Few of my ancestors would have wanted to return to the "good old days." Truth is, "good old days" were tough. Really, what is so good about outhouses, carrying water, scrub boards, cold houses, muddy roads, chopping wood, low life expectancy, and high infant mortality? No, most of my ancestors welcomed change, and said so. Yet, just as we romanticize about the wonders of living in the agrarian world of the past, I expect that some of our ideas about the advanced morality of the past are equally inflated.
While there have always been people with keen consciences who are sensitive to the hardships of other individuals, people mostly accept prevailing notions of what is right. Though many modern politicians promise to bring back "good old days," we're not the first America to have moral problems. Can you imagine a politician campaigning on the promise to bring back the saloon town, the brothel, the Ku Klux Klan, racism, and slavery? One has to wonder about the treatment (or mistreatment) of the Irish, the Italians, the Polish, the Chinese, and the Norwegians, when they first immigrated to America. Would a modern politician campaign on a plank to "put women and blacks in their place?" Or, why not campaign on the promise to repeal suffrage for women (women in America have only held the right to vote since 1920)? Who, today, would get very far with an idea like killing buffalo in order to starve out Native Americas, or killing Native Americans to clear the land for a more worthy occupancy?
The point is, there has been a great deal of moral progress in America; it was achieved by those who followed their own convictions rather than accepting prevailing norms or expediencies. They who hold no personal opinions forfeit an identity of their own. They who refuse to share their opinions are cowards. A society that prohibits difference in opinion tends toward totalitarianism. They who refuse to change or modify their opinions are foolish. People can get along and value one another without giving each other unqualified approval. It is possible to live well with other people even when we do not see eye to eye. The best system of societal "checks and balances" is forged by people who are willing to listen to one another's differences in a spirit of respect.
The right to disagree and change is fundamental to all moral progress. If you inherited a position that makes you uncomfortable in light of your own moral understanding of the teachings, life, and ministry of Christ, then have the courage to give it up and follow Christ! "The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve" (Romans 14:22 NRSV). While watching an old rerun of Doctor Quinn - Medicine Woman, I was reminded of my third grade teacher pulling my ears and smacking my knuckles with a wooden yardstick for not being able to complete a math problem on the chalk board. I had to wonder how many of my older friends, with arthritic fingers, had her for a teacher. If you pick your morality from the past, be selective!