During the early 1940s, World War II was in full swing. Women worked in factories; the men fought. If your parents didn’t approve of the guy/girl you were going to marry, you usually didn’t marry them. You had to elope if you did, and that was looked down upon. The rates of things like divorce went up dramatically around the war. Racism was common and segregation not at all unusual. Abortion was illegal, but women took advantage of the underground abortion clinics; unfortunately, a number of these women died because of this.
In 2009, a war is going on now, too, but it does not effect us as much WWII. Women and men are able to work and fight. Divorce is so common that engaged couples are looked down upon if they state their firm intentions to stay together for life. Racism is still felt by some, but many are speaking out against it and it is much different than the forties. Today abortion often is used, but it is legal. Fewer women die - but more abortions happen.
Morality has clearly changed since the 1940s. Is it for the better or worse?
Marriage and Divorce: When you got married in the forties, your parents almost
had to approve of your marriage, and hardly anyone married without that approval - unlike today. Compared to today, divorce was not as common, though more common than in the 30s. Between 1940 and 1945, the divorce rates tripled.
Racism: Everything was segregated in the forties. If you fought in the army and were black, you were put in a segregated section. There were segregated schools, jobs and buses, even parts of town for blacks. If you were black - even if you were a grown man - you would have been called "boy." You might dress and act the same as everyone else, but it didn’t matter then - you would be treated with less respect. Today, racism is less apparent and common. Unfortunately, there will always be prejudice; but now many strive to treat people of any race as equal.
Abortion: Surprisingly enough, a large number of abortions happened during the forties - even while it was illegal! Hundreds of women died from bad treatment by amateur doctors or even the woman herself! Now we have a safe process and fewer women die, but more babies are killed more easily. Was either era better?
You can draw you own conclusions about the forties or now were better morally. They both had problems; there will never be a perfect era until Christ returns. In the forties, people might have seemed more perfect from the surface; there was respect, they had good workers and wonderful mothers, but underneath it all there were problems. Homosexuality existed. Smoking existed. Prejudice existed. Abortion existed. Abuse existed. Divorce existed. These things were there, hidden under the surface of a seemingly moral time. Today, people just happen to flaunt their sin. Were the people of the 1940s more moral than now in 2009? You decide.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 “What had been will be again, what had been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”
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