REL 337: Christian Social Ethics

Mid-Term Exam

 

I. Methodology - write an essay that answers adequately one (and only one) of the following questions:

  1. Your religious community is struggling with a significant social issue to which they cannot come to any moral decision. A major reason for the difficulty, they discover, is that they have little knowledge about what is involved in making a decision of this sort. It comes to their attention that you have had a course in Social Ethics at Le Moyne College and that you might be able to assist them. What would you say? (In your answer attend to the four elements of a social ethic, the relationships between them, and their influence on moral decision-making.)
  2. You and a friend are discussing the death penalty that was recently reinstated in New York. Your friend tells you that whenever she has to come to some moral decision, she just simply gets her Bible and prays that God will reveal to her the appropriate scripture to apply so that she can do what God wants in her life. Describe her ethical style. Contrast it with the other ethical styles discussed in class. Which ethical style do you think fits your moral decision-making process and why?

Regardless of which essay you write, be sure to demonstrate you understand eachidea, don't just give back the outline.

II. Moral Issues: Sex, Marriage and Family; Death and Dying - write an essay that answers adequately one (and only one) of the following questions:

  1. Marvin Ellison, in his book Erotic Justice (especially chapter 4), argues that the morality of sexual activities should not be measured by whether or not they are heterosexual or marital but whether they promote justice in sexual relationships. What does he mean?(Discuss his ethic of erotic justice). How does his view compare to the traditional views of sexuality expressed in the Bible (notes in class) and in the Catholic (Ratzinger’s "On Pastor Care of Homosexual persons," would help here) and Protestant traditions? Do you agree with Ellison? Why or why not?
  2. What is the meaning and purpose of marriage in your view? (Make sure that you discuss fully the values/beliefs that shape your view). Compare your view of marriage with those of the Catholic (see Carmody, "Marriage in Roman Catholicism" for a quick refresher) and Protestant traditions (the Yates essay, "The Protestant View of Marriage," is helpful here). Why is your view different? Better?
  3. Suicide is a form of active voluntary euthanasia: a person willingly chooses to end his/her life. The Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia (http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/vatican/cdfeuth.txt) clearly thinks suicide is immoral. What are their reasons? How does this position differ from the position articulated by Karen Lebacqz in "Suicide and Covenant?" (This reading is on reserve in the library.) Which position do you agree with? Why?

III. Moral decision-making: analyze one of the following cases, make a moral judgment, and defend your judgment using solid moral reasoning (facts of the case, attention to principles/moral reasoning, social location, and the values and beliefs underlying the principles). You may use some of the readings to support your arguments.

  1. Two college students, Tom, nineteen, and Barbara, eighteen, have decided to live together both for sexual reasons and because they enjoy each other's company. Barbara intends to take birth control pills, they intend to share expenses, and they have an agreement to be honest with and faithful to each other throughout the entire relationship. They have also agreed that if either one of them wants to break off the relationship, he or she has only to say so and the relationship will end with no recriminations. Is what they are doing moral? Why or why not?
  2. A sixty-seven-year-old woman has been sick for the last years with heart, lung, and kidney problems that have given her a great deal of pain and discomfort. In her own words, her life is "a misery" and "not worth living." Her children are all grown, and she lives alone with her 68-year-old husband. She has talked with him on several occasions during the past two years, begging him to help her to die. She has told him that she is tired of living and that she gets no pleasure from her life anymore. On this particular morning, they discuss her life and death for four hours, and again and again she begs him to help her to die. He finally gives in to her wishes and takes her out to the garage, puts her in their car, kisses her, turns on the engine with the garage door closed, and goes back into the house for about an hour. At the end of the hour, he takes her out of the car and then calls the police and tells them what he has done. The police arrive on the scene and arrest him for murder. Did the husband do the right thing?