Part of the reason families are floundering today is because we lack a simple moral compass by which to assess our experience of culture.  Through the VirtueSearch platform, the VIRTUE LITERACY PROJECT is pioneering a fresh solution, a whole new way to evaluate reading, media and music. VirtueSearch will offer a unique rating system focused on positive, virtue-based, criteria.

Why do we need Virtue Ratings?

Current outdated rating systems like PG, PG-13, R, X, M, and ADULT are based on warnings about negative content. They were appropriate for an era when the bulk of reading and media was wholesome, and families needed a way to identify the “bad apples.”  With our current flood of toxic content, such ratings only normalize the morally distorted content and encourage children and teens to desire to experience progressively worse material. In the modern marketplace, healthy and harmful titles are promoted equally, within a insidious spectrum of “age appropriateness.”

How will it work?

The VIRTUE SEARCH online platform will apply 40 Everyday Virtues™ to rate reading and entertainment according to positive content. The truly “bad apples” don’t even merit a rating and are excluded. 

Each virtue-rated title on the VirtueSearch Reading & Media Guide platform will highlight 3 specific Everyday Virtues™ that are prominent in the title. A V#+ will also be assigned to each title. This easy-to-understand code indicates: "V" (Virtue-rated material), "#" (A target age/maturity that is great for someone to start enjoying the title), "+" (affirming that everyone above that age/maturity can enjoy the title too). This simple structure provides at-a-glance  moral nutrition information for individuals and families to consume reading, media, and entertainment that helps them be happy and healthy inside and out.

The 40 Everyday Virtues™ are a carefully researched, and easily recognizable, collection of positive human attributes. While many of the Everyday Virtues™, can be recognized as theological virtues, the list also includes practical descriptors of positive thought or action.  Each can be energized with the power of God's grace to make us spiritually strong and empowered by goodness. The virtues are grouped in five unique color categories.


YELLOW:

Humility - Choosing the strength of littleness

Adaptability - Adjust to change agreeably

Empathy - Sharing the feelings of another

Peacefulness -  Internal restraint and calmness

Humor - Laughter with, not at, others

Courage - Acting upon good & resolute beliefs,  despite danger

Obedience - Following direction of rightful authority

Diligence - Persistent work and effort

BLUE:

Inspiration - Energizing another’s faith or enthusiasm

Trust - Confident reliance on God or others

Fortitude - Spiritual staying power and stamina

Faith - Relying on God’s power

Faithfulness - Loyalty to keep promises

Acceptance - Saying “yes” to life as is

Resourcefulness - Creative problem solving

Orderliness - To arrange things or time with purpose

SILVER:

Wisdom - Using strong spiritual judgement

Charity -  Love that motivates generosity

Integrity - Consistently seeking to do good 

Hope - Belief in a good future with God

Justice - To lift up the lowly

Mercy - Compassionate forgiveness

Purity - Unselfish intention and action

Frugality - Careful use of money

RED:

Gratitude - Thankfulness & appreciation

Joyfulness - Gladness despite difficulty

Perseverance - Unwavering endurance

Modesty - “It’s not about me” selflessness

Cooperation - Sacrificing to work with another

Patience - To wait in spite of frustration

Respect  - To honor the dignity of another

Tact - Using words with great care

GREEN:

Kindness - Consideration to put others first

Honesty - Exercising authenticity & truth

Self-Discipline - Self-imposed obedience

Devotion - Ardent love, no matter what

Steadfastness - Constancy & dedication.

Prudence - Choosing the greatest good

Moderation - Avoiding extremes

Piety - Reverence for what is holy

Ultimately, as families become familiar with the Everyday Virtues and use the VirtueSearch Rating System to choose the media and entertainment they consume, they will notice a growing desire in their hearts to raise the bar for the content they are willing to spend their time and money on. Thus, we can shift the cultural conversation toward a celebration of titles that offer excellence in both style AND substance.  Growth in Virtue Literacy will enable us to not only look at each book we read, each movie we watch, and each song we sing…through the lens of VIRTUE...but also to seek to make Virtue the standard by which we live our lives.

Count me in! I want to help establish the VirtueSearch platform - with the moral compass of Everyday Virtues - on a firm financial footing.

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