality in our country today.
The posts get very lively, even downright inflammatory, especially
when the participants start to discuss whether or not there should be
a social code and where it would come from (God? the government?
within each individual?). No surprise that the "correspondent" whose
responses I resonated with most strongly was Reverend George, a
liberal Christian pastor. His struggles sounded the most like mine,
though from time to time I felt Schmookler was painting Christians
with a fairly stereotypical brush to further his own ends. But I
appreciated the good twist this book gave my head. A lot to think
about here.
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