It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity p. 73)
When I read this sentence the other day, I thought it was a perfect insight into the world we live in today. However, I don't think C.S. Lewis peered into the future of America or was making any kind of prediction; all he was doing was observing the world exactly how it was and is. All throughout history humanity has acted as if outward morality and legislation is the most important, if not the only, thing we need to think about, and as if merely telling (or screaming at) people what to do will necessarily make everything okay.
We see that in the Pharisees of Jesus' day. These men were the most pious men in all of Jewish culture. They obeyed all the laws and had Scripture memorized. Their legislation was intense and demanding, and they followed it perfectly. But all of this was fully and completely focused on the outside.
Inwardly, they were extremely prideful in their piety and very judgmental of everyone who wasn't as good as them (in their eyes, everybody). They followed the letter of the law about as well as a person could, but not the spirit of it. They thought nothing of the mercy of God; in their eyes, they didn't need it. Jesus likened them to "whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27 ESV). Their laws did nothing to save them, and it did nothing to make them any better, even though in their eyes it did.
Things haven't changed much.
Nowadays you see people on both sides trying to legislate morality, thinking that fixing the system will fix society as a whole. Now, I'm all for the law following what is truly right, and I fully believe that our country needs a lot of legislative repair. But is that all we need? We see people on both sides screaming and spewing hatred and insults towards the other side for not being good, upstanding people like them, revealing the ugliness within themselves by doing so. We see people trying to make the law right, apparently believing that once the law is right, everyone will fall into place, obey it, and live with it.
It seems to me like the most important thing hasn't been addressed in the public square: the changing of hearts. As Lewis said, if people's hearts aren't changed, they will find ways to commit the same evils under a new system that they committed under the old. But if their hearts are changed, they will work towards this good system and eventually try to put it in place.
The only way to create true, lasting change is not to fix or replace the system. I agree our system needs to be fixed. But it will not be fixed in a lasting way unless the hearts of those living under that system are fixed first.
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