The Rapidian Home

Opinion

 

Ethics and Religion Talk: The case for "NO TALKING" at movies!

Submitted 01-16-2018 under OPINION

Rev. Ray Lanning, a retired minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, responds: “Welcome to the age of the smart phone! We are being schooled in ‘the social media imperative.’ What we think, feel, eat, wear, or...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: Is it ethical to 'spend down' to qualify for Medicaid?

Submitted 01-08-2018 under OPINION

Should a religious tradition be able to address any and all questions of modern life? Several times in the past months, I have sent out questions to the panel and received responses suggesting that such a question not well-suited for a column on...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: Is the issue of purity important to your faith?

Submitted 01-02-2018 under OPINION

The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: “Purity is not a concept found in Unitarian Universalism therefore it holds little to no importance....

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: Should a child have three parents?

Submitted 12-27-2017 under OPINION

It raises a number of ethical questions, including whether the government should sanction the creation of genetically-modified humans. Several prominent critics who oppose any human testing of the approach, arguing that it could be a slippery slope...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: Is sex in virtual reality cheating? Part 2

Submitted 12-18-2017 under OPINION

Ty Silzer, a former pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America, responds: “For me, this is pretty simple ‘no,’ but let me share a few stories, and circle back to God and scripture. “I was watching a show sometime in the...

[read more]

Regulating begging is still bad solution to poverty, public safety concerns

Submitted 12-12-2017 under OPINION

I work at The Rapidian now and have for about three years, but before I was a staff member, I was a community journalist. The second article I wrote on The Rapidian was an opinion piece detailing why I thought banning panhandling was a terrible idea...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: Is sex in virtual reality cheating? Part 1

Submitted 12-11-2017 under OPINION

The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: “Unitarian Universalism is a covenantal faith. At our core, as a faith community is our promise to journey...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: What do religions think of each other? Part 2

Submitted 12-04-2017 under OPINION

Over the years I've heard some Muslims refer to Christians as polytheists. Then we have Christians, who to the best of my knowledge, consider Hindus as polytheists. I would love for you all to shed light on this for me. My response: Judaism, as...

[read more]

Donate to The Rapidian to help preserve and tell the stories of Grand Rapidians

Submitted 11-28-2017 under OPINION

This year, many of you turned to The Rapidian as an outlet for expression. Expressions of pain, expressions of anger or frustration or expressions of your desire to understand or connect with one another have marked this year. Since January, we have...

[read more]

Ethics and Religion Talk: What do religions think of each other? Part 1

Submitted 11-27-2017 under OPINION

"Over the years I've heard some Muslims refer to Christians as polytheists. Then we have Christians, who to the best of my knowledge, consider Hindus as polytheists. I would love for you all to shed light on this for me.” The Reverend...

[read more]

Browse