By Common Consent, a Mormon Blog

As I mentioned in the course of Tracy M.’s “Moral Conundrum” post, a week ago I got a call asking me to speak on “moral courage” in church tomorrow. Below is the text of the talk I came up with and plan to deliver. It is a little long for a blog post (it is supposed to be a 20-minute talk), but I wanted to share it with by ‘Nacle friends.

Speaking Notes for a Talk on “Moral Courage”

Joke

This is a very special sacrament meeting, so the bishop asked the most spiritual person in the ward to speak, but he was turned down. So he asked the smartest person in the ward to speak, but was again turned down. So he asked the humblest person in the ward to speak, and I just couldn’t bear to turn him down three times in a row, so here I am.

Family Introduction [omit if short on time]

Although many of you know me, many do not, so I thought I would take this opportunity to give you a brief introduction to my family. Both I and my wife, Sandy, grew up in DeKalb, Illinois, which is about an hour due west of here. I served a mission in Colorado from 1977-1979, and Sandy and I got married in 1980. In 1982 I graduated from BYU in classics, and in 1985 I got my law degree from the University of Illinois, and I have been practicing public finance law in Chicago since that time. We lived for a couple of years in the Arlington Heights II Ward, until we bought our house, just five minutes east of here, and have been in the Schaumburg I Ward until the recent reorganization brought us to this ward. Sandy takes art classes at Harper for fun (this semester she has printmaking and painting). We have two children: Emily is 25 and pursuing a master’s in art history at NIU, and Grant just turned 20 and is a sophomore at Utah State, where he is training to become a pilot.

What is Moral Courage?

I was asked to speak on “moral courage.” I have to admit that when I first got the call, I wasn’t entirely sure myself what “moral courage” is. I found it interesting to learn that, but for an obscure 19th century sermon, the catalog of the Library of Congress doesn’t list even a single book with the simple title Moral Courage. So I think we need to begin by asking “what is moral courage?”

We might begin by asking what we mean by courage without the modifier moral. Typically when used alone that word refers to physical courage, derived ultimately from cor, the Latin word for “heart.” This is the sense in which ancient philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, discuss the concept, particularly in the context of warfare. This kind of courage is best defined by John Wayne, who said that “courage is being scared to death–and saddling up anyway.” This is the kind of courage it takes for a soldier to board a plane for Iraq, or for a firefighter to head up the stairs in the World Trade Center, to be willing to put yourself in harm’s way for the greater good.

When we add the adjective moral to the expression, the focus is no longer exclusively on physical danger, although physical danger is often still present and so physical courage is still necessary. The word moral derives from Latin mor “custom” and has to do with principles of right and wrong behavior. To have moral courage is to be willing to speak out for and do that which is right even in the face of opposing, often superior, forces that would have you act some other way. It is having the strength of character to do the right thing, even if it is not popular. It is eschewing the “easy wrong” for the “hard right.”

Moral courage is not just about facing physical challenges that can do our bodies harm. It is about facing social challenges that have the potential to harm us in other ways. These challenges are connected to one’s core moral values. Moral courage does not exist in a vacuum; it is rather a willingness to stand up for substantive virtues, such as honesty, fairness, fidelity, respect, integrity, responsibility, keeping one’s commitments, maintaining sacred vows (what we would call “covenants”), empathy and compassion for others, and so forth. As an aside, our word “virtue” derives from Latin virtus, which means “strength, manliness” (from vir “man”), and so the very word itself recognizes the strength of character it often takes to practice a virtuous life in the real world.

What good is a conviction about honesty or fairness if there is no willingness to put them into action in the face of adversity? Of what use is a code of ethics that hangs on the wall, unimplemented? Without the courage to act, conviction is pointless.

True moral courage is moderated between two extremes. To one side lies cowardice, and to the other, rashness. This reminds me of the philosophy professor who gave a three-hour exam on “what is courage?” One student almost immediately stood up and left, having written in his bluebook simply “This is courage!” When he got the bluebook back with his failing grade the professor had written in the margin, “No, that was stupidity!”

How Do We Practice Moral Courage?

There are several steps to practicing moral courage in any given situation:

1. A moral situation must be present, and we must recognize it as such. (Taking a taste test is not a moral situation.)

2. We must make a moral choice.

3. We must then translate that choice into behavior. Note that one of the most common failures of moral courage is passivity or indifference.

4. It is normal to feel fear in such a situation. The important thing is not a lack of fear, but facing and then overcoming that fear.

Illustrations of Moral Courage [omit if short on time]

A. Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, established in 1953 by the Israeli Knesset. One of their projects is to identify and record the stories of those non-Jews who protected and saved Jews during the Holocaust. As of January of this year, 21,310 people have been designated as “rescuers” or righteous gentiles, those “Righteous among the Nations.”

B. Those who report fraud or corruption in business or in the government are called “whistle blowers.” An example of this is Jeffrey Wigand, whose story was told by the Disney movie “The Insider” in 1999. Wigand went public with the health risks of tobacco at tremendous personal risk and cost. And yet greater public awareness of those risks has resulted in a major societal change in how the public views cigarettes, which in turn has saved countless lives.

C. In our own faith tradition, and on a smaller scale, I think going on a mission requires a certain amount of moral courage. My theory is that missionary service is like asking the homecoming queen out to prom, 100 times a day–and being shot down almost every time. It takes tremendous strength of character to get out of bed in the morning knowing you are going to face that much rejection.

How Do We Teach Moral Courage to Our Children?

Moral courage is not something that comes easily or naturally to most of us; it is something that must be learned. One way to teach moral courage is by your own example, to let your children see you making good, moral choices in your own life.

Moral courage is also something you can practice with your kids. There is a commercial out now that shows a larger, older boy trying to get a younger boy to take drugs. The smaller boy refuses in a way that would be acceptable in his place and culture. But then you learn that the bigger boy is actually the other boy’s older brother, and he is teaching him and they are practicing how to effectively say “no” to drugs.

One of the most effective ways we teach moral courage to our children is by telling them stories of moral heroes. It is important to actually tell the story; you can’t truncate it and just give the moral, such as “don’t lie.” It is the example of moral heroism in such stories that inspires us to want to try to emulate the strength of moral heroes in responding to difficult situations.

Ultimately, our sense of moral courage gets stronger by actually engaging in acts of moral courage in our lives. And when we see our children acting in such a way, we need to recognize that and encourage it.

Some Stories of Moral Courage [omit individual stories as needed if short on time]

Joseph in Egypt. As you may recall, Jacob, also known as Israel, had 12 sons by four women. These sons would become the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. His favorite was Joseph, the son of his old age, and Jacob made a special coat for Joseph. Traditionally this has been understood as a “coat of many colors,” from the Septuagint word poikilos (variegated, perhaps embroidered), but more likely the Hebrew word pas suggests a long tunic reaching to the ankles with sleeves reaching to the wrists. Whatever its nature, it was a special coat indicative of high social status.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him, and plotted to kill him. Instead, they ended up selling him into slavery to a passing caravan, which in turn sold him to the house of an Egyptian named Potiphar, which is a known Egyptian name meaning “the one whom Ra gave.” Joseph prospered in Potiphar’s house, and Potiphar made him his overseer and gave him tremendous responsibility. This was not unusual in the ancient institution of slavery.

Potiphar’s wife had her eye on the young man, and wanted to have an affair with him, but Joseph refused. On one occasion, when they were alone in the house, she grabbed his garment, and he ran away, leaving the garment in her hands. The Pseudepigraphal Testament of Joseph more graphically tells us that Joseph fled away naked (thus becoming history’s first “streaker”). Potiphar’s wife lied about the incident to her husband, who of course became enraged and had Joseph thrown in prison.

The easy, safe choice would have been for Joseph to go ahead and have the affair with Potiphar’s wife. He was after all a slave in her house. But Joseph had the moral courage to do the hard, right thing of resisting her advances. In the short term he faced difficult circumstances due to that choice. But it was the right thing to do, and eventually he was blessed for his integrity.

Cleansing the Temple. The Savior’s entire ministry was filled with example after example of moral courage. One such case was the cleansing of the temple, which is recounted a number of times in the Gospels, such as in Matthew 21. Jesus went into the temple precincts and overthrew the tables of the merchants and cast them out, saying: “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer [quoting Isa. 56:7]; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

The Talmud speaks of the “booths of the sons of Annas,” a high priestly family who had the money changing concession at the temple. The purchase of sacrificial animals and the payment of the annual half-shekel temple tax could not be made with foreign currency, such as Greek or Roman coins with their inscriptions of emperors and gods, but had to first be converted to local currency. The money changers apparently took an egregiously high discount on these transactions, making the temple grounds more a place of business than of worship.

The Savior’s protest against such an institution of the ruling establishment took tremendous courage. He did this notwithstanding the presence of the temple police, who were there to preserve order.

Eli Herring. Coming out of BYU, Eli Herring, a talented offensive lineman, was a projected first-round draft pick in 1995. But the 6-foot-8, 330-pound tackle spurned a pro career and the hefty, annual six- or seven-figure check due to the conflict with his convictions. Simply, the NFL played on Sundays; he wouldn’t.

Despite sending letters to all of the NFL teams warning them not to select him, the Oakland Raiders gambled and picked him up in the sixth round. Nonetheless, Herring left the money on the table. He became a low-paid high school math teacher in Utah County instead.

Personally, that is not the decision I would have made, and Herring was very clear that he intended no judgment on those LDS athletes who do choose to play on Sundays. But I cannot help but have tremendous respect for someone willing to stand up for his convictions in such a way.

Jon Scheyer. Jon Scheyer is a young man who graduated this year from Glenbrook North High School. He won the Illinois “Mr. Basketball” award, and he is now a freshman at Duke University. There was an article about him in the Chicago Tribune when he won the award, entitled “Born to be Good.” Most of the article talked about his basketball skills. But there were a couple of paragraphs where his mother related a story about a school dance, where everyone was dancing and having fun, except one girl who was sitting alone and had not been asked to dance at all. As I recall, she had some sort of a mild disability. Jon walked over and asked her to dance, and his mother said that that illustration of his character meant more to her than all of the basketball trophies in the world. Jon told her that he couldn’t enjoy himself knowing that this girl was being ignored. I agree with his mom, and I recall being very touched by this when I read the article. There may be adults here who scoff at the notion that it takes moral courage simply to ask a girl to dance, but if so, I suggest they have been away from the high school environment too long to appreciate how difficult such a seemingly simple thing can be.

Sarah Wimmer. Just this past Tuesday in the Tribune, there was a front page story about the Downers South High School girls’ cross country team, and how they have embraced Sarah Wimmer as a member of the team. Sarah is autistic, and her acceptance by the other girls took time. At first, many of them didn’t know anything about autism or understand Sarah’s unique challenges. They had to agree to take turns giving up the chance to compete in meets so that someone could run with Sarah and make sure she didn’t bolt into the street at crossings. Some were frankly fearful of such close interactions with a disabled person.

It did not take long, however, for the girls to reach outside of their comfort zones and make Sarah a part of the team. Sarah hasn’t won any races yet, but in many ways she has blossomed, and her determination and focus have been an inspiration. Having her as a teammate has been a transforming experience for everyone involved. Now many of the girls view their entire participation in the cross country program through the prism of their association with Sarah. This story was particularly touching to me, as I have a little brother who is autistic.

Conclusion

These stories of moral courage, some from sacred history and some more recent, some big and some small, are an inspiration to me, and I hope that you will similarly find them to be inspiring as you seek to be able to exhibit moral courage in your own lives.