news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6974587.stm

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1552956.ece

There are many, in Britain, especially those in Blair/Brown’s labour party, who would boast that British society has never been so successful – due mainly to the relaxation of laws surrounding sexual practices, drugs, alcohol, pornography, violence, gambling and what used to be described as criminal behaviour.
Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Family (what used to be Minister of Education) categorically claims that there are no problems and the slight turbulences we witness, reported in the tabloids, are confined to a few areas of social deprivation. Failing families in these areas can be targeted with early, state intervention. One wonders what Orwellian methods he has in mind?
But, people in Britain do not sense that the anarchy being exhibited by children is confined to a few, isolated, urban districts but instead (to quote Malcom Muggeridge again) it “is falling on us like black atomic dust” – it is in the air.
The tragedies of mothers and fathers grieving for their loved ones, that we see almost on a weekly basis: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6974867.stmare are a direct consequence of Government legislation that undermines family life. It is the fruit of a worldview that says that all of life is governed only by chance (“Rhys Jones, ” it was reported , “was in the wrong place at the wrong time”). It is one where distinctions between male and female, mother and father, married and unmarried, criminal and victim are non-existent It is one where right and wrong and true and false do not exist. It is one where we are forced to tolerate everything. The consequence is a generation of children who believe in nothing and see life essentially as that described in Ecclesiastes – futile and meaningless. No wonder we have an increasingly nihilistic, mindlessly violent, callous and lawless younger generation.

David Skinner, UK

Good post I thought I might as well leave a positive comment because I have come across as a troll so far. I generally agree with most that you say!

Matthew Newton

Admittedly Ms Maier may be part of an extreme minority, but as I said, her views are becoming more common, unfortunately. Thus the reason for the article: to help slow down this unwelcome trend, and to make others aware of it.

The views of someone like, say, Peter Singer may also be quite extreme and held by few, yet it seems quite important for people to be aware of his position. It’s the old line from Santayana, about people not learning from history doomed to repeat its mistakes.

As to selfishness in general, in one sense you are right. It is a condition common to all of us. In biblical terms it is called sin, and the purpose of the gospel is to set us free from this selfishness so that we can become other-orientated as God is and we were meant to be.

But still, many other observers have pointed out an increased emphasis on self, and a corresponding decline in concern for the community as a whole, and the welfare of others.

And of course the “great liberal death wish” is a phrase that goes back to Malcolm Muggeridge.

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

I think anyone of reasonable intelligence would view Ms Maier’s book as nothing more than a bitter, ill-informed rant. I am surprised that you would bother to give it any airtime (blogtime?) at all.

To suggest that her views represent some kind of shift in the broader liberal community (great liberal death wish???) is somewhat fallacious. Materialism and selfishness are undoubtedly the forces behind the declining birthrate, but these traits are just as well represented in the non-liberal community.

James Beattie

But going further, it is the distinctly, Christian-based family that has been the basic, building block for western European civilisation. The Christian family mirrors Christ’s relationship with the Church. The family is the environment in which this personal relationship is transmitted directly from one generation to another; Christ and the Church model the new relationship between God and man; Husband and wife in turn model that relationship to their children; finally that family models it to the rest of the community. It is here that discipline, order, boundaries, forgiveness, an appreciation for beauty and truth, security, solidarity, stability, justice, purity, righteousness and sacrificial love are practised.

David Skinner, UK

“Corinne Maier … makes it plain that she considers children to be savages, little tyrants and nuisances that are simply a pain in the neck.”

“What makes her remarks all the more alarming and disconcerting are two facts. One, she happens to have two children of her own, but she “bitterly regrets” having them.”

What she describes represents two failures:
a) a failure to recognise the sinful start we have in life (err, thanks Adam!)
and
b) a failure of parenting, or at least that part of the process which can raise civilised, “other-focused”, responsible people.

John Angelico