Re: Religious Life/Professional Life

Jan de Koning (dekoning@idirect.com)
Wed, 28 Jan 1998 10:41:05 -0500

At 10:20 PM 27/01/98 -0600, Tom Pearson wrote:
>
> I find these comments puzzling, but I may have misunderstood their
>intent, so I'm asking for help.
> I work and teach in the area of professional ethics, and my own
>judgment on this matter is rather different. I have grown convinced over
>the years that when professionals -- in whatever field, scientific or
>otherwise -- try to import their own personal, privately-held ethics into a
>professional context, it serves them very poorly. This appears to be the
>case regardless of the source of the personal ethics, whether it comes from
>cultural norms, family values, or religious principles. A sense of
>professional identity, and a commitment to standards of excellence which
>obtain within the specific profession, seems to be a far more reliable
>ethical guide than does, for instance, any religious commitment.

The two do not have to exclude each other. (I am retired and not a
medical doctor, though it may sound that way in the following.)

!. It is necessary that every profession has an enforced code of ethics,
though sometimes the code is too narrow or too wide. At the moment I am
thinking of, in medicine here in Ontario, that properly qualified medical
doctors are not allowed to use methods used successfully in Europe. In
Europe homeopathic medicine may be used, of course provide you have a
medical degree, and have taken years of study after your degree in
homeopathy. I am 73 years of age, and my grandparents were using
homeopathy allready. When in many families children died due to the
"Spanish" influenza epidemy around 1920 (I don't know the proper name of
the sickness,) none of his family was dying. It was always said to be
because of the homeopathic medicine.

2. No matter what professional code exists, my religious, Christian
convictions will overrule any contradiction which might exist between the
two. Now I am thinking again of the field of medicine, where in some
places abortions may be requested in a hospital. As a Christian I would
refuse, unless certain circumstances require a very difficullt decision,
like for example choosing between mother or child.

Jan de Koning
Willowdale, Ont.