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Opinion

 

Ethics and Religion Talk: Beware of Entering Debates on Religion!

Submitted 04-24-2023 under OPINION

Linda Knieriemen, Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Holland, responds: Discussing religious difference brings out the worst in humans unless there are ground rules— implied or concrete. Just today I was in a situation where I had...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Is the Death Penalty Ethical?

Submitted 04-17-2023 under OPINION

Rev. Salvatore Sapienza, the Senior Pastor at Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ in Saugatuck/Douglas, responds: More than 30 years ago, the World Council of Churches declared their overwhelming opposition to the death penalty. In no...

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My Fair Lady, Lightly Updated, Graces The Stage

Submitted 04-13-2023 under OPINION

Ovid writes of a sculptor who, "offended by the failings that nature gave the female heart," shunned the company of women until, having carved a beautiful statue, he found himself in love. A statue isn't a woman, of course. Still, he...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Do Dress Codes Discriminate Against Women?

Submitted 04-10-2023 under OPINION

Males and females are biologically different and our culture is in generally agreement that the male chest is a non-private area but the female chest is a private area. Recently, the Missouri House decided to adopt a stricter dress code for women....

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Ethics and Religion Talk: How Do You Help People Who Have a Pattern of Making Poor Decisions?

Submitted 04-03-2023 under OPINION

The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: I am obligated to try to help them. Sometimes that help is guiding them to counseling or support groups....

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Where do Sermons Come From?

Submitted 03-27-2023 under OPINION

Rev. Salvatore Sapienza, the Senior Pastor at Douglas Congregational United Church of Christ in Saugatuck/Douglas, responds: I do not plan my sermons weeks in advance. Rather, I begin composing them just a few days prior to Sunday. Every Monday...

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STOMP Brings Imagination and Noise to DeVos Performance Hall

Submitted 03-21-2023 under OPINION

As a toddler, one of my greatest joys was to take a pot or pan, lift it, and let it crash to the floor. What could be better than that? Imagine this: your grandfather is stretched out on the couch, face hidden behind a newspaper. Carefully, with...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: What is a Legitimate Religious Practice?

Submitted 03-21-2023 under OPINION

Does the idea that human beings are created in the image of God gives us the divine ability to create and destroy the world around us? Science gives us this ability, but might it lead to something equivalent to "witchcraft?" Why are we not...

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Ethics and Religion Talk: Should Secular Law be Based on Religious Law?

Submitted 03-13-2023 under OPINION

Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: First, we need to understand the purpose of civil and criminal law. According to the open library at the University of Minnesota, “...

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Ethics and Religion: Is Less Religion Better?

Submitted 03-07-2023 under OPINION

According to the Pew Research Center: Depending on whether religious switching (beginning mostly in the late teen years) continues at recent rates, speeds up, or stops entirely, the projections show Christians of all ages shrinking...

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