Ethics and Religion Talk: my final reflections

With a measure of sadness, I sit down to write this final Ethics and Religion Talk column.

The column was born as a result of my response to an anonymous person who left an Easter egg in the driveway of two Jewish institutions, including my own, letting me (and my young daughter, who found it) know that I was going to hell unless I embraced a particular tradition’s faith in Jesus. I wrote a response and submitted it to the Grand Rapids Press. The editor, Julie Hoogland, not only published the op-ed but also graciously invited me to visit the brand-new downtown office of Mlive.com. While there, I pitched an idea that I’d had for a while of creating a forum in the religious section in which clergy from different traditions would engage directly with each other, modeling respectful dialogue while answering reader-submitted questions on ethics and religion. She invited me to submit a few sample columns as proof of concept and assigned Matt VandeBunte to be my primary contact/editor. Matt came up with the name “Ethics and Religion Talk.”

At its height, Ethics and Religion Talk appeared in as many as four or five print publications around Michigan affiliated with Mlive.com, and won several state-wide awards for religion writing. As the Grand Rapids Press and MLive’s business model evolved, the religion section was replaced by a religion page, the religion editor/reporter position disappeared, the column was taken off Mlive and appeared in the print edition of the Press only and, finally, was discontinued. We found a welcome home on TheRapidian.org and forged on.

While this column has had decent readership from The Rapidian’s followers, it has not had the level of engagement in the form of comments on columns and questions for the panel that we had when being published by more mainstream media. As a result, the clergy saw less benefit for their communities for their participation. This made recruitment and retention of panelists difficult. While I and most of the panelists found the conversation to be rewarding, because it was uncompensated it did not always rise to the top of their to do list, which made my job of completing the columns more difficult.

Over the years, several columns stand out in my memory. Too many people think of religions only in terms of faith, disconnected from practice. I wrote several columns on shoveling sidewalks and returning shopping carts to the cart corral that argued that being mindful of how our action, or inaction, affects our neighbors and others around us ought to be central to a lived religious practice. Surprisingly, to me at least, these columns elicited some of the most lively discussions of any topics. Some people took a strong libertarian position, suggesting that religion should remain in the pews, and others applauded our take on what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” 

We also stirred up some strong feelings with the columns on whether sex offenders who have served their time should be allowed back into churches. Some felt that protecting children and other worshippers is the only priority, while others felt that it is possible to ensure safety while still welcoming offenders into a religious community that could help keep them away from future transgressions.

The most frequently submitted topic of questions seemed to be on senior citizens engaging in non-marital sexual activity. It’s not only the Golden Bachelor/ettes who desire a physical relationship into their 70s and 80s!

The most interesting questions to me were ones stemming from medical and other scientific advances. One column examined the question of whether it would be permitted to eat lab-grown meat if the original cultured cells were of human origin! The consensus was a solid no.

One column I took special pleasure in writing brought me back to the Easter egg story which gave birth to Ethics and Religion Talk. I wrote about how I received a 50-page letter detailing how I, along with Catholics, Unitarians, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus and most Christian non-followers of Martin Luther, will go to hell. The author, who signed his name and provided a return address, attached a $50 bill to the letter, presumably as an incentive to read it. I wrote a column about the letter, mailed him a copy, began a dialogue with him and eventually, at his request, arranged a trip to Israel with him to show him the country through my eyes. I wish I could say that the trip magically transformed him into a more open and understanding person. But the most I can say is that in the end, he did realize that telling people they’re going to hell is not the most effective way of communicating a religious message.

I want to conclude by thanking all of the loyal readers of Ethics and Religion Talk, especially those who engaged me and us over the years with questions, and who shared the column with friends and relatives far and wide. After 12 years and 616 columns, we say farewell, and thanks for all the love.