TAKING JESUS SERIOUSLY

A book to redirect our conversations on race

As my last and final blog for this class, I have decided to redirect my views from a ethical and spiritual perspective. In our text, we might also ask the question that has troubled many cultures for thousands of years, generally known as the Problem of Evil: "If there is a god, and he, she, or it is a well-intended, all-powerful being, then why do terrible things happen to good people? That question, profound as it may be, belongs within Philosophy of Religion, and lies beyond the scope of our textbook" (Rosenstand 14). PHD candidate Drew Hart whose studies ethics and theology believed that in "response to all the racial violence, particularly the police violence against black people that has been shoved in the face of most Americans for about one year now, we have seen a new justice movement emerge in our generation. People have determined to struggle for change, and to participate in God’s kingdom come right now while still confronting these very old problems" (Hart 1). We live in a society where our morals are devalued. Racial tensions are on the horizon as hate crimes plaque our nation. Ethically everyone should be treated the same. The nations police officers whose primary duty to protect and serve are amidst the controversy as racial profiling cases have tripled the past 5 years. Is it ethical that our police officers are not being held accountable for their wrong doings? Not all police offers are bad, but the image they are portraying definitely isn’t a good one. Where the Church is supposed to shine its bright light into the darkness, it has instead too frequently been nothing but a dark hole of despair. The dominant expression of the Church in America seems to be destined to stand against what Jesus stood for and taught throughout his life; justice, mercy, and faithfulness. (Matthew 23:23). If we all felt compassion amongst mankind and had a close spiritual relationship, we would ethically make better judgments towards one another.

Hart, Drew. A Book to Redirect or Conversations on Race.   https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2015-07/book-redirect-our-conversations-race

Rosenstand, Nina (2012-07-01). The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, 7th edition (Page 14). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition.

Dr. Death

Outrage as controversial medic Dr Death plans to take his 'easy to use' euthanasia machine to the Edinburgh Fringe for people to try out.

Euthanasia is a much-debated ethical dilemma. Doctors who practice using euthanasia have taken a lot of scrutiny, which leads me to the controversial article I am going to elaborate on. A controversial assisted dying activist dubbed 'Dr Death' will 'gas' people at the Edinburgh Fringe festival using his own euthanasia machine. Dr Philip Nitschke will ask his audience - some of whom may be terminally ill - to try his 'Destiny' machine to show them 'a peaceful and reliable means of death'. Last month Metropolitan Police questioned Dr Nitschke under caution amid concerns about the show's content. He was eventually cleared to perform at the Fringe throughout August, with officers concluding his show would not encourage suicide, which is a crime in Britain. This article was very alarming to me. On what grounds is this ethical to publicly advertise a machine that could potentially malfunction?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3170511/Controversial-medic-Dr-Death-taking-easy-use-euthanasia-machine-tour-Edinburgh-Fringe-people-try-out.html#ixzz3ggKNuLHS  

The World Cup Pay Gap

The World Cup pay gap

After reading the Harvard Business Case Study on gender inequality, I decided to tackle gender inequality from a different angle. There is no shock that male athlete make a momentous amount compared to female athletes. The question here is why and is it ethical to underpay a female athlete who does the same job as a male athlete. Total prize money for the PGA tour, more than $250 million, is more than five times that of the LPGA tour. In the WNBA, the minimum salary for 2013 was $37,950 and the team salary cap was $913,000. For NBA players during the same season, the minimum salary was $490,180 and the team salary cap was $58.7 million. The total payout for the Women’s World Cup this year will be $15 million, compared with the total for the men’s World Cup last year of $576 million, nearly 40 times as much. Will there ever be equal pay?

Pilon, Mary. The World Cup pay gap http://www.politico.eu/article/world-cup-women-pay-gap-gender-equality/ 

Draft raises ethical issues for doctors

Doctors are faced with many ethical issues. In the article I read, a draft policy was under review by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan does not require doctors who refuse to perform an abortion to refer patients to one who will. A physician with an ethical objection to referring a patient for an abortion would not be obligated to refer a patient to an obstetrician who will perform an abortion," the draft policy says. The draft policy uses the case of abortion as one example, although it also covers a broad range of dilemmas, with the exception of doctor-assisted suicide. The college received about 4,400 public responses to the initial draft between January and March. Most were form letters from pro-life or Catholic groups, Salte said. A few doctors' groups were concerned the January draft infringed on their rights to exercise their consciences. Other physicians raised "very significant problems" with how doctors handled birth control and abortion, inappropriately depriving patients access to those services, Salte said.

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/Draft+raises+ethical+issues+doctors/11133961/story.html

Nursing is hard. Unaddressed ethical issues make it even harder.

Nursing is hard. Unaddressed ethical issues make it even harder.

The article I read describes a couple who had just had delivered a baby at 22 weeks. The nurse knew the baby wouldn’t survive so she told the parents that the baby was stillborn. The dad looked the baby to his right lying dying in the warmer and could clearly see that their baby was breathing. Furious of the precious moments that lost, that escalated the matter. The ethical issue here is that the nurse lied to the family. The ethical dilemmas faced by nurses include everything from speaking up about how a staffing shortage impacts quality of care to deciding how to allocate scarce resources like donor organs or blood. Ethics can be the elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about it, but it's not going anywhere. Bedrosian believes “it's possible to mobilize the collective voice of nurses to participate in conversations with policymakers, hospital administration, physicians organizations, and insurance companies to create a culture where ethical practice is valued and encouraged” (Bedrosian 1).

Bedrosian Der Jeanette. Nursing is hard. Unaddressed ethical issues make it even harder. http://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2015/summer/nursing-ethics-and-burnout . Retrieved July 3, 2015.

Rosenstand, Nina (2012-07-01). The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, 7th edition (Page 277). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition.

A Tradition of Violence Toward Black Women

The Old Normal: A Tradition of Violence Toward Black Women

Racism and police brutality has been the theme for top new stories the last few years. In recent news a young black female teenager was slammed to the ground as the attendees who were at a pool party pulled their phones out and recorded the absurd scene. Why is that police officers can break the law but they are not held up to very law that they try to implement on others? Is it ethical for police officers to receive favoritism because of their role in society? Howard Henderson stated, “Historically speaking, violence toward Black women and girls is just as conventional in the U.S. as barbecue on the Fourth of July. Some might even argue that violence against Black women is more common than the Fourth of July as the holiday occurs only once a year” (Henderson 1). 

Howard Henderson. The Old Normal: A Tradition of Violence Toward Black Women. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-henderson-phd/the-old-normal-a-traditio_b_7671958.html. Retrieved June 27, 2015.

 

Rosenstand, Nina (2012-07-01). The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, 7th edition (Page 548). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition.

The Silence of the Law: The Charleston Church Gunman

The Silence of the Law: The Charleston Church Gunman

Our text alluded to many catastrophic events that have impacted the United States greatly. In recent news, nine people were gunned down and lost their lives while at church surrounding a hate crime. Writer Binoy Kampmark stated that “arguments about guns in the United States resemble forays into intense religious debate.  They are doctrinal issues (the “right” to bear arms; the entitlement to protection) that chatter through the various lobbies.  There are purely quibbling legal issues (what regulations are appropriate in terms of controlling access to guns).  There are the broader ethical issues (should people even have guns as a principle to begin with?” (Kampmark 1).  Each massacre posses concerns for the protection of the citizens and to whether certain laws needs tighter and stricter restrictions.

Binoy Kampmark. The Silence of the Law: The Charleston Church Gunman. http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-silence-of-the-law-the-charleston-church-gunman/5458358. Retrieved June 27, 2015 

Rosenstand, Nina (2012-07-01). The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, 7th edition (Page 9). McGraw-Hill Higher Education -A. Kindle Edition.