This is the final in a four-part series on ethics at the end of life. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche had this to say about the end of life: Why, aside from the demands of religion, (is it) more praiseworthy for…
The post Ethics at the end of …
Ethics at the end of life: Which moral vision shall govern at the end of life?
This is the third in a four-part series on ethics at the end of life. The ultimate ethical issue at the end of life is whether we wait for death or instead hasten it. A massive and sometimes confusing vocabulary…
The post Ethics at the end of life: T…
Ethics at the end of life: The ultimate ethical issue is whether we wait for death
This is the second in a four-part series. Secular Western medical ethics tends to be principlist and procedural. Two crucial core principles in medical ethics are autonomy and informed consent. The affected persons (often shorthanded as “patients,” alt…
Ethics at the end of life: The first ethical issue is not who decides but who accompanies
As the school year ends and I try to process the many agonies of the annus horribilus COVID year of 2020-21, I will remember many deaths, but most especially the death of my father in late December 2020. These posts,…
The post Ethics at the end of li…
Ethics at the end of life: How medicine and technology have changed the context of dying
Politics sometimes becomes religion for people. This is a fact. It is dangerous when politics becomes religion for people. This is my conviction. This phenomenon seems most likely to happen when a culturally established religion fades to become merely …
When politics becomes religion
(RNS) Some will find this column sacrilegious. What is truly a sacrilege is our devotion to an Object that keeps killing us and our children. Early in the morning we rise to greet You, O Gun Almighty. With all due reverence we bow before You. You alone are great. Mighty are Your deeds. Awesome is Your
Let us all now pray to the Almighty Gun (COMMENTARY)
On Palm Sunday in my Bible study class at First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., I was slated to teach this parable of Jesus. It is one of my favorites. Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to…
The post A Holy Week reflection on justice and…
A Holy Week reflection on justice and the Cross
Religion News Service reporter Bob Smietana broke the story this week that famous Bible study leader Beth Moore is leaving the Southern Baptist Convention and ending the mutually lucrative publishing relationship with their Lifeway group. She claimed t…
Beth Moore and a lost Southern Baptist Convention
When this column appears, it will be exactly one year since my last trip to the airport. One year since I lectured outside my own home or university. Just under one year since my Mercer classes went to Zoom for…
The post One year later: Some musings …
One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics
I drive back and forth from Atlanta to Macon every Tuesday and Thursday. That’s 190 miles round trip — plenty of time to listen to live coverage of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial during this past week. Plenty of time…
The post Whatever happe…
Whatever happened to the white conservative American Christian Republican soul?