Religion:Contemporary Morality: Basic Questions

    Question 1

    In The Christian Moral Life Lamoureux and Wadell consider the blind woman who has been without sight throughout her life except for a fleeting glimpse of shadows. Her plight is made stronger by the awareness that she is undergoing surgery in order to see. First, consider what this woman might be thinking about her vision and how it could affect her marriage and friendships.Second, imagine what blindness and sight mean not only to this woman but to each of us as we struggle to see. What are blindness and sight for our society?

    Question 2

    Sin and Conversion in the Christian Life depicts someone who unlike the blind woman in the first question has sight but remains blind to her abuses of her body and to her sense of self-love. First, why does this woman come to recognize her dignity and sense of self-worth after years of drinking and falling into bed with strangers? What do you think were reasons for her transformation? Second, this story is based on an actual woman who opens herself to others’ view for her own reasons. Why does she acknowledge how low she had fallen? Third, if she has experienced a true conversion how has she become someone through whom others with problems can see themselves with hope?

    Question 3

    “Vietnam’s Legacies” allows us to look back at a war that divided our nation. South Vietnam was at war within itself and its overthrow of the dictator once supported by the Western countries opened new conflicts. First, consider why South Vietnam was seen as important enough to our heads of state that a generation of young men were called on to fight. What did they fear? Second, in Fog of War Robert McNamara discusses his own role in relation to the Vietnamese conflict as well as other wars. What did you learn from McNamara’s account about the reasons why he withdrew from government during the Johnson administration? Why did he think that the war was wrong? What moral criteria did he apply?

    Question 4

    In “The Treasure We Seek” Lamoureux and Wadell draw on Santiago’s story in an effort to offer further refection on those treasures that we mistakenly seek out versus the treasures that are worth our efforts. First, if Santiago went forth in search of gold what do you see in this tale about gold and treasure that holds up other goals worth seeking? Explain. Second, in another chapter the authors treat “Love–the Only Path to Life” in relation to meanings of Love and our relationships. Imagine Santiago and the people in this chapter in a discussion about love: what are two points that each would make?

    Question 5

    “How Many Children?” raises many ethical questions that Octomom and her doctor would probably not think about. Why did Octomom and this doctor stun the nation? What are three reasons for the sense of disappointment that Americans shared as they judged the doctor as well as Octomom? Offer at least three to four reasons for your answer..

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