Ethics and Religion Talk
Ethics and Religion Talk: Addressing Fears in the COVID-19 Crisis
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 03-30-2020 under OPINION
This week and next, the Ethics and Religion Talk panel shares some words of encouragement and hope to address the uncertainties and fears of living under the shadow of the novel coronavirus pandemic. In the Jewish community, some of the anxiety...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is Marriage Divine?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 03-23-2020 under OPINION
[Note: Next week, we’ll address the consequences of Vaughn’s question as it related to the dissolution of marriage.] The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Where does Mortality Come From?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 03-16-2020 under OPINION
Fred Stella, the Pracharak (Outreach Minister) for the West Michigan Hindu Temple, responds: The sacred Hindu writ, the Vedas, say that when the Primal Unique (God) expanded from transcendence into the spacial-temporal universe. It produced ‘...
Ethics and Religion Talk: How Do You Understand and Practice Evangelism?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 03-09-2020 under OPINION
Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Adjutant Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: “For those of us who are Catholic the phrase we have been hearing since Pope Saint John Paul II was alive is the ‘...
Ethics and Religion Talk: What is God?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 03-02-2020 under OPINION
The Reverend Colleen Squires, minister at All Souls Community Church of West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist Congregation, responds: “From a Unitarian Universalist perspective there would be many answers to this question. Each...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Does Medical Intervention Subvert God's Will?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 02-24-2020 under OPINION
Dr Sahibzada, the Director of Islamic Center and Imam of the Mosque of Grand Rapids, responds: “God has Absolute Knowledge and Absolute Authority of power over everything. He has created life and death to determine who does righteous deeds. No...
Ethics and Religion Talk: How Does Conversion Work?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 02-18-2020 under OPINION
Rev. Ray Lanning, a retired minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, responds: “Presbyterianism holds that the church is a ‘voluntary society.’ No one may be compelled to join it, and no one should be...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Can You Define Interfaith Dialogue?, part 2
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 02-10-2020 under OPINION
A reader of Ethics and Religion Talk asks, “What does it look like to engage in multi- or interfaith dialogue?” Several weeks ago we shared a presented three panelists’ answers to this question. This week, we conclude with four...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Why Weren't We Created Perfect?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 02-03-2020 under OPINION
Dr Sahibzada, the Director of Islamic Center and Imam of the Mosque of Grand Rapids, responds: “God made [the human being] the best from all creation, perfect with best of the physique and bestowed him with positive and negative...
Ethics and Religion Talk: What Advice Do People Ask You For?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 01-27-2020 under OPINION
The Rev. Sandra Nikkel, head pastor of Conklin Reformed Church, responds: “Underneath every problem that people seek advice for, is the question: Am I okay and am I accepted? I love my job! I get to tell people the good news that yes, they are...