An ongoing debate that I have with a number of socially conservative friends is over the question of whether our society has fallen into free-wheeling decadence. My view is that we are the same moralistic prigs we always were, only about different things, and even the differences aren’t that profound. If anything, we’ve found more things to be moralistic about.

A reader writes:

I work for a non-profit community arts organization who is working towards instituting a morality clause for its paid staff.  Now granted, morality clauses aren’t new, and I know they are often standard clauses for churches, religious organizations and institutions who at times have abused them in nefarious ways.