“URBANA, Illinois, July 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a Catholic professor who was barred from teaching after he explained Catholic teaching on homosexuality to the students in a class on Catholicism, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has defended the decision by saying that the professor was [...]
Archive for the ‘Biomedical Ethics’ Category
More Persecution of Christians at the Universities
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on July 26, 2010 | 43 Comments »
University Persecution of Christians: Game On
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, tagged Abortion, Charles Socarides, Homosexuality, Keeton, Persecution, Post-traumatic Stress on July 25, 2010 | 32 Comments »
A great many Christians face the choice daily in our universities to either bear faithful witness to their beliefs and suffer the consequences, or lie to get by. The unholy alliance of radical feminists and gays/lesbians has been the anchor on the left for far too many years. The following story is not at all [...]
Peter, Paul and a New Evangelization
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Euthanasia, Family, tagged Euthanasia, Evangelization, Culture of Death, Peter and Paul, Sacramental Marriage on June 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
My article in today’s Headline Bistro. If there is one potential social-scientific study that cries out to be performed, it is the measure of the Culture of Death’s activities in a nation as a function of Christian belief and practice. In formulating a hypothesis for such a study, it would seem the anecdotal evidence suggests [...]
Peter Singer: Nihilism Gone Wild
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, Eugenics, tagged Eugenics, Nihilism, Peter Singer, Sterilization on June 15, 2010 | 16 Comments »
My column in today’s Headline Bistro Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer, who famously advocates the ethical right of parents to kill their newborn children for any reason, recently has written an article in The New York Times proposing a mass self-extinction of humanity through collective sterilization. (Read it here). Citing the increasingly discredited global warming/climate [...]
How We Participate in the Sins of Another – Father John Corapi
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, tagged Abortion, Bioethics, Fr. Corapi, Karl Menninger, Sin on June 5, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Laying the foundation for an authentic Christian bioethic is what this blog is all about. It is about Coming Home; Coming Home to certain truths that have been lost over the past fifty years, as our churches (Protestant and Catholic) have veered to the edge of heresy in advancing the notion that Jesus is so [...]
National Catholic Bioethics Center 24/7 Free Emergency Consult With Ethicist
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, tagged Biomedical ethics, Emergency consult, NCBC on May 28, 2010 | 1 Comment »
In light of our discussions on the Phoenix case, this one is going into the side panel as a permanent feature. NCBC offers free emergency ethics consults 24/7. This is worth having on the Rolodex or electronic equivalent. From NCBC: To submit a consultation request via our website, please click to navigate to our consultation [...]
Synthetic Cells and Cell Transformation: What’s Old is New
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, tagged J. Craig Venter, Synthetic Cells on May 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Today’s article in HeadlineBistro Word last week that a new, “synthetic cell” has been made by Dr. J. Craig Venter, of Human Genome Project fame, has electrified many in the scientific world. The announcement has led to confusion about what has actually been accomplished, opened the door to possibilities both revolutionary and frightening, as well [...]
Phoenix, Tubal Pregnancy, and Double Effect
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics on May 26, 2010 | 31 Comments »
In our ongoing exploration of the Phoenix abortion and the application of double effect, commenter Marle asks a great clarifying question: Marle Dr Nadal, I understand I will never get you to agree with abortion and I’m not trying to convince you otherwise. What I don’t understand about double effect is why abortion is ok [...]
The Principle of Double Effect
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on May 23, 2010 | 15 Comments »
I add this explanation of the principle essential to guiding our discussion of the Phoenix abortion. (Source: Wm. David Solomon, “Double Effect,” The Encyclopedia of Ethics) Lawrence C. Becker, editor This principle aims to provide specific guidelines for determining when it is morally permissible to perform an action in pursuit of a good end in [...]
How Catholic Bioethics Is Guided
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on May 23, 2010 | 27 Comments »
The following article by Father Tad Pacholczyk, Director of Education, National Catholic Bioethics Center, was written a year ago. I reproduce it here to offer more foundation to understanding the dynamics behind the controversy in Phoenix. Thinking About Moral Absolutes by Father Tad Pacholczyk, Director of Education, National Catholic Bioethics Center May 2009. When Pope [...]
Autism: To Abort or Not to Abort?
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, tagged Abortion, autism, Genetic Screening, Down Syndrome on January 11, 2010 | 10 Comments »
This isn’t about the fetus anymore. This is a referendum on who we are: how selfish and hopeless, or whether we have grown up. This isn’t about the children, about their suffering or struggles. This is about what we have to offer, whether we have the capacity for selflessness. This time, it’s personal. Within the [...]
Science, Causes, Truth, or Science Causes Truth? (Part III) The APA’s Refusal to Research Post-Abortion Syndrome
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Birth Control, tagged Abortion, APA, Post-abortion syndrome on January 11, 2010 | 11 Comments »
Building on Part I and Part II of this series, further evidence of orthodoxies in science and how they close the door to inquiry and debate, to openness regarding truth. First, Consider the American Psychiatric Association’s Official Position Statement on Abortion: “The emotional consequences of unwanted pregnancy on parents and their offspring may lead to [...]
Science, Causes, Truth, or Science Causes Truth? (Part II) Does Abortion Hurt Women?
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Breast Cancer, tagged breast cancer-abortion link on January 9, 2010 | 22 Comments »
“At the heart of science lies discovery which involves a change in worldview. Discovery in science is possible only in societies which accord their citizens the freedom to pursue the truth where it may lead and which therefore have respect for different paths to that truth.” -John Polanyi, Canadian Nobel Laureate (Chemistry); Commencement Address, McGill [...]
More From the Scientific Community on the Identity and Status of the Human Embryo
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Development, Dignity, Personhood, Quotes, Right to Life, tagged Embryo, Princeton Pro-Life on January 7, 2010 | 68 Comments »
Compliments of Princeton Pro-Life “Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote.” [England, Marjorie A. Life Before Birth. 2nd ed. England: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p.31] “Human development begins after the union of male and female gametes or germ cells during a process known as [...]
Mother Accused of Murdering Brain-Damaged Son ‘looked up euthanasia on internet’
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Euthanasia, Physician Assisted Suicide, tagged Euthanasia, Frances Inglis on January 7, 2010 | 13 Comments »
Across the Pond, The Telegraph brings us the story of Frances Inglis, 57, a mother who was training to be a nurse and was driven ‘insane’ by the thought that her brain damaged son Tom was suffering. Inglis killed her son with a heroin overdose, after searching the internet for methods of performing euthanasia. Perhaps [...]
