Xenophobia in Arizona

No, this post does not have to do with immigration rules. Rather, this has to do with rules recently imposed by the Arizona Department of Education. This news story has been reported in multiple newspapers and news media. The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from... [Read more]

Bishops, absolute and hierarchical ethics

Let me finish this subject quickly and briefly, as I often have more of an interest in the details of a subject than many people do. When Christians debate ethics, they do not often think about how they look upon God’s rules. In the United States, it is quite common among many to assume that everything that God says has to be equally enforced. That is, if two of God’s rules conflict, then... [Read more]

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Bishops and ethics

I said yesterday that the basis that the bishops use to make at least some of their moral judgments is hierarchical ethics. What does that mean? Well, actually, the terms that I used yesterday are an oversimplification. Let me show you a more complex chart. DESCRIPTION STRENGTH/WEAKNESS EXAMPLE ETHICAL RELATIVISM – No principles are universally valid. All moral principles are valid relative... [Read more]

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Fetal cells, child safety, and Roman Catholic bishops

Okay, but what about the second part of the bishop’s statement? (If this is your first time here, you need to dial back to the 26th of April and begin reading forwards to this day. Many in the pro-birth movement have taken the attitude that if the vaccine is made from fetal cells from an induced abortion, then a truly pro-birth person may not receive that vaccine because they participate in the... [Read more]

Fetal cells, vaccines, and Roman Catholic bishops

It is important that you read the posts from yesterday and the day before to come up to speed on this post. So, the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has a carefully nuanced, but very strong, statement on the use fetal cells from elective abortions and on vaccination of your children. It is an excellent statement, as well as being an excellent example of how to do moral theology. First,... [Read more]

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Fetal cells, pro-life, and Roman Catholic bishops

So, what does the United States Conference on Catholic Bishops have to say about vaccines cultured on fetal cells? Well, the following statement is found on their website: 1. Should a government agency or private company use tissue from induced abortions for vaccine development or other research? The Catholic bishops have answered in the negative. Such use tends to legitimize abortion as a source of... [Read more]

Fetal cells, pro-life, and vaccines

I was asked yesterday: I am wondering if you can write more about vaccines, many of which are cultured on fetal cells. Many people may not be aware that several vaccines are cultured on human fetal cell lines. Some are from aborted fetuses and some are not (natural miscarriage, freely donated by the mother, died in utero, etc.). You might be questioning why these are being used, and when did this... [Read more]

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Update on Catholic bishops, healthcare, and Obama

The statement below is fresh today from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. It addresses both healthcare and the bill that was just signed. For nearly a century, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for reform of our health care system so that all may have access to the care that recognizes and affirms their human dignity. Christian discipleship means, “working to... [Read more]

Healthcare reform, the Church, and pro-life

Several times over the last few weeks, I have been desirous of posting a more complete balanced statement on what I see as being pro-life and its relation to the healthcare debate. But, I never did. The reason was that I could not find the words to say something succinctly without sounding tendentious. Being pro-life is such an important issue that I feared to cheapen it by trying to write a post with... [Read more]

Paedophilia, the Roman Catholic Church, and justice

I sympathize a lot with victim’s groups. Each and every one of us has someone that has hurt us badly sometime in our life. That is, sadly, part of the human condition since the Fall. And, when we are hurt, we want the other person to hurt every bit as badly as we do. Actually, if we are honest, we all too often want the other person to hurt worse than we hurt. Since the Fall, revenge is a sin... [Read more]