The role of the church is to uphold the society's traditional beliefs about right and wrong, for this is the foundation, hence sanity, of the shared understanding that is society. Hence society's reverence for the church is a measure of society's vigour. That is, if church attendance is popular, then society is thriving. Otherwise, shrinking congregations reveal that society is failing.
Now, in order to slow the shrinking of congregations, the church no longer upholds the notion that murder should win execution, and naughty children should be smacked, thereby aiding the growing communal chaos.