In a good society, people live in safety, without fear.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life… 1 Timothy 1.1, 2

The words, “peaceful and quiet,” are at the heart of what many people insist is missing our own society today. So narcissistic, self-centered, and disrespectful of persons and property have we become, that few today, I suspect, would characterize their lives as “peaceful and quiet.”

Consider the many ads for home and auto security systems. Listen to the uncivil tone of so much public debate. Hear the angry lyrics of certain kinds of pop music, and see the glorified violence in so much of contemporary film. Note the increase of road rage, domestic violence, flash mob crime, and identity theft. Observe the increasing use of security cameras in public places. Such things hardly characterize a people who live together in peace and quiet. I have often heard members of a previous generation comment that, when they were young, they never locked the doors to their homes. Imagine if that were to be widely known about your home today.

When people turn away from God, they look to themselves as gods and chart a course in life that works for them. If that means disrespecting others and their property – setting aside the fifth, eighth, and tenth commandments – so be it.

But as is by now apparent, we cannot achieve a good society when everyone is free to do what seems right in his or her own mind. The infamous “mystery clause” of the 1992 Supreme Court decision, Planned Parenthood v Casey, solemnly declared the right of every American to define his or her own worldview. And Americans have leapt at the opportunity with a vengeance. Now “tolerance” is the only virtue and “intolerance” is not to be, well, tolerated. We should all be able to say what we want, do what we want, wear what we want, sleep with whom we want, and get away with as much as we can – as long as it makes us happy.

Whatever policies of America’s government have encouraged this situation must be reviewed and replaced. For example, teaching relativist ethics in the public schools, allowing judges to make law on the basis of their own whims and opinions, and failing to require restoration or minimizing retribution for crimes against persons and property are practices neither just nor good. Rather than promote godly character and secure peace and quiet for all citizens, such policies make it increasingly likely that the wants of some will cause the liberties and wellbeing of others to be compromised.

Public policy can’t do everything to ensure a peaceful and quiet society. Recovering protocols of decency and consideration, and exposing and condemning incivility, disrespect, and violence against others are the work of families, churches, friends and peer groups, and private associations of various kinds. Government policies have a role in this, but public policies ensuring peacefulness and quiet will not be a priority of government until they are seen to be highly valued among the population.

A good society is one in which people feel safe and secure from threats within or without. Public policy is more than law; it gets at the kinds of behaviors law enforces or punishes, but it also speaks to the way of thinking and living which the agencies of government – including the courts and schools – endorse and promote. We need a widespread, lively public debate about the tenets of peacefulness and quiet which it is our right before God to enjoy, and government’s responsibility, through public policy, to ensure.

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