Seventh in a series on "ity" words"That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him." (Doctrine and Covenants 101:78)
Morality is "moral virtue; behavior conforming to moral law or accepted moral standards, especially in relation to sexual matters." However, morality also relates to personal qualities which are judged to be good and to "ethical wisdom, and knowledge of moral science." Morality also means "conformity of an idea, or practice to moral law; moral goodness or rightness."In Section 101 of the Doctrine and Covenants, as quoted above, morality is inextricably connected to agency or our ability to choose. In the October 2009 Mormon general conference, Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke about moral discipline. He noted that "moral agency must be accompanied by moral discipline. By 'moral discipline,' I mean self-discipline based on moral standards. Moral discipline is the consistent exercise of agency to choose the right because it is right, even when it is hard. It rejects the self-absorbed life in favor of developing character worthy of respect and true greatness through Christlike service."Elder Christofferson continued: "The societies in which many of us live have for more than a generation failed to foster moral discipline. They have taught that truth is relative and that everyone decides for himself or herself what is right. Concepts such as sin and wrong have been condemned as 'value judgments.' As the Lord describes it, 'Every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own God'" (D&C 1:16).President Gordon B. Hinckley, in noting that in America we are saddled with a huge financial deficit, taught: "But there is another deficit which, in its long-term implications, is more serious. It is a moral deficit, a decline in values in the lives of the people, which is sapping the very foundation of our society. It is serious in this land. And it is serious in every other nation of which I know."President Hinckley then quoted Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "The West ... has been undergoing an erosion and (an) obscuring of high moral and ethical ideas. The spiritual axis of life has grown dim."President Hinckley continued: "One need not, of course, read statistics to recognize a moral decay that seems to be going on all about us. The endless sex and violence on network TV, the trash of so many motion pictures, the magnified sensuality found in much of modern literature, the emphasis on sex education, a widespread breakdown of law and order — are all manifestations of this decay" (Ensign, November 1993).Both President Hinckley and Elder Christofferson focused on the home as the place where moral discipline is taught and learned.