Good piece, Mark. To make a related if slightly different point, I have often bristled at the elevated place that contemporary society places hypocrisy in the hierarchy of misdeeds. In its simplist form, let's assume that one honestly opposes sin and expresses this view publicly. If one assumes that hypocrisy is the breach between one's expressed views and one's conduct in the area of morality, it would seem we are pretty much all hypocrites. This state of affairs can be remedied in only two ways. First, one can eliminate sinful conduct -- plainly this is the preferred, if unlikely, objective; or alternatively, one can simply conform one's stated beliefs to one's conduct -- the far more practical remedy I'm afraid.

My point is that folks who desire to dilute contemporary moral standards have at their disposal a very clever and effective tactic: make hypocrisy the most serious moral transgression possible. This will pressure people who desire to avoid the label "hypocrite" to dilute their stated moral beliefs and will inevitably discredit many or most of those who resist since, as sinners, they will eventually prove vulnerable to the scarlet "H."
Mike Petrik | 06.01.03 - 12:27 pm | #