Not just in America but in other countries aswell.

First, morality is not universal... the standards by which morality is judged are subjective. Thus, I bet there are no wrong answers to your question. But it will be interesting to see the different responses you get. The best way I can explain my thoughts: Morality is context-sensitive and depends on the people, circumstances, and time. Ethics are universal and apply to all people in any circumstance. This is why the law upholds ethical behavior but can't pass judgement on moral behavior... the law is universal, like ethics, but morality is subjective. If the question was about ethical standards, one answer could be more correct than another. With morality, though, there are too many subjective standards, and the standards are time-dependent. After stating that... my personal answer to the question is NO. The standards for moral behavior are chosen by the people of the time, and there is no objective way to apply a current moral standard to past behavior/events. I would say that the standards have evolved, not decreased or increased. A century ago, mobs lynched black people and were not prosecuted. Compared to what people get away with today, I would say that lynching was much worse. But, the people at that time set the moral standards of the time. Back then, people thought that they were upholding moral standards with racism; therefore, civil rights would have been a decline in moral standards to them. Nowadays, it is the opposite. For the sake of argument: banning gay marraige may uphold standards for moral behavior today, but how do we know that promoting gay marraige won't be the moral choice in 100 years? In short, my answer is NO because morality is a subjective measure of progress. But, I do believe that the standards for ethical behavior have improved over time.

I'm not sure. I mean, standards to change, but I think that if anything, we're more out in the open about it. Not as ashamed. So, maybe that means that moral behavior in America has decreased. It just seems like things are more relaxed, not as uptight or strict.