Conscience Moment

In these hours after the massacre of children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School, we’ve been doing a lot of thinking as a nation.  A lot of that thinking is shallow.  We’ve been doing a lot of evaluation of the situation.  Much of that evaluation is superficial.

            Three quick reactions are in front of us in media coverage.  First, there is shock and grief.  This experience has been traumatic for so many, especially because children have been innocent victims.  Then, defensiveness surfaces to ward off blame.  Mental health professionals are trying to explain how the shooter could have done what he did (and what his mother did and didn’t do).  Guns and their availability and use are in the crosshairs once again.  Safety and security concerns are in the forefront, the positive side of fear.  And we’re focused on problem-solving.  We Americans are very good at pragmatic steps in problem-solving.

            We cannot handle what our conscience is saying.  We cannot consider a greater question.  In our increasingly secular time, we cannot accept that God, through the Holy Spirit, is speaking to our minds and hearts as a people.  God is calling us all to re-evaluate some cherished assumptions about American life.

            Some years ago, I taught a class in philosophy.  My students were from the local community college.  Such a class was a part of many basic associate degree programs.  My students were the “salt of the earth.”  In our nine weeks, we tried tackling the Big Questions, and most students tried hard to engage with global thought through the centuries.  When we came to “practical philosophies—rights and responsibilities”—real struggle came to the forefront.  Sure, the students were able to define rights.  They had a much harder time dealing with responsibilities in a democracy.  Those standards have a base in moral law and an understanding that there is something (and Someone) greater than ourselves from which we draw our understanding.  Human beings all have a conscience.  We often do not accept that there is a moral law greater than ourselves, or our own benefit and survival.

            So, here are two quick thoughts.  Whenever we have a debate on guns and weapons, there is very little conscience involved.  We easily say, “I have a right to bear arms.”  The Second Amendment to the American Constitution declares so in a limited form.  What is the responsibility for bearing arms?  That discussion usually is self-centered.  It’s all about me, not about the greater god of this nation.  That’s where conscience needs to come into the conversation.

            The second area is in mental health.  Mental health advocates long ago insisted that those who suffer from mental illness had the right to live freely in a community.  But what about the responsibility of the larger community to care for such persons?  What support can the community give to the family?  I remember in the late 1960s when most of the state-run psychiatric institutions were shut down, the advocates said that it was important to “de-institutionalize” the persons.  The state assembly members said, “What a great way to save money and direct it to other needs!”  The consequence?  People were settled in residences and often were unsupervised.  Then these were closed.  In pastoral work through the years, I have found it nearly impossible to help families and individuals find extended treatment.  Once again, people emphasized “rights” without taking responsibility for those who are less able.

            And now we have schoolchildren murdered by a mentally ill young man with free access to weapons.  All the rhetoric is about rights.   What about moral conscience or moral compass?