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__________________
Today’s public talk about moral values is usually framed in terms of a search for a moral consensus that is no longer self-evident—indeed that to many people is not evident at all.
The search for a moral consensus based on a common human nature has, for some time now, replaced the social function of religious belief, which was long thought to be the indispensable foundation of social peace.
For most of history, unity of religion was deemed essential to the unity of society and culture.
That assumption was shattered in the religious wars in Europe of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
As a consequence of the wars of religion, precisely the opposite conclusion was drawn: Social peace requires that religious beliefs, and disagreements over religious beliefs, be determinedly disregarded.
Although
established religion continued for some time in most of Europe, religion
no longer served its earlier function. --
W. Pannenberg
Bioethics News | Books |Current Issues | Home | Stem Cells | Web Sites
Studies on Ethics
The last several decades have seen a rapid increase of scientific knowledge in areas which have wide-ranging ethical implications - most prominently in biosciences and medicine. There has been intense discussion both within and without the Christian community on points of contention. In many cases the question now turns more on should we rather than the traditional can we.
At the same time one's personal ethics are being challenged in increasing measure. This topic often receives front page coverage as yet again another scientist is charged with fraud. Walter Hearn has ably dealt with day-to-day questions in his Being a Christian in Science (InterVarsity, 1997) . For Walt:
Christian behavior is rooted in biblical precepts and in loyalty to Jesus Christ. We need not apologize for bringing those precepts with us into scientific work . (40)
Roman J. Miller, "When Fraud Knocks on the Door" PSCF 58 (March 2006): 1. Thoughts of a Teacher/editor.
Wolfhart Pannenberg's "When Everything is Permitted" Argues the need for "Christian ethics."
Ethical Method in Christian Bioethics: Mapping the Terrain Offers an "analysis of patterns of ethical methodology among Christians weighing in on contemporary contemporarybiotechnology debates."
Bioethical—and especially biotechnological—developments are both so urgent and have come so quickly upon us that there has been little time for Christian bioethicists to reflect upon or develop a coherent methodological approach. However, our answers to particular questions—e.g., what should we think and say about nanotechnology or germ-line genetic intervention or cryopreservation or any other issue—demand reflection on a prior methodological question: How should a Christian go about discerning a reliable answer to such ethical questions? I would here like to offer a very preliminary analysis of patterns of ethical methodology among Christians weighing in on contemporary biotechnology debates.
Note: The views represented on this page do not represent the official position of the American Scientific Affiliation.
Chemicals
Claus Jacob & Adam Walters*, "Risk and Responsibility in Chemical Research The Case of Agent Orange," HYLE--International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, Vol. 11, No.2 (2005)
Excessive Consumption
Swearengen, Jack & Woodhouse, Edward, "Overconsumption: An Ethical Dilemma for Christian Engineers," PSCF 54 (June2002): 80
Fraud
Kurt M. Pickett, John W. Wenzel, Stephen W.
Rissing, "Iconoclasts
of Evolution: Haekel, Behe, Wells & the Ontolgeny of a Fraud,",
The American Biology Teacher 67 (May 2005): 275-282.
Wells talks-back: Jonathan Wells, Critics
Rave Over Icons of Evolution: A
Response to Published Reviews
Rodney L. Bassett, David Basinger, and
Paul Livermore, "Lying
in the Laboratory: Deception in Human Research from Psychological,
Philosophical, and Theological Perspectives," JASA, 33 (December 1982): 201-212.
Brian E. Porter and Steve VanderVeen, "Does
Being Honest Pay? An Empirical Study," Christian Scholars Review
XXVIII (Number 3 1999): 452-465.
Thomas D. Pearson, "Ethics
in the Workplace: What Should the Christian Do? "
PSCF 50 (June 1998): 85.
Stephen K. Moroney, "How
Sin Affects Scholarship," Christian Scholars Review XXVIII (Number
3 1999): 432-451.
Genetic Engineering
J. Bruce McCallum, "Evolving
Concepts of Nature and Human Genetic Engineering," PSCF 58 (September
2006): 171-178.
D. Gareth Jones, "Genetic
Prospects: Finding a Balance Between Choice and Acceptance." PSCF 57 (September
2005): 202-211.
D. Gareth Jones, "Biomedical
Manipulation: Arguing the Case for a Cautiously Optimistic Stance," PSCF
54 (June 2002)
Pattle Pun, "Toward
an Ethics of the Human Genome Project," Perspectives on Science and
Christian Faith 50 (September 1998): 164-175.
Leon R. Kass, "The Age of Genetic
Technology Arrives," Leon R. Kass, M.D. is professor in social thought
at the University of Chicago, Hertog fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute, and chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics. Excerpted from Life,
Liberty and the Defense of Dignity. Published by Encounter Books, San
Francisco, October 2002. Reprinted with permission by The American Spectator,
November/December 2002.
Medical Practice
The Christian Medical and Dental Society provides position papers on many issues in medical and dental practice.
Dennis M. Sullivan, "The
Oral Conceptive as Sbortifacient: An Analysis of the Evidence," PSCF
58 (September 2006): 189-195.
Hessel Bouma III, "Challenges
and Lessons from The Teri Schiavo Case
," PSCF
57 (September 2005): 212-220.
John H. Woodburn, "Life,
the Ultimate Challenge," PSCF
57 (June 2005): 126-127.
Lawrence R. Huntoon, "Editorial: Modern
Bioethics," Journal of the American Physicians and Surgeons
- Vol. 10 No. 4
Dec. 2005.
James J. Rusthoven, "Current
Concepts of Capacity and Autonimy in Medical Decision-Making: A Critique from a
Christian Perspective," PSCF 57 (December 2005): 311-317.
Robert Trundle and Robert Vossmeyer, "Sex
Revolution and Psychosexual Disorder: A Historical Perspective on the Delusion
of Medical Neutrality," Aquinas 47, No. 1 (2004) Used
by permission
Lois Dodds and Larry Dodds, Selection,
Training, Member Care and Professional Ethics: Choosing the Right People and
Caring for Them with Integrity Lecture at missions conference 1997
Jay L. Holman, "The
Future of Medical Science: Ethical and Theological Implications, Part I,"
PSCF 46
(December 1994): 220-229.
Jay L. Holman, "The
Future of Medical Science: Ethical and Theological Implications, Part II,"
PSCF 47 (March
1995): 23-31.
D. Gareth Jones, "The Human
Cadaver: An Assessment of the Value We Place on the Human Body," PSCF
47 (March
1995): 43-51.
D. Gareth Jones, "Contemporary
Medical Scandals: A Challenge to Ethical Codes and Ethical
Principles," PSCF 42 (March 1990): 2-14.
Neuroscience
William Polk Cheshire, With All Your Mind: Implications of Functional
Neuroimaging for Ethics |