"Judge Not" Means Keeping an Open Mind
My personal faith demands that I keep an open mind, both when I read the Bible and when I relate to other people with points of view and religious traditions different from my own.
Morality Archives
March 2, 2007 10:11 AM
Comments (66)April 18, 2007 9:18 AM
What Compassion Really Means
The first response to tragedy is compassion—a word that literally means “to suffer with” or “to suffer alongside.” Frankly, a hand on the shoulder, a tight embrace, a look of empathy, or sitting quietly and sensitively alongside a grieving person means much more than attempts to explain the inexplicable or efforts to identify with the individual using expressions such as “I understand.”
October 31, 2007 3:11 PM
Health Insurance Should Not Be a Luxury
The sacred scriptures of every faith tradition speak with unanimity on the value of children. Unfortunately, nine million children in the wealthiest nation in the world do not have health insurance. Of those nine million kids, almost 90 percent of them live in working households. This is a national tragedy.
While Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program have made great strides in covering our most vulnerable children, there is still much to be done. That is why I have signed onto the Healthy Child Campaign organized by the Children’s Defense Fund. That campaign has called on Congress to: ensure that all children and pregnant women have health coverage and access to timely health care; guarantee all children and pregnant women comprehensive and equal health benefits for all medically necessary services regardless of where they live; and simplify enrollment so it’s easy for all children to get and stay covered.
Access to basic medical care is a right, not a luxury. Children, especially, need health insurance as they grow and realize their God-given potential. Surely, this is an issue on which all people of faith and goodwill can come together in order to find a solution that will save lives and reaffirm the dignity of all our children. Anything less than that hardly can be called moral.
November 13, 2007 8:13 AM
Tortured Values, Tortured Logic
Torture can never be justified. Torture violates all standards of civilization, morality, ethics, and religion. Even setting aside morality and religion, torture is illegal when measured by either American or international law. Not only does torture degrade the character of America, it increases the likelihood that American soldiers and civilians will be tortured. Besides all of that, torture doesn’t work.
Only tortured values and tortured logic can justify torture.
November 30, 2007 12:32 PM
God’s Grace is Greater Than Any Sin
As a minister in the Christian faith, I believe that the sin of adultery is no greater than other sins in the sight of God. A painstaking examination of the Bible’s specific teachings on adultery and grace has also led me to believe that to withhold grace and forgiveness from people guilty of adultery (or for persons guilty of adultery to withhold grace and forgiveness from themselves) constitutes a wrong equal in its severity to that of adulterer. As an active participant in interfaith work and inter-religious cooperation, however, I would not presume to suggest how leaders in other faith traditions should speak to this issue.
