Our future depends on our children. It has for all of time so you would think that everyone would agree we need to protect them at all costs. While some people are indifferent, most are not, although there is a wide divergence of opinion on the meaning and method of protecting them.

Since the ancient Greeks it has been known that civilization, to be at all successful, has depended on the infusion of four Cardinal virtues throughout society: wisdom, courage, moderation and justice. From these qualities, the Greek philosophers asserted, emerge all facets of a moral character. Unless these virtues are dominant in a culture, civilization cannot survive.

These four virtues form the core of Christian virtues as well, with the addition of faith, hope and love. It is these seven virtues that formed the foundation of the West and propelled its growth into the greatest civilization, ever. It is these virtues that were central to the creation of our nation and to our eventual growth into the greatest country in all of history. Sadly, we are now in decline from that once lofty position. Or as Robert Bork once put it, we are “Slouching Toward Gomorrah.”

John Adams once said “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the governance of any other.”

Over the last 75 years our morality and our religious commitments have dropped precipitously. Between 1948 and 2022, the percentage of Christians in the United States went from 91 percent down to 68 percent. The percentage of those with no religion went from 2 percent to 21 percent during that same period. Those who identified as protestants went from 69 percent to 34 percent. Catholics remained steady, totaling 22 percent in 1948 and 23 percent in 2022. Christians who identified as neither protestant nor Catholic went from 0 percent in 1948 to 11 percent in 2022. It is not clear from the Statista Research Study, where these figures were derived, what non-specific Christian means.

This also is not the whole story. Of all Americans, only 4 percent hold a biblical worldview in 2023. This is down from 6 percent just before the pandemic started in 2020, according to a study by George Barna. This does not, by any stretch of the imagination, describe “a moral and religious people.”

We are in trouble.

Last week I outlined how through a combination of missteps, incompetence, ignorance, indifference, and passing the buck have left children pretty much on their own to ward off advances by predators. We are letting them fend for themselves instead of finding ways to protect them. And there is no change in sight. All indications are it’s going to get worse. Much worse.

The current state of things is disheartening. But there always is hope. Of course without God there will be no getting out of this mess. Ultimately the solution starts and ends with Him.

Given that a mere 4 percent of adults in the U.S. hold a biblical worldview it seems that very little will be accomplished unless and until there is a revival. What we all can do is pray for that, and that the hearts of all people be made ready for a great awakening.

In the meantime, we all need to encourage our pastors to engage with several issues related to the problem of protecting children:

1.) Speak out against all laws that make divorce easier and more attractive than staying married. Fifty-one percent of Protestants and twenty-eight percent of Catholics get divorced. Intact families are far better able to protect children than broken families.

2.) Initiate much more restrictive requirements to work or volunteer in child-serving ministries. Background investigations need to be more thorough, especially in the area of documenting the character of those who serve. Staff need to be trained to identify questionable behavior of adults and children, behavior that should be considered red flags. The workers also need to know the signs of abuse, and be able to recognize the level of vulnerability of the children in the ministry. Finally, they need to know what to do if they have a concern.

3.) Provide the youth of the church with biblical insight about current events, social practices, and political controversies. Don’t leave this to schools. In fact, the church needs to counter the misinformation children are learning in the schools, especially about their identity. Their identity is in Christ and nothing else.

4.) Take a stand against the cultural decline around us. Challenge the schools to create a wholesome environment for the children, desexualizing the schools, the libraries and the content of all educational materials. Teach the congregation the biblical view of issues facing the government and our society. Challenge the congregation to become involved in the government, keeping an eye on elected officials at least, if not running for office.

While the pastors are doing these things, the rest of us had better start making some drastic changes and do it quickly. For way too long we have been content to let others do what most people used to do for themselves—educate their children and equip them to be self-sufficient, tended to their marriages, kept track of their children and made sure they were safe, protected their homes, served their communities as volunteers and elected officials, kept up with current events, and kept a watchful eye on what the government was up to.

Since shortly after the end of WWII, we’ve subcontracted most of these duties to others—teachers, coaches, police, social workers, psychologists, childcare workers, professional politicians. There is a specialist for everything, leaving both parents free to work, pursue personal interests and hobbies, or whatever. I remember when I used to coach my sons’ baseball teams there were many years that I never even met the parents for half the kids on the team. I was free childcare for a few hours. Many of the parents never even went to championship games.

Parents and grandparents and other family members need to reclaim the roles of supervisor and coordinator for all the activities of children to make sure there are no gaps in their protection. It’s the family that has to ensure the child’s needs are not fragmented. Teachers don’t care what coaches do, coaches aren’t concerned about the childcare workers, and on and on. If the family itself becomes broken, fragmented, or abdicates responsibility to others, then there is nobody to provide oversight. Just this one thing, family oversight, would make children much less vulnerable to exploitation by predators.

Pray for revival, encourage your pastors to engage our culture, become involved, knowledgeable, and active in your community, keep your family intact and enlist your extended family to oversee all aspects of your children’s lives. This would be the start of turning things around. It can’t be done without the church and the family. We have to become “a moral and religious people again.” That will start us back on the right course.