Thoughtful Reflections on Faith and Life
The nature of morality, whether it is objective or subjective, is one of the most important topics of today. Brett Kunkle of Stand to Reason does a great job of explaining how we can know objective moral truths. If you want to learn more on this topic, I recommend Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air … Read More “How Can We Know Objective Morality?” »
This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has to say about abortion in his Ethics. Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are concerned already with a human being or not is merely to … Read More “Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Abortion” »
I spent the last two weeks studying ethics as a part of my training as a chaplain (padre) in the Canadian Armed Forces. It was a great time of learning and our two instructors were very good at getting the information across and making sure that we really got it. One of the best parts … Read More “Band of Brothers” »
Normative ethics is comprised of three systems: consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics. While virtue ethics goes back to Aristotle or earlier, it is only more recently that virtue ethics has begun to compete more actively with consequentialism and deontology as a viable system of ethical thought. What is virtue ethics? In its simplest form, it … Read More “What is Virtue Ethics?” »
It is always heartbreaking to discover that your child has a severe disability. We all wish that children were healthy and developing normally. But what is the alternative? There are some who believe that if you can find out about the disability soon enough, the compassionate thing is to have an abortion. Others take a … Read More “Is it Ethical to Allow a Child to Live With Severe Disabilities?” »
What are your thoughts on proselytization? Most people have strong feelings, few just don’t care. Many evangelicals strongly emphasize the sharing of their faith (although they would prefer the term evangelism to proselytization). Some Christians have sincere personal beliefs but do not think that it is fair to share those with others, respecting people’s existing … Read More “Ethics of Evangelism” »
Philosopher Peter Singer is famous for advocating infanticide, acknowledging that if it is okay to kill a baby in the womb, nothing magical happens in the journey down the birth canal. Recently, two ethicists, Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva, in Australia have argued in a the Journal of Medical Ethics for the same sort of thing. You … Read More “After-Birth Abortions and Infanticide” »
The subject of ethics is one that we cannot afford to be ignorant on. There are some good Christian resources but we should be aware of what non-Christians are saying as well. I have been listening to a series of podcasts called Bio-Ethics Bites. This series is connected with Oxford University. It includes an interview … Read More “Bio-Ethics Bites” »
Christopher Hitchens asks the question: “Does Religion Make People Behave Better?” I would agree with Hitchens with regard to a negative answer. In fact I would say that religion does not make people do anything. The subtitle of the book “How Religion Poisons Everything” would suggest that Hitchens believes in general religion makes people behave … Read More “Does Religion Make People Behave Better?” »
