religion
Ethics and Religion Talk: Is Divorce OK?
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 04-13-2020 under OPINION
Rev. Ray Lanning, a retired minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, responds: “ ‘OK’ is hardly the right word for divorce. The prophet Malachi lived in a time when many thought that divorce was ‘...
Celebrating religious holidays during a pandemic
by (Kaufman Interfa...)
Submitted 04-07-2020 under NONPROFITS
We are entering that time of the year when many religions celebrate major holidays. These are holidays when communities come together to share the meaningful stories of their traditions. Passover or Pesach begins the evening of April 8, when...
Ethics and Religion Talk: Addressing Fears in the COVID-19, Crisis, part 2
by (Rabbi David J.B...)
Submitted 04-06-2020 under OPINION
Here are four more panelists sharing words of encouragement and hope. Father Kevin Niehoff, O.P., a Dominican priest who serves as Adjutant Judicial Vicar, Diocese of Grand Rapids, responds: “I find a life of social distancing is quite scary...
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...
Sacred distancing: Religious organizations in Grand Rapids adapting to COVID-19 pandemic through online services, engagement
by (Brett)
Submitted 03-26-2020 under LOCAL LIFE
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pervade daily life locally, nationally, and globally, it comes as no surprise to find on all scales the readjustment of religious or spiritual life in response. In Grand Rapids, like the nation and world over,...
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...