It is clear to me that the state should never be in direct charge of moral instruction. A psychiatrist said it well when he said I can cure someone’s madness but not their badness. We should not expect that government should function directly as reformatory agents for criminals, in addition to restraining and punishing them. Even successful non-governmental secular programs have only a limited success rate. For example, Alcoholics Anonymous sometimes can help an alcoholic stop drinking but many of these same individuals become chain smokers. They basically have substituted one addiction for another. What AA can do is sometimes reform but only Christ can transform the alcoholic and release him from all addictive bondages.
While secular governments can get criminals off the street, they cannot get the “street” out of these same criminals. As noble as education and secular programs are they can never get at the root cause of the violence that exists in the hearts and actions of so many in our society. Until government realizes that man has a sin nature, it may be able to curb violence through incarceration, which is important, but only Christ can change the heart and ensure that a criminal will willingly abstain from future violence. The threat of future incarceration for a criminal may help prevent future violent behavior in part, which is important, but it often doesn’t, and repeat offenders are very common.
When governments try to pass laws to influence morality they often fail, because they are not the proper institution to influence moral behavior. Parents and the church are in a much better position to be agents of change and when Christ is in the mix change can not only happen but be lasting. Maybe that’s why despite laws against slavery we still have a very active worldwide slave market. Laws often can’t change behavior. They can often modify external behavior but until governments can find a way to modify what’s in a person’s heart we will still have slavery, prostitution, drug abuse, and a host of other evils that sadly are still rampant in society. While psychiatrists can cure madness only Christ can cure badness!