"Smacks" of Truth

"We say we want a renewal of character in our day but we don't really know what we ask for.
To have a renewal of character is to have a renewal of a creedal order that constrains, limits, binds, obligates and compels. This price is too high for us to pay. We want character but without conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame;
we want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil; we want decency without the authority to insist upon it; we want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom.
In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms we want it."

James Davison Hunter
The Death of Character: Moral Education in an Age Without Good or Evil