Moral education is not about teaching people the difference between right and wrong, it is about making people care about the difference. It is about changing the passions of the heart. Perhaps because the main religions today promote some form of moral teaching we equate morality with religious precepts. However, historically, most religions were about gaining advantage for one's self. Gods were to be appeased to gain an advantage over nature or one's competitors/enemies. Human sacrifices, among other immoral practices, were routinely performed.
The ancient Greeks and Romans actually saw many of their gods as immoral, thus holding their own inner morality to be higher than that of their gods. Today we still use religion to gain advantage over our enemies and competitors. Even Christians who are taught to see themselves as servants of others and to do good to their enemies use religion for dominance. We still judge our gods by our own ideas of morality. We will hardly convert to a religion with moral laws we do not want to follow. If we do join we ignore the difficult precepts.
The point is that we should not expect a great effect on our moral sensibilities by teaching religious studies in schools. Children for the most part already know right from wrong. Or perhaps we may say that God is already speaking to them in the depths of their hearts. What they need is encouragement, mentors, good examples in a caring society which shows passion for what is right.
Lawrence Fortune
El Dorado
