Handlin Urges Set Of Morals Without Traditional Religion

The problem of realizing a comprehensive set of morals today without returning to a traditional religious structure was raised by Oscar Handlin, professor of History, in a talk at Hillel House last night.

Moral codes were established in early 19th century European villages by an individual's traditional religion because of its comprehensiveness in three categories: as an explanation of the universe and man's place in it, a framework for communal action, and the exclusive source of the elements of aesthetic behavior.

Traditional religion and its tight set of morals suffered its downfall when migration, movement to big cities, and importation of urbanized concepts caused the individual to become uprooted and lose his moral values, Handlin continued. The members of society were then confronted with new answers to their questions, and their art was no longer exclusively of a religious nature.

With his set of moral values destroyed, man then turned to an ad hoc moral standard which is in vogue today. Contemporary man must therefore regain the older type of comprehensive morals without the other aspects of traditional religion which are no longer workable in American society, concluded Handlin.