William Bennett wrote a little book a few years ago which he named, “The Death of Outrage.”
There was a time when society showed outrage at people’s misconduct. But no more. We accept the flaws of others so easily, that we accept their misconduct without hesitation. It is not that we forgive these people — we simply excuse their behavior. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and sinned, the first thing they felt was shame, shame because they saw themselves as naked, naked sinners.
What happens when people have no sense of shame? The result is Hitler’s Germany where 6 million Jews and 2 million others were gassed to death and most people knew this was happening. The result is that Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed and Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were wounded recently for simply doing their jobs.
What happens when people have no sense of shame? The result is people do drugs, engage in extra-marital sex, and engage in shop-lifting and outright theft time after time after time.
What happens when people have no sense of shame? The result is moral Frankenstein monsters who don’t care about the hurt and damage and pain they cause for the innocent.
A mother, whose teenage son was murdered in Philadelphia, tells us what happens when people have no shame: “You go to court and the guy is looking at you, like, “What’s the problem? So what if I killed your son?”
What happens when people have no sense of shame? We have national and community leaders who are caught in adulterous affairs, yet who look straight into the television camera and declare over and over: “It never happened.” Then they sue the accusers.
We have public figures arrested for drug abuse, spouse abuse, embezzlement, and a host of other crimes and so many people look the other way and totally excuse their behavior.
What we are seeing every day in our country is that many people are so very comfortable with the presence of evil and they choose to look the other way.
How have YOU looked the other way and become comfortable with the presence of evil?
COUNTING OTHER PEOPLE’S SINS DOES NOT MAKE YOU A SAINT!
My Commentary:
William Bennett’s phrase, “The Death of Outrage,” captures the heart of the issue: we have not just softened in our response to wrongdoing; we have silenced our conscience. What once provoked shame or moral reckoning now too often elicits indifference.
Shame, properly understood, is not a tool of condemnation but of awakening. It reminds us that we are capable of doing wrong—and that we are called to do better. But when we lose shame, we also lose the inner compass that points toward virtue. We normalize misconduct, explain away cruelty, and reframe evil as personal preference or inevitable behavior.
The examples are real and raw—murderers without remorse, leaders without integrity, and communities that no longer blush at lies, infidelity, or abuse. The danger is not just in what evil people do, but in what decent people tolerate. Silence becomes complicity. Excuses become enablers. We look the other way so often that we begin to forget what righteousness looks like.
Yet we must also remember: moral outrage without humility becomes judgmentalism. It is easy to be appalled by the sins of others while ignoring the small, corrosive compromises in our own hearts. The goal is not to count sins, but to awaken hearts—including our own.
My Prayer Reflection:
Lord of Light and Truth,
You created us in goodness and call us to live with integrity and compassion.
Yet we confess, too often, we have grown comfortable with darkness.
We look the other way. We excuse the inexcusable.
We tolerate what we should resist, and we whisper silence where we should speak with courage.
Awaken in us a holy discomfort.
Let shame not paralyze us, but purify us.
Let conviction not condemn us, but call us back to You.
Teach us to grieve what grieves Your heart—not from pride, but from love.
Give us the courage to speak truth with grace,
To challenge evil without becoming harsh or self-righteous,
To forgive deeply, but never excuse harm,
And to live with integrity even when no one else does.
Remind us, Lord, that holiness is not found in counting others’ sins,
But in examining our own hearts—and turning them fully toward You.
May we never become so comfortable with evil that we forget we are meant for holiness.
Amen.
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