Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE -ÊBefore a capacity crowd, Ambassador Dr. Alan Keyes spoke at Rodeheaver Auditorium Friday night about morality in America.
He included in his discussion such topics as separation of church and state, abortion and guns.
His speech was part of the American Lyceum Lecture Series and was co-sponsored by Grace College and The Village At Winona.
Keyes began his speech by remarking on Winona Lake and how at one time some of the most well-known communicators in the country visited the town.
"I'm especially struck by the fact that I stand in surroundings that ought to remind us that there was a time without apology and without self-consciousness," said Keyes. "This is a country where people took it for granted that it had a moral heritage, that it's terribly important to the nation's life that we reasoned through our problems on the basis of a clear acknowledgement of the application of our nation's principles. I think it's quite remarkable that through most of the history of this country, those kinds of things were not only taken for granted, they were as much second nature as the air we breathe."
He said that even in popular culture, one made arguments using scripture.
"It was so far taken for granted that it kind of seeded down to the lowest levels of our popular culture that we are a people that take seriously the need to apply our morals, ethics and principles, or at least it was. The sad truth is that it's certainly no longer taken for granted today. In one respect, it's one of the saddest aspects of the kind of things I've been involved in the last several years that people now will actually praise you for your courage if you state obvious things about America's background and history," he said.
Today, he said, it takes courage to remember certain facts or to quote documents so well known to us that in spite of any efforts, most children are vaguely aware of their contents, including the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration, he said, is not a religious or sectarian document but a document that launched the American Revolution and a document whose writers knew they were launching themselves into a war. The document thus justified their actions before "the tribunal of God and defended their decision to go to war." Today, some people believe you go to war just because you feel like it.
One can't even look at the Declaration, he said, without being reminded of the moral context of where it came from. It also reminds us of the true meaning of morality, he said.
"I've gotten the more-than-distinct feeling as I go around the country, sometimes that when you use the word 'moral' in America, it is naturally assumed that you are talking about restricting someone's sexual activity," said Keyes. "And that some people actually believe this is the only use anymore for the word 'moral' ... . I beg to differ."
As the founders realized, he said, you are dealing with morality anytime you make a judgment that requires you to choose between right and wrong. Everyday people talk about their rights and protecting their rights.
He said, "I wonder if the folks who do all that realize that every time we say the word 'rights,' we are placing our discussion in a moral context? Since it ought to be pretty clear that it is not possible to distinguish rights from wrongs unless you can distinguish right from wrong."
Previously, he said, a student challenged him as to why the rights don't exist simply because we have them. "I reminded her that there were too many times in human history where people looked at us and said, 'You don't have these rights because we have these weapons. We're going to kill you with them.'"
In most of history, "might makes right" was considered OK. Keyes said that philosophy is still going on today in nation after nation. So why is it that power has to respect the rights set forth in the Declaration, he asked. The answer, he said, is that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights that all men are created equal.
"If you talk about that now," he said, "sooner or later you'll be slapped with a lawsuit from the ACLU saying you have violated the separation of church and state."
On abortion, he said, "Abortion is a clear and straight-forward test of our commitment to the basic principles on which our country is founded. For that principle says that all of us are created equal and endowed by our creator."
He said that statement does not require us to agree on each and every attribute of the creator but tells us that if the creator is the source of our rights, then no human being is the source of our rights. If a mother has the choice, then that infringes on the child's rights.
Americans also have given up control on large chunks of money, schools and access to instruments to defend ourselves, he said.
"Can't have control of our schools because standards have deteriorated to fly-by-night quackery. Can't have control of guns because we'd run through the streets killing one another. Can't have control of our own hard-earned money because if we do, the babies will starve. The elderly won't be taken care of. We think these are statements about some stupid welfare state. They're statements about our own character and our own responsibility. If we are given control of our resources and the babies starve, it's because we have hearts so hard we do not hear their cries."
He said it isn't a reflection on our society but on us.
On guns, Keyes also said, "... If as a people we can't be trusted as individuals to have access to firearms, when we send people into government, how come they suddenly become so trusted they can have a monopoly on them? I can't figure this out. ... Through most of human history, people have made the assumption that power corrupts. We seem to be walking down the other road."
Everything in his speech, he said, goes back to the principle that all our rights derive from the idea that we are all created equal by our creator.
