For one thing, in recent years more children and teenagers have committed cruel acts of violence against other children as well as adults.

A shocking case took place in Sweden in 1998. Two boys, five and seven years of age, choked a four-year-old playmate to death! Many asked the question: Do children not have a built-in restraint that tells them to stop when they are going too far? A child psychiatrist made this telling comment: “A restraint against letting it go too far is something that has to be learned,” she said. “It could have to do with . . . what role models children have and what they learn from the adults around them.”

Even among children and youths who are seemingly normal, observers have noticed a blunting of moral senses. “We have been thrown back into a moral Stone Age,” claims Christina Hoff Sommers, a professor of philosophy. She noted that when her young students are faced with the question of what is right and what is wrong, most of them react by becoming very insecure. Then they reply that there is no such thing as right or wrong. They believe that each person must consider what is best for himself.

In recent times, many of her students have objected to the principle of the unique dignity and value of human life. For example, when asked what they would do if faced with the choice between saving the life of their pet or the life of a fellow human whom they did not know, many said that they would choose the animal.

“The problem is not that young people are ignorant, distrustful, cruel, or treacherous,” says Professor Sommers. “To put it bluntly, they are conceptually clueless.” She claims that many young people today actually question whether there is a right or a wrong, and she feels that this attitude poses one of the greatest threats to society.