Manners would be the standards of conduct that prevail in a group, large or small, and hence they would change from group to group... and year to year. Morals would be defined as the standards that determine the relations of individuals with other individuals, one with one--a child with each of its parents, a husband with his wife, a rich man with a poor man (not the rich and the poor)--and also the relations of any man with himself, his destiny, and his God. They are answers found by individuals to the old problems of faith, hope, charity or love, art, duty, submission to one's fate ... and hence they are relatively universal; they can be illustrated from the lives of any individuals, in any place, at any time since the beginning of time.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Here, for example, are a few of the doctrinal parallels: Instead of God, the Communists believe in history as a final principle an...d omnipotent judge. They regard "the great task of making history" as the highest activity open to mankind; it is their equivalent for doing God's will on earth. To be cast "into the dustbin of history" is like being cast into hell. Instead of Divine Providence, the Communists believe in the Marxian dialectic as the principle that shapes our lives in society. Since the dialectic consists of three parts--thesis, antithesis, synthesis--it also bears some relation to the Christian Trinity; and it is the subject of quite as many learned disputations. Instead of Divine Grace, they believe in a spirit emanating from the working class; almost by magic it transforms one's doubts and weariness into renewed hope.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »