There is no doubt that our culture is not only corrupt but in a state of immorality. 20th century Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr was someone who constantly tried to live out a faith filled life during times of immorality such as war and segregation. Niebuhr was someone who believed strongly in original sin: that humanity was responsible for the evil that exists in the world. He believes in free will and that we as humans need to take responsibility of our actions and face the tension of culture head on. He said during a sermon “Human beings live in the tension between nature and spirit, between knowledge of our mortality and our intimations of transcendent meaning. Our highest hope and calling is to live responsibly in this tension. Niebuhr was considered one of the most influential boundary-crossing religious figures of the 20th century and often came under fire from both Christians and atheists alike.
Reinhold Niebuhr was someone who considered himself a "Christian realist", which was a middle way between idealism and arrogance. Niebuhr always tried to promote action in the interest of social justice. According to Mr. Richard Wightman Fox "he always thought that a certain amount of evil was going to be produced by the best people. And there is the ultimate paradox - that sin accompanies the quest for love and justice. Niebuhr himself was very active in social justice he engaged in racial controversies in Detroit and openly stated his opposition to both World War II and the Vietnam war. Though a Christian, Niebuhr often ridiculed Christian ethic. He once said "Individual may strive to be moral, but collectively human beings are compromised and prone to immorality, even evil. Civilization depends upon the vigorous pursuit of the highest values by people who are intelligent enough to know that their values are qualified by their interest and corrupted by their prejudices." What I learned about Niebuhr's view of culture is that we live in a morally corrupt world and it's not always about choosing between moral and immoral, evil or no evil, but evil and more evil. The things we do are almost always affect something negatively but its the decisions to do the least damage and doing a lot of damage that really matter. Society will always be immoral, but we the people of that society have the ability to be moral beings, but our environment will always be somewhat evil, its up to us to keep that corruption as minimal as possible.
Source: "Speaking of Faith:" Moral Man and Immoral Society: The Public Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr