In their attempt to argue that effective and binding codes can be developed without a deity, atheists often mistake inferior codes – “common decency” – for absolute moral systems. The Golden Rule, or doing as you would be done by, is such a code. But the fact that men can arrive at the Golden Rule Read more
Pope Francis denounced the right to die movement on Saturday, saying that euthanasia is a sin against God and creation. The Latin American pontiff said it was a “false sense of compassion” to consider euthanasia as an act of dignity. He classified as equally false the belief that abortion helps women. Rather, the image of Read more
More than 1000 cheating Northlanders have signed up to a dating website designed especially for married or attached people. The operators of European-based Victoria Milan claims it has 15,000 Kiwi members and 1020 registered as being from Northland. The founder, Norwegian Sigurd Vedal, claimed the cheater’s portal did not ruin marriages, but saved them. Continue Read more
How much would you pay to save a life? Not necessarily your life, nor the life of someone you know or love. Just a life: Joe Bloggs, Jane Doe, the guy from the bus, the high school friend you don’t speak to any more. Think of a figure, round it to the nearest hundred thousand, Read more
New, stricter guidelines on how doctors should handle the potential conflicts of interest, when interacting with the medical and pharmaceutical industry are in the process of being finalised, but the ethics body that was debating the conundrums involved has been ditched. Managed by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), the group developing the fourth Read more
Senior doctors say more patients with serious kidney disease will die waiting for a transplant unless organ donation rates are improved. They are calling for more discussion about how organ donation could be boosted, from both the living and the dead. However, the topic is a sensitive one, involving complex ethical issues. Read more
The cases of Pfc. Bradley Manning, who prefers to be known as Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden raise acute issues about the role of confidentiality in our society and the responsibilities of individuals who encounter disturbing information that they consider damaging to national security. In each case, an individual chose to divulge classified information even Read more
Is sex addiction real? That is, is it really a disorder, involving diminished control over behaviour? Questions such as these are difficult to answer because it’s always difficult to distinguish diminished capacity to resist a temptation from a diminished motivation to resist. People who tell us they literally can’t resist might be deceiving themselves, or Read more
The day after Stephanie Blessing learned she had been conceived with the assistance of a sperm donor and that the man she knew and loved as her father for 32 years was not her father, she went into shock. She remembers sitting in her rocking chair, staring into space. It was so bad, her husband Read more
As president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, Carolyn Woo brings a strong sense of leadership and vision to the organization, which was founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops to provide international relief and development assistance. With a background in strategic planning and the experience of serving as dean of a major Catholic business school—the Read more