religion
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is Time-Tracking Software Ethical?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 09-18-2023 under OPINION
Is it ethical for an employer to install time-tracker software on an employee’s home computer (which they also use for work) and use the information to ensure that workers aren't slacking off during work time while working from home? Fred...
Ethics and Religion Talk: How Does Your Tradition Respond to Cancel Culture?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 09-11-2023 under OPINION
The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: "For me this is a complicated question. I certainly support our society holding people accountable for...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Are Religious Communities Too Exclusive?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 08-28-2023 under OPINION
One of the things that frustrates me about religion, and keeps me from joining any particular one, is that so often it is tied to ethnicity, nationalism, tribalism, etc. How can any critically thinking person believe that God just happened to reveal...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Are We Really Free to Make Choices or is God in Total Control?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 08-21-2023 under OPINION
Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: The premise of this question is freedom. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, “freedom is the power, rooted in reason and will, to...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is God Really in Control?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 08-14-2023 under OPINION
Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: The Roman Catholic Church teaches, “the overwhelming misery which oppressed humans and their inclination toward evil and death...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Do Evil Souls Suffer Eternally or Do They Simply Cease to Exist?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 08-07-2023 under OPINION
Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: I know of no theology that indicates a soul ceases to exist when death occurs other than the teachings of atheism. The Roman Catholic...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Are There Unforgivable Sins?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 07-31-2023 under OPINION
Linda Knieriemen, a retired pastor of the Presbyterian Church (USA), responds: A definition of the “sin against the Holy Spirit” has been a debate among Biblical scholars and theologians from Origen to Augustine to Calvin and beyond!...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is It OK to Borrow Another Tradition's Spiritual Practices?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 07-24-2023 under OPINION
Linda Knieriemen, a retired pastor of the Presbyterian Church (USA), responds: Syncretism, that is the borrowing of one religions tenets or practices into the life of another, can be beneficial. It certainly is how religions have developed over the...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Does Your Religious Community Feel Under Attack?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 07-18-2023 under OPINION
The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: Sadly, random, and targeted violent acts have become commonplace in our society. I am concerned for the...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Must a Congregation Always Be United in Agreement with its Leader?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 07-10-2023 under OPINION
Imam Kip Curnutt, Director of Religious Education and Associate Imam of Masjid At-Tawheed in Grand Rapids, responds: Unfortunately this is an all too common occurrence in many religious communities. In the history of Islam we see that it was this...