Ethics and Religion Talk
Ethics and Religion Talk: What Should Your Death Look Like?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 01-28-2019 under OPINION
The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: “In Unitarian Universalism a person can have a great deal of influence over how their death can occur...
Ethics and Religion Talk: How do you know that the immortal soul exists?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 01-22-2019 under OPINION
The Rev. Sandra Nikkel, head pastor of Conklin Reformed Church, responds: “There are many things in life that can not be heard or seen: Love, hate, greed, sadness, joy, worry, etc, etc. God created us with an invisible soul which is where all...
Ethics and Religion Talk: DNA Privacy and Misuse of Information
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 01-14-2019 under OPINION
A recent NPR story raises questions of DNA privacy. “The police currently [are] using [searches of public DNA databases] to find ... [murderers] and bad people. But are we OK with using this technique to identify people in a political...
Ethics and Religion Talk: What if Good is Not Good Enough?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 01-07-2019 under OPINION
Dr. Sahibzada, the Director of Islamic Center and Imam of the Mosque of Grand Rapids, responds: “True faith must be firm and intact of the person. The result of unshakable faith is that a believer will finally end up in the heaven. If life is...
Ethics and Religion Talk: May a Consenting Married Couple Engage in "Swinging?"
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 12-31-2018 under OPINION
Ethics and Religion Talk answered a question about four years ago about swingers. This is a follow-up question: “I am a Christian who is getting re-married this week. My human nature wants so badly to find that swinging is ‘OK’...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Should Self-Driving Cars be Programmed to Make Moral Decisions?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 12-27-2018 under OPINION
Based on an NPR report, Should Self-Driving Cars Have Ethics?, we ask the panel: Should self-driving cars be programmed with a moral decision-making capability? For example, to avoid a head on collision should the car swerve into the crosswalk...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Does clergy child abuse cover-up affect clergy moral authority? Part 2
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 12-17-2018 under OPINION
Continued from last week: In recent months we have seen reports from Philadelphia of wide spread clergy sexual abuse of children followed by wide spread cover-up also committed by clergy. As a member of the clergy what do you think of your...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Does the clergy child abuse cover-up affect clergy moral authority?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 12-10-2018 under OPINION
James writes, “In recent months we have seen reports from Philadelphia of widespread clergy sexual abuse of children followed by widespread cover-up also committed by clergy. As a member of the clergy what do you think of your profession...
Ethics and Religion Talk - Forgiving oneself
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 12-03-2018 under OPINION
The Rev. Sandra Nikkel, head pastor of Conklin Reformed Church, responds: It takes courage to admit to wrongdoing but it takes more courage to forgive oneself. We need the courage to accept God's forgiveness and believe that he will not hold...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is renting space to Unitarians a defamation of God's name?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 11-26-2018 under OPINION
Sometimes people send me sensitive questions for the column anonymously. Like the high school teacher who wanted to know what the panel thought about the ethics of going to a nude beach. But if you want to criticize me, please sign your name. I...