Getting Started

It is one thing for us to practice personal integrity. It is quite another for us to practice collective integrity. In fact, we may be justified in wondering whether it is even possible for any given society collectively to have integrity.

While no society is entirely ethical in its behavior, can we not agree that as groups we can be closer to or farther away from the ideal that we set for ourselves?

Reflect on these two keys to social integrity:

• First, we have to establish some collective ideal that the majority of us believe in and for which we are willing to strive.
• Second, we have to collectively work at the task of achieving that ideal.

As you can immediately see, these statements raise problems. For one thing, it is hard to get the majority of Americans to agree on the relationship between ideal and morality, or integrity. We seem to be moving farther and farther from agreement on some issues.

This has not always been true. And even now, there are still character qualities upon which most of us would agree. But overall, this discussion points to the ideal of establishing common points of reference.

Many argue that the Bible, at one time in American history, formed one of these common points of reference. Of course at no time in our history has everyone professed personal faith in God, or in Jesus Christ. And yet, there have been times in our past when the Bible was held in higher esteem in our schools, courts, government offices, and even our businesses, as a primary source of values and as a guide for action.

There have been times when we collectively acknowledged our dependence upon God, and publicly asked for His guidance in the affairs of our nation. The days and months following the World Trade Center attacks offer one great example. But how long did that spirit of national unity under God last? And then in the twenty-first century, we cannot be certain what people mean when they use the word “God.”

Our country faces another problem in trying to achieve social integrity. In America we are not good at connecting individual rights and social responsibilities. In general, American culture is very individualistic. We are jealous of our individual, personal, private rights. One of the mantras we repeat is: “What I do in the privacy of my own home is my business.” We do not want the government, or our neighbors, telling us what we can and cannot do in our own homes.

We certainly want to cherish our national heritage of individual freedom. At the same time, we would want to limit what people can do in their own home. You can come up with lots of things we do not allow anyone to do anywhere, even in their own home. We do not allow a man to rape a woman even in his own home. The privacy of our own home does not shelter us from laws that prohibit actions such as physical abuse, fraud, or tax evasion.

But we are not always sure where to draw this line. Can we make and use pornography in our own homes? Even if this is legal, does such activity constitute social integrity? If it does not, what should we collectively do about it?

These are difficult questions to answer, and well-meaning people disagree. Should we not still address them? Do we not need to do so, if we are to have social integrity?

Resources

• Website: Biblegateway.com: https://www.biblegateway.com/

Background Information

Let us turn to the Bible again. Here is an exercise that may help. Go back to those Bible passages that talk about integrity and see how many of them deal with social situations. While working with that question, see how much the Bible implies about social integrity.

Instructions

1. Using Biblegateway.com, research the following topics:
   1. Government
   2. Wealth
   3. Truth
   4. Beauty
   5. Life and Death
   6. Work, Poverty
   7. Law
   8. Obedience
   9. Love, Sex, Marriage
   10. Parents, Children
2. Based upon your research, respond to the following questions:
   1. What examples of social integrity can you think of? What moral and ethical qualities come to mind when you think of other societies in the world? British? French? Russian? Japanese? Egyptian? South African? Be careful not simply to stereotype, but what qualities have you observed in any of these cultures?
   2. Do you think Americans still have a common standard of right and wrong? If so, what do you think is at its core? Upon which ethical qualities do you think Americans still agree?
   3. Do you think as a society that we have the right to demand ethical behavior of people? If so, how should we do that?
   4. What American social institutions teach and encourage social integrity? How well do you think they work?
3. Your initial post is due by the end of the fourth day of the workshop.
4. Read and respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings, as well as follow-up instructor questions directed to you, by the end of the workshop.