character
To me, character is if you’re the same in public as you are in private, and I think that in many ways, that’s what’s appealing about [Trump].
Mike Huckabee, in an interview with The Atlantic
This definition of character truly says it all and stands in contrast to a statement made almost 20 years ago:
Character is doing what’s right when nobody is looking.
This new definition for character is merely one piece of the denigration of virtue. When the worst of human behaviors is not only permitted, but celebrated, it speaks about our society. What is right has been redefined to mean freedom of speech and freedom to live without regard for another. Character has become doing what is wrong when everyone is looking.
Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
Matthew 10:15 (NRSVCE)
And lest there be any confusion, the primary sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was there inhospitable society. A society where men looked out for themselves above others and were open in their desire to do wrong – politically incorrect, morally irreprehensible. And the people who celebrate this the most, who cry out for blood and Barrabas, are those who would say, “I follow Christ.” Lord, have mercy on us.