The Abandonment of Morality

[DSCH]

Consciousness Raising or Ethical Training?
Why Ethics Courses Aren’t Teaching Ethics

BreakPoint with Charles Colson

April 2, 2004

At a time when our society has been rocked by a series of business and financial scandals, what’s the most effective way to teach ethics at an Ivy League business school?

One Columbia University professor believes that the answer is to provide “a forum for self-exploration.” His students discuss their personal problems in class, study Hindu philosophy, form social networks, and learn that although “there are terrible jerks” in the business world, “there is absolutely no need for you to give them power over your happiness.” According to the New York Times, their professor inspires them with sayings like “When the flower blossoms, the bee will come,” and “Good thing, bad thing, who knows?”

I’m sorry to say I’m not making this up. As the Times recently reported, Dr. Srikumar S. Rao has been teaching this course, “Creativity and Personal Mastery,” for five years now. Some of his students told the Times that the course has helped them feel “happy” and “fulfilled,” provided “direction,” and “raised [their] consciousness.” But none of them mentioned whether it had done anything to help them develop their ethical sense.

Rao sums up the course very well when he writes in his syllabus: “The ONLY reason this course works is because it is about YOU. What do YOU want to create? What kind of life do YOU want to lead? What do happiness and success mean to YOU?” Basically, the idea is to find within your own consciousness the answers that make you comfortable. But isn’t that exactly what Jeffrey Skillings, Martha Stewart, Bernie Ebbers, and the rest of the rogues’ gallery have done? They found their inner consciousness and robbed their stockholders blind.

This story struck a raw nerve with me. For well over a decade, I’ve been talking about why we need ethics courses in business schools—and why it’s impossible to teach them in a relativistic environment. I first lectured on this at Harvard Business School in 1991, and I was stunned that nobody challenged my assertions. The students had no understanding of classical moral philosophy—they were learning pure pragmatism. And after that, Harvard discontinued its ethics course for a while.

The basic problem is that the secular university today is committed to philosophical relativism and pragmatism. I’ve read the curricula from various business schools, and I’ve seen the same pattern over and over: Since there is no absolute truth, no clear right and wrong, you do whatever works best. But ethics, by definition, rests not on what is but on what ought to be, on clear moral standards and principles. Take them away, and you’re left with “feel-good” philosophies and Eastern mysticism, providing nothing in the way of moral guidance.

What’s happening at Columbia is what happens when you abandon the commitment to moral truth. Essentially, Rao is teaching religion, but it’s not a religion that can help you solve the ethical problems. In fact, it’s a religion that’s very dangerous for impressionable students—a religion built on self-love and that has nothing to do with the Creator and His transcendent moral law. If that’s the best we can do in ethics, you can expect more Enrons and WorldComs to come.

We Christians need to keep pressing this point home, because it exposes the utter bankruptcy of today’s secular culture.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For further reading and information:

Amy Wu, “ Emotional Striptease, and Other Paths to Ethics ,” New York Times, 7 March 2004 . (Archived article; costs $2.95 to retrieve.)

Srikumar S. Rao, course outline for “Creativity and Personal Mastery,” Columbia University, 2003. ( Adobe Acrobat Reader required.)

Charles Colson, “ A Time to Learn about Ethics ,” recording of a lecture delivered at Harvard Business School.

“Christians in the Marketplace,” a Christian Mind in the New Millennium III conference, took place April 4-6, 2003 , at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Colorado Springs , CO. At this BreakPoint worldview conference, speakers—including Charles Colson, Mark Earley, Michael Novak, and others—discussed the role of Christian worldview in today’s business sector and marketplace, how businesses should apply ethical standards to their practices, and how our work should be viewed as a calling, an opportunity to serve God in our business. ( Audiocassette and CD sets are available.)

Michael Novak, “ The Creative, Ethical Vocation of Business ,” Capitol Hill Lecture, 4 March 2004.

Kelley Reep, “ It’s Not Whether You Win or Lose ,” BreakPoint Online, 3 June 2003.

BreakPoint Commentary No. 030717, “ Taking Care of Business: Virtue in the Boardroom.”

BreakPoint Commentary No. 030203, “ Same Old, Same Old: The Demise of Business Ethics.”

Scott Rae, “ Character, Conscience, and Business ,” BreakPoint WorldView, October 2002. Dr. Rae’s 2004 Capitol Hill Lecture , “Swindles, Lies, and a Healthy Economy,” will soon be available on CD.

T. M. Moore, “ A Faculty of Fools ,” BreakPoint WorldView, October 2002.

Scott Rae, Beyond Integrity: A Judeo-Christian Approach to Business Ethics (Zondervan, 1996).

Michael Novak, Business as a Calling (Free Press, 1996).

Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse (Random House, 2003).

[Dirty Commie]

This is bullshit...the rabid pseudo chrstians that hawk money form the poor on tv tell us this same stuff, nearly every corporate pig calls himself a christian... politicians who bomb the hell out of the third world call themselves christians... organized religion is organized crime...how can you think that people can't be moral and be non christian.

Christianity (and all organized religion for that matter) is a tool of repression. The shit you're telling us about ethics goes out the window with the number of catholic prtiests molesting children, with the lasvish lifestyles that televangelists like Jesse Jackson and Billy Graham live.

[DSCH]

Those people aren't Christians they are Satanists. Christians follow the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, and the Bible.

Atheism is a religion. Is Atheism a tool of repression?

[MysticArcher]

the keyword in dirtycommie's post was organized, to my knowledge atheism isn't an organized religion

"organized religion is organized crime"

good quote dirtycommie mind if I use it?

"The basic problem is that the secular university today is committed to philosophical relativism and pragmatism."

oh yes, all our problems are because of secular schools and not forcing christian moral values on everyone

it certainly couldn&#39;t be because our entire capitalist society places money above all else <_<

[DSCH]

Well, let&#39;s see...countries that don&#39;t value money above all else still have immorality.

And yes, the reason why there is immorality in the world is because people do not follow the Golden Rule (Christianity).

[Dirty Commie]

You&#39;re are such a dogmatic fuck I shouldn&#39;t bother replying.

however

If christianity is the "golden rule" why do so many catholic priests get accused of sexually molesting children?

Why do so many christian fanatics (the KKK) go out and lynch people for beiong black?

What about the thousands of people skaughtered in the crusades?

why do more wars get fought with "god on our side" than with "mohammed on our side"?

who started the holocaust? A christian

initiated bombings of Afghan villages with no proof of terrorists in the area? a christian

the priest in st. petersburg florida, Jesse Jackson, stole millions from his congregation to build hi palace and have lived with his whores

why isn&#39;t Islam just as good a belief system...or judaism? or Buddhism?...or pageanism?... Just because you have scripture saying that a guy was born the son of god? I wipe my ass with all religous teahings.

Organized religion is used by the powerful to subdue the masses, the masses to avoid the fear of death, and by the wise to discredit.

why did white slave owners in the south teach christianity to slaves? not to m ake thyem moral people, but to keep them submissive.
Why do the impovershed beleive it? because it is the only way to cope with relaity. thinking that an invisible man impregnated a woman and gave birth to him? sounds like a fairy tale to me. :redstar2000:

[DSCH]

Originally posted by Dirty [email protected] 5 2004, 06:47 PM
You&#39;re are such a dogmatic fuck I shouldn&#39;t bother replying.

however

If christianity is the "golden rule" why do so many catholic priests get accused of sexually molesting children?

Why do so many christian fanatics (the KKK) go out and lynch people for beiong black?

What about the thousands of people skaughtered in the crusades?

why do more wars get fought with "god on our side" than with "mohammed on our side"?

who started the holocaust? A christian

initiated bombings of Afghan villages with no proof of terrorists in the area? a christian

the priest in st. petersburg florida, Jesse Jackson, stole millions from his congregation to build hi palace and have lived with his whores

why isn&#39;t Islam just as good a belief system...or judaism? or Buddhism?...or pageanism?... Just because you have scripture saying that a guy was born the son of god? I wipe my ass with all religous teahings.

Organized religion is used by the powerful to subdue the masses, the masses to avoid the fear of death, and by the wise to discredit.

why did white slave owners in the south teach christianity to slaves? not to m ake thyem moral people, but to keep them submissive.
Why do the impovershed beleive it? because it is the only way to cope with relaity. thinking that an invisible man impregnated a woman and gave birth to him? sounds like a fairy tale to me. :redstar2000:
Catholic priests get accused of sexually molesting children because they aren&#39;t Christian and of God but rather they are Satanic and of their father the devil.

You think it&#39;s impossible for Satanists do dress up as priests? You must be really naive.

Needless to say pedophiles and homosexual Sodomites are not of God but of Satan, according to the Bible.

There are many Satanists who claim to be of God so that they may deceive. KKK and racists who claim to be of God are obviously of Satan the Father of Lies.

The Crusades were faught because Muslim Saracen Jihadis were slaughtering innocent Christians in the East.

Islam has lead to ten times as many deaths as Christianity. Christ teaches Christians to turn the other cheek and love ones enemies. Mohammed teaches Muslims to slaughter the infidels, smite them, and chop all of their fingertips off them.

Hitler was not a Christian but rather of his father the Devil. Hitler called Christians "right wing fanatics."

Jesse Jackson is not a true Christian. He is a fruad and of his father the Devil. He is an adulterer and a racist. Jesse Lee Peterson is a real black Christian preacher.

I have no problem with Judaism.

What caused the universe? What caused the Big Bang? Until you can answer these questions the majority of the people in this world are going to go on believing in God (The First Cause).

[MiDnIgHtMaRaUdEr]

Catholic priests get accused of sexually molesting children because they aren&#39;t Christian and of God but rather they are Satanic and of their father the devil.

Sounds like a really easy way to excuse every bad action ever committed.


You think it&#39;s impossible for Satanists do dress up as priests? You must be really naive.

You think it&#39;s impossible for the Satan to become Jesus and thereby getting all the Jews to unknowingly become Satanists? Hell, maybe Moses was in fact Satan as well, so the Jews were in fact Satanistsl. Maybe everyone except you is an incarnation of Satan? That Satan is a reallll clever fellow....


Needless to say pedophiles and homosexual Sodomites are not of God but of Satan, according to the Bible.

Needless to say, bigots like you are biased pieces of right wing trash.


The Crusades were faught because Muslim Saracen Jihadis were slaughtering innocent Christians in the East.

Religious wars suck don&#39;t they?


Hitler was not a Christian but rather of his father the Devil. Hitler called Christians "right wing fanatics."

:lol: :lol: :lol: Never heard that one before, that is most certainly a unique response, granted Hitler himself was a Christian fundamentalist.


What caused the universe? What caused the Big Bang? Until you can answer these questions the majority of the people in this world are going to go on believing in God (The First Cause).

Science will explain that soon enough, however there are other things that Christians believe that are boldly in contradiction to reality, such as the world is 10000 years old and was created in 7 days and that all animal species were created as they were in their present state.

[Osman Ghazi]

Well, first things first, your mom is of her father the devil.

Second, what you have just said is completely retarded. The priests who molest little boys, the&#39;re pretty damn sure that they&#39;re cristian.

Have you actually read the Bible? It is much worse than the Qoran in terms of it&#39;s racism and in terms of telling its followers to go kill the unbelievers.

Ummm... don&#39;t read much history, do ya son? The &#39;Muslim Saracen Jihadis&#39; don&#39;t exist and never did. Maybe you don&#39;t realize but the Caliphate allowed Christians and Jews in sizeable numbers to live in their realm and all they had to do has pay a special tax. (A little material incentive to flock to Islam.) The Crusades were called by the Pope because he wanted to curry favour with Alexus Comnenus, the Byzantine Emperor. But I&#39;m guessing that an Ignorant t like you probably has never heard of the fabled halls of Byzantium.

Again, some parts of the Bible tell you to turn the other cheek but some parts tell you to kill anyone who isn&#39;t your religion. Read it a little maybe. Also, why were there Crusades then? Shouldn&#39;t those honourable chivalric knights have turned their cheeks at the Muslim Saracen Jihadis?

This is probably the only true thing you&#39;ve said so far. Hitler was most definately NOT a christian. The SS headquarters were filled with statues of Apollo and other Greek and Roman gods.

Who exactly is Jesse Jackson racist to? I mean that&#39;s quite a hefty claim you&#39;re laying there.

So, you have no problem with Judaism, it&#39;s just wrong and christianity is right. Okay, then.

You really hit the nail on the head with this one. I&#39;ve said it before and I&#39;ll no doubt say it again. God just fills the knowledge gap. One day we will find out these answers and then people will realize how they have been deluded and lied to for ten thousand years and when that day comes, I doubt the clergy or the faithful will be spared.

[elijahcraig]

Those people aren&#39;t Christians they are Satanists. Christians follow the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, and the Bible.

Atheism is a religion. Is Atheism a tool of repression?

Atheism is a philosophical system. It can be a tool of repression.


Well, let&#39;s see...countries that don&#39;t value money above all else still have immorality.

And yes, the reason why there is immorality in the world is because people do not follow the Golden Rule (Christianity).

Man has never followed the Golden rule. And never will.

This has absolutely nothing to do with the function of the business ethics system in society.

A Corporation has no moral system. A State has no moral system either. They are institutions for one person and one person only: to enhance the power of those in control of the State. An individual has moral choices, not the Corporate State.

On a microlevel of interpretation, the reason people don’t act morally (that system Christians say to be moral), is because they live in a Culture based on hypocrisy. From head to toe, there is only hypocrisy.

We don’t live in a secular State, we live in a Corporate state. That is capitalism. Christianity is a mere cloak to wrap oneself in, in a feeble attempt to cast a moral shadow on the culture, as if the Christian has any answer of legitimate logic. Christians say, “It is because of Secularism and loss of morality.” I say, “It is because of the organizing of thought in forms of religion, morality-driven dogmas, corporate power structures, institutionalized ‘peace-time’ war, and the invention of the phantom of superiority, which all has been internalized into the psyches of the populace. This internalization allows for the State and all of its cohorts to work as a system of power and control with justification in the minds of the collective population. Internalized systems of organized thought have resulted in the downfall of every nation, this one is no different.”


who started the holocaust? A christian

From what I know of Hitler, he was an opportunist who claimed to be a religious man but was not. He was very much a Pagan in actuality.


why do more wars get fought with "god on our side" than with "mohammed on our side"?

They don’t. Except they don’t say “Mohammed is on our side,” they say “Allah is on our side.”


Catholic priests get accused of sexually molesting children because they aren&#39;t Christian and of God but rather they are Satanic and of their father the devil.

How simplistic can you get?

Satan is liberator is the concept Blake went by, I do as well. All liberation is from Satanic power—all established reigns of “morality” (that is, the cloak of morality covering hidden power structures) are of Yahweh. Or, as Blake would say: Urizen, old man.


Needless to say pedophiles and homosexual Sodomites are not of God but of Satan, according to the Bible.


According to the bible, those who submit their rebellious sons to the elders of the tribe for stoning by the tribe are men of God. So what? If you take everything literal in the bible, why not stone rebellious children? Why not? Because you’re to a point in history when rational thought has overpowered the ability of the “elders of the tribe” to present such a irrational practice to the population. They do it under the cover of morality and presentation of the “horrors of secularism and islam” now.


The Crusades were faught because Muslim Saracen Jihadis were slaughtering innocent Christians in the East.

HAHAHAHA


Islam has lead to ten times as many deaths as Christianity. Christ teaches Christians to turn the other cheek and love ones enemies. Mohammed teaches Muslims to slaughter the infidels, smite them, and chop all of their fingertips off them.

You should read the book “The History of God.” It presents Mohammed (and all of the three major religion’s main men) in a different light. He was friends with Jews, and discussed Judaism with them in depth. He was a studious man.

[redstar2000]

"Christians in the Marketplace," a Christian Mind in the New Millennium III conference, took place April 4-6, 2003 , at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort and Conference Center in Colorado Springs , CO.

:lol:

Surely, the federal prison for white-collar offenders at Danbury, Connecticut, would have been a more appropriate site for the conference.

Discussing ethics at a mountain resort is sort of like discussing non-violent conflict resolution at the Pentagon, isn&#39;t it?


At this BreakPoint worldview conference, speakers--including Charles Colson...

Wasn&#39;t Mr. Colson one of "Nixon&#39;s crooks"? The Watergate wankers?

Anyone who&#39;d take his ethical advice seriously would have fit in at Enron just fine.


...our work should be viewed as a calling, an opportunity to serve God in our business.

Isn&#39;t there something in your "bible" about "serving two masters"?


...but rather they are Satanic and of their father the devil.

If the devil is their "father", who was their mother? :lol:

------------------

Like too many visitors to these forums, your ignorance of the actual history of religion and its relationship to economics and politics is appalling. You obviously need to read some scholarly historical works; the Christian drivel you&#39;ve filled your mind with is useless for understanding anything.

And please don&#39;t use the word ethics and Christianity in the same sentence; a poisonous snake has better ethics than Christianity. :angry:

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.vze.com)
A site about communist ideas

[Guest1]

Maybe a limited form of your religious ban is a good idea afterall, redstar.

How about, absolutely ignorant and extremist religious fucks get banned immediately?

What do you say, should we start a poll about it?

[redstar2000]

The thought is a tempting one. :)

:redstar2000:

The Redstar2000 Papers (http://www.redstar2000papers.vze.com)
A site about communist ideas

[Guest1]

It truly is, and I think it would also do more to counter the "god-suckers" than the idea of disallowing religious usernames.

We should think this over and come up with something, I don&#39;t know, maybe suggesting we add "preachers" to the list of people we ban.

[Dirty Commie]

How do you "know" that your brand of dogma is the true one?