High achievement, no morals

America has managed to successfully create a generation of young adults who excel in academics and athletics but have no moral conscience. Former Stanford University student Brock Turner is an excellent example. He represents an entire class of men on every college campus in America—that is, high achievers with no morals. Turner, 20, was convicted in March and recently sentenced to six months jail time for intent to commit rape of an intoxicated/unconscious person, penetration of an intoxicated person, and penetration of an unconscious person. Turner’s father protested his son’s punishment as too severe for merely “20 minutes of action.”

Should we be surprised? We are now a nation that believes that performance matters more than character.

The average American parent is far more concerned about his or her children’s academic and athletic performance than they are about their moral formation. Just look at where Americans spend their time and our money: According to most recent census data, the number of SAT prep centers in the United States more than doubled from 1998 to 2012 to 11,000, and youth sports has become a $7 billion industry. While Americans spend more time and money on academics and athletics, they spend less and less time and money in church—the place that specializes in moral formation, character, and virtue. The Southern Baptist Convention is in its nine straight year of decline, losing nearly 200,000 members since last year. In fact, nearly every Christian expression in the United States is experiencing a significant decline in numbers. Giving to the church, according to research by Empty Tomb, is now as low as it was during the Great Depression.

Jesus warned us about having our priorities right:

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26)

What does it profit America’s children if they excel in academics and athletics but their souls are lost in the process? America is forfeiting her children’s souls for the sake of serving the idols of success, comfort, and ease.

Brock Turner was, by today’s standards, extremely successful. He was extremely smart and an amazing athlete, but what he lacked was good character, which ultimately led to his demise and left a young woman victimized and traumatized for life. Here is a truth that modern Americans are not willing to face: No matter how smart or athletic a person is, a lack of morals and character will sabotage success every time and eventually hurt others. Lance Armstrong, Bill Cosby, Tonya Harding—the list goes on—were successful but ultimately found themselves scandalized because of poor character and morals.

If America wants a culture where college sexual assaults decline and where highly successful people are not undermined by scandalous behavior, then we can no longer buy the lie that religious moral formation does not matter.