The Youth Crime Problem
The term “university” is actually a composite of the words “unity” and “diversity.” When the first universities were founded 1000 years and right up until the early 19th century, those attending a university were guided in the quest to find unity in diversity—namely, how all the diverse fields of knowledge (the arts, philosophy, the physical sciences, mathematics, etc.) fit together to provide a unified picture of life.
The foundational unity that they were seeking was the God of the Bible. But it wasn’t blind faith. The three foundational skill components taught were called the the Trivium: Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric. Grammar: the structure within which knowledge is described. Logic: the mechanics of testing its truthfulness. Rhetoric: The successful communication to this truth to others.
The advent of the belief in biological evolution; the belief in goo to you via the zoo wasn’t and still isn’t scientific at all but was embraced because it allowed for the elimination of God. Instead of universities, we now have “pluraversities”, institutions that deem every viewpoint, no matter how ridiculous, just as valid as any other—that is, except the viewpoint that just one religion or worldview could be true. That’s the one viewpoint considered intolerant and bigoted on most college campuses.
Yet the five most consequential questions in life are these:
1. Origin: Where did we come from?
2. Identity: Who are we?
3. Meaning: Why are we here?
4. Morality: How should we live?
5. Destiny: Where are we going?
The answers to each of these questions depend on the existence of God. If God exists, then there’s ultimate meaning and purpose to your life. If there’s a real purpose to your life, then there’s a real right and wrong way to live it. Choices you make now not only affect you here but will affect you in eternity.
On the other hand, if there is no God, then your life ultimately means nothing. Since there is no enduring purpose to life, there’s no right or wrong way to live it. And it doesn’t matter how you live or what you believe—your destiny is dust.
The culmination of two hundred years of atheism flowing down from our progressively pluralistic universities (an oxymoron!) and consequently our schools is that the millennials are the most unchurched generation in history.
So why should we be surprised if youth today have no remorse at stealing a car and crashing it or killing a pedestrian and his pregnant wife or robbing houses and beating others up for no reason other than for fun! We have removed their innate moral compass. Don’t expect them to change.
If we remove God, then prisons with an SAS regime are the only reforming answer – and that should happen after the first offence, not the 100th offence as in the case of the youth who yet again rammed a police car yesterday (actual picture)
Peter Toth ( expanded and adapted from writing of Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek)