Matter Of Ethics

At the root of the problem with American behavior ((ETHICS, May 25)) is a disdain for moral absolutes. The seeds of relativism were planted in the 19th and 20th centuries by thinkers like Einstein, Darwin and Freud and nourished in the '60s with the breakdown of the Judeo-Christian moral consensus. The harvest of this situation is the self-indulgence without accountability that we see today in Reagan's America.

(The Rev.) Scott Rae

Newport Beach, Calif.

I found in your discussion titled "What's Wrong" not indignation at the vacuum of values we have in the '80s but a shot at President Reagan. Materialism and corruption have been with all nations for a long time. Crooks have been punished and phonies exposed, but to mention names like Boesky and Bakker in the same breath with Meese and Reagan is exactly what is wrong with your story.

Bernard Wagner

Hamburg, West Germany

You should not have included James Watt in your rogues' gallery of Reagan Administration officials who faced allegations of questionable activities. The former Secretary of the Interior was guilty of nothing more than political naivete.

Louis McChord

Tacoma

Perhaps the most glaring flaw in your story is the reference to former Labor Secretary Raymond Donovan's trial as evidence of moral decay in high places. The result of the Donovan trial, wherein he was acquitted, only underscores your total lack of sensitivity. You treated him as if he were guilty while the jury was deliberating on that very issue.

Fred I. Parker

Middlebury, Vt.

You have lumped together pictures of persons convicted of serious crimes, persons on trial, persons under indictment, persons under investigation and persons against whom "allegations" have been made. What ever happened to the common-law presumption that someone is innocent until proved guilty?

John T. Noonan Jr.

U.S. Circuit Judge

Ninth Circuit

San Francisco

You cite ethical lapses in officials in government, finance, religion and the military. You point a finger at businessmen, educators, physicians, lawyers and almost every other segment of our society except publishers and editors. If you spent time researching your own profession, you would surely find an equivalent or even larger portion of it involved in the same activities you condemn in other fields.

Rudy E. Small

Green Bay, Wis.

If Americans would concern themselves more with morality and worry less about the sexual behavior of their politicians, they would impeach Reagan for the Iran-contra arms sale and forgive Gary Hart his venial sins.

Oscar Uzin Fernandez

Cochabamba, Bolivia