A few weeks ago, I spent a week traveling in India. My wife and I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy trip. Friends of ours who went there before us warned us that transportation is tough, scams are everywhere, there’s lots of pollution and there are areas of extreme poverty. Their best advice [...]
You are at the archive for the Ethics category &rarr
Gay Africa
For those of us who label homosexual practice as a sin it can be easy to get muddled up about government attempts to legislate and prosecute sexual behavior. There is a difference between legislation designed to protect the vulnerable from victimization and that which tries to monitor and control consensual relationships. We must stand up [...]
Does pure confession need to come with no worldly benefits?
(Guest blogger: Todd Hertz. Todd is the E-Marketing Manager for ReFrame Media. That basically means he works to build online relationships plus develop web and social media strategies. He formally worked as the editor for multiple projects at Christianity Today.)
2009 has been a big year for celebrity confessions and apologies. The most notable cases: Alex [...]
The Last 10%
Craig Groeschel, the senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, has been writing an interesting series of blog posts about giving the last 10%. He says in most things we do, giving the first 90% is the easiest because it doesn’t take as much risk. Plus our human nature tell is that once we’ve hit 90%, we’ve done [...]
Does God want you to be thin?
A recent Washington post article talks about the prevalence of faith-based weight loss plans. I had no idea this was going on, and I have to say, I’m torn about the whole thing. I was more skeptical when I read the headline than I was after I read this justification from Pastor Steve Reynolds:
“About [...]
Embryonic stem cells: what’s the big deal?
So, what’s so special about embryonic stem cells? Here’s how President Obama described them in the speech we looked at in a previous post:
At this moment, the full promise of stem cell research remains unknown, and it should not be overstated. But scientists believe these tiny cells may have the potential to help us [...]
Human embryonic stem cells: ’sound science’ and ‘moral values’
A few months ago, when President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells (HESCs), he seemed to portray his action as an affirmation of “sound science” as contrasted with “moral values” and “ideology.” From his speech that day:
In recent years, when it comes to stem cell research, rather [...]
How to Be More Moral: Think Less, Go to Church More?
I’ve been stewing on this column by David Brooks in the New York Times last month on the supposed irrelevance of moral reasoning in an age of neuroscience. Brooks quotes Michael Gazzaniga’s book Human:
”[I]t has been hard to find any correlation between moral reasoning and proactive moral behavior, such as helping other people. In fact, [...]
Denying Medical Treatment for Children
There’s been a fair amount of press coverage lately about situations where parents are refusing medical treatment for their kids based on religious reasons. Parents are currently in court or on the run from authorities being accused of neglect.
In one case, a Wisconsin mom is on trial, charged with second degree homicide, after her 11-year-old [...]
Torture: it’s the American way
On the next episode of 24, according to the previews, tireless hero Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) will walk into the hospital room of a U.S. senator and threaten to torture him. And I expect I’ll be cheering him on. I wonder if that’s OK.
Critics have long said that 24 glorifies torture, and it’s [...]

