The Revolt Against the Authority of God, the Church, the State and the Parents.

The modern world has to a great extent rejected the idea of authority, and therefore of obedience. In the early Christian ages, the authority of God, the Church, the state, and the parent was accepted, even though not always obeyed. The first break came with the rejection of the authority of the Church by the so-called Protestant Reformers. They declared that in religious matters man owed obedience to no one except God, that each individual had the right to interpret the Bible as he thought best, and that each man’s private conscience was the sole judge of right and wrong. Little by little this revolt against authority extended to other areas—to civil, educational, and family matters. It has been left to our own period to complete the revolt by a widespread rejection of the authority of God. The atheistic Communist denies that there is a God, and opposes all religion as the opium that lulls people to close their eyes to the material world. The modern pagan lives as though there was no God to Whom he is responsible for his actions.

DEMOCRACY AND AUTHORITY

This modern trend against the acceptance of authority is very common in liberal circles in the United States where it is cloaked under the term “democracy.” This word is often misused to convey the idea that everyman has a right to think what he pleases without any consideration of objective truth; to speak or write what he wishes without consideration of charity, justice, or the common welfare; to do what he desires without regard for moral right or wrong. This so-called democratic trend against authority has swept into the home. Treatises are written about democracy in family life. Suggestions are made that important family matters should be decided by majority vote of the members. So many parents obey their children that they give the appearance of believing that they have received their authority from the votes of these children. They act like anxious politicians who know that their continuance in office depends upon not offending their constituents.

TEENAGERS AND OBEDIENCE

This modern reversal of roles is seen especially in the relation between teenagers and their parents. Don’t misunderstand me. I like teenagers. I think that the vast majority of the have good sense. I don’t think that the modern generation is worse than their parents were in their teens. However,there is a growing tendency, which I consider unhealthy, to treat teenagers as a class apart, especially in the matter of obedience. So much emphasis has been placed in modern books on the danger of awakening rebellion in adolescents by over-strictness, that many modern parents are confused. They are afraid to discipline their teenagers; they feel that they must treat them very gently lest they turnout to be juvenile delinquents. They give into the wishes of their children and abandon the demand for obedience. There are, indeed, dangers in too great strictness; but there are equally grave dangers in too great leniency. Kindness and love must be tempered with firmness. Teenagers must be trained to recognize that, like all the rest of the human race,they are now,and during all their life will be, subject to authority in many forms—the authority of parents, of Church, of State, and of God. They must learn to understand the foundation upon which all authority rests,its necessity for human life,and the wisdom and obligation of submitting the individual’s personal desires to the just commands of superiors.

(Thomas E. Tobin C.SS.R., “Who Obeys, You or Your Child?”)