There are strong arguments for and against capital punishment. Some claim that crimes such as terrorism, drug trafficking or genocide should attract the death penalty. Others view the death penalty as barbaric. In the Old Testament, capital offences included murder (Ex 21:12-14), causing a miscarriage (Ex 21:22-25), cursing one’s parents (Ex 21:15), kidnapping (Ex 21:16), …
Should Christians support the death penalty?
As I write, Australian citizens Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two of the infamous “Bali Nine,” face imminent execution by firing squad in Indonesia on drug trafficking convictions. Other Australians have faced similar fates, including Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, executed in Malaysia in 1986 for drug trafficking; Nguyen Tuong Van, hanged in 2005 for …
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The common good
An occasional article by Rod Benson published on EthicsDaily, 18 Dec 2014 The principle of the common good is prominent in Catholic social teaching and applicable to a wide range of social and ethical issues but is not often articulated in Baptist ethical thought and praxis. The notion of the common good appears to have …
On divorce and remarriage
An occasional paper by Rod Benson, 2006 [statistics revised 2014] Up to half of all marriages in Australia will end in divorce, and most divorcees remarry. For people facing the prospect or the reality of divorce and remarriage today, including many Christians, the Bible appears to offer conflicting or irrelevant advice, while the church may …
Is conscience a reliable guide for ethics? (part 1 of 3)
As a seven-year-old, Dr David Whitten recalls his family holidaying at Katoomba’s Hydro Majestic Hotel. When the waitress served his breakfast of fried eggs, he noticed “something next to the eggs that looked like thin, crisp meat and was the source of a wonderful aroma.” “We don’t eat bacon,” his father said, and the waitress …
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