The deterioration of decency has accompanied quite proportionately the deterioration of society's interest in and support of religion. Historically and traditionally, the temple and church have been the schools of virtue.  Not so necessarily as places of organizational denomination, but as places that teach children to replace selfishness with unselfishness, dishonesty with honesty, sensuality with self-control, and hatred with love.

The family is the strongest educator, but moral teachings in the family are based on what prophet and sage have inculcated.  Those families that place emphasis on religious training are generally the ones whose children learn the greatest sense of decency. Any current quest for decency accompanies the current trend back to religious study.

Note: The entire article, this being the opening, was written by Ralph W. Emerson, David J. Steinberg, Celine Karraker, and Bruce Cartozian.