Americans assess the Age of Irreverence.

• Author: Barrett, Wayne M.

Can the nation reverse the trend and restore civility? From politics, religion, media, medicine, and the law emerge varying viewpoints on the cause of the malaise and possible solutions.

ATTEMPTING to slap a label on an age is no easy task. Some eras defy a single descriptive phrase, while others creak under the weight of the many cliches attached to them. Of course, each succeeding generation is faced with its own unique set of problems and dilemmas. Some of these, it would seem, are inevitable, while others are of its own making.

In saying that modem America is suffering through an Age of Irreverence, USA Today has chosen its words carefully. Nevertheless, no publication can claim to be the ultimate authority on any matter, especially concerning the complexities of societal issues. Thus, we took our contention to a microcosm of American society and let people comment on the validity of our premise. We have gathered a cross section of quotes from individuals in various walks of life.

"Of course every generation goes through its own particular challenges," says Ohio State University President Gordon Gee. "I'm enormously proud of our students. They display a focus that's balanced. They're not just concerned with getting good jobs and making money, but also with the social issues that confront us. Now having said that, I also must point out that I think young people today are a product of the ,Age of Instant Gratification., Thanks to television, we seem to be a society that gets involved in a single issue. We yell our theories at each other. Instead of civil discourse, there are attention-grabbing headlines that scream at us. I blame a lot of this on TV and a 'sensationalized' media, which moves to bring us all down to the lowest common denominator rather than trying to capture the sense of society at its best."

Whatever is afoot, it goes beyond the media (admittedly) doing a poor job of taking the nation's pulse.

"I see signs of a backlash against the Age of Irreverence," maintains Utah Governor Michael Leavitt. "This article itself is one manifestation. I see it firsthand when I speak to groups in and out of Utah about reverence, responsibility, care, and discipline. People's eyes light up; heads nod up and down. I think more and more of us are beginning to realize that as a people we have become too irreverent, and it is creating a society we don't like. The blessing of democracy is that we get exactly the kind of society we want. It's our choice. My deep hope and growing belief are that, ultimately, the American people will reverence the best and reject the worst of our current age.

"As a society, we have developed a continuing need to enhance our standard of living, sometimes at any cost. We are becoming a society of extremes, with some facing severe challenges to meet their basic needs, while others live in opulence, exhibiting intolerance and resentment of poverty. The true nature of our social fabric is tested not by hardship, but by prosperity. It takes a unique society to survive the extreme prosperity that our country has enjoyed for many years. If prosperous people abandon compassion and assistance for our most severely disadvantaged, and increasingly expect government to be the only place people can find assistance and humanity, we are all hurt irreparably. We can not subcontract our compassion out to the government and expect our personal reverence to be maintained. Reverence is a product of the quality of our hearts and minds."

Father Robert Friday, Professor of Moral Theology and Vice-President of Student Life, The Catholic University of America, agrees. "This breakdown of respect needs to become part of society's dialogue. People don't listen to the church the way they used to, so if the church is the only one talking about it, nothing will change. The issues we face today, like child abuse, for instance, are not isolated cases. They're all related to society's attitude. I don't really know that you can point to a specific root cause or a solution. However, I do know that if it isn't addressed, society will continue to fall."

If someone is speaking about the breakdown of society, isn't that just another way of acknowledging the disintegration of the American family? Ralph Reed, Executive Director of the Christian Coalition, thinks so. "In the past, the biggest problems that people had to face--unemployment, recession, economic dislocation, foreign aggression--were things that came trom outside the soul of America. The problem today is that our central institution, the family, is in a state of crisis. One of two marriages end in divorce; one of three children are born out of wedlock; there are epidemic rates of child abuse. It used to be that no matter how tough times got, the family somehow managed to hang on and still together. Now that isn't so anymore."

Reed, among others, isn't sure he is ready to declare the Age of Irreverence a reality. "In many ways that's true, but I,d argue that there is a vast difference between the elite opinions of our leadership and the vast majority of people living in this...