The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, and more recently the Roman Catholic Reformation scholar Brad Gregory, have argued that the Protestant Reformation rejected natural law theory, as well as virtue ethics. In particular, Gregory has asserted that the failure of modern Western society to train people in virtue is an indirect legacy of the Reformation. Believing humans were dead in sin, the Magisterial Reformers held that it was pointless to inculcate virtue in them.