Saddam Hussein: Execution

It's not very festive, but it is everywhere. Saddam Hussein was executed in the early hours of yesterday morning, and every front page of every newspaper features a picture of him with the noose around his neck.

But should he have faced the death penalty? Read the following statement regarding the reaction from the Vatican.

Some of the strongest criticism came from the Vatican. The Catholic Church teaches that all human life must be respected from conception until its natural end. The execution "is tragic news . . . that risks feeding the spirit of revenge and sowing new violence," said Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi.

"Even though this is a person guilty of grave crimes," Lombardi told Vatican Radio, the execution "is a motive for sadness. The killing of a guilty party is not the way to build justice nor to reconcile society."

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061231/1057956.asp

What do you think?

(War and Punishment are some of the issues which will be covered later in A2 Ethics.)

The Hajj

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/galleries/hajj/

The Hajj started yesterday ... find out more about this very important pillar of Muslim faith at the above site.

Big Bibles ...

How big is your Bible? How many references to Bibles can you find?

The Philosophy of Football ...

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a peaceful and happy Christmas day yesterday.

Advent and Christmas

For the GCSE students:

As part of Unit J3, Worship and Celebration (Year 10 course), you need to be able to explain how Catholics prepare for Christmas during Advent, and how they celebrate Christmas. So a good starting point is ... what do you do?

• Advent calendar
• Advent wreath - one candle lit each week in church (three purple, one pink during the third week of advent, and a white one to be lit on Christmas morning to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Light of the World)
• Advent prayers ... we've held them at school on Wednesdays during Advent
• Advent is a good time to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation
• Special readings and hymns are read and sung in church

To celebrate Christmas:

• The Vigil Mass is a special Mass celebrated around 5pm on Christmas Eve ... it also counts as the Christmas Morning obligation.
• Midnight Mass is also very popular.

Did you go to one of the Masses?

The Hunger Site

Click here to donate free food



This is an old site, but still running, and still donating food.

Polish MPs want to make Jesus king ...

Polish MPs bid to make Jesus king

Another interesting piece of news from the BBC ... Any comments? Should Jesus be declared King of Poland?

To buy a goat ... or not to buy a goat ...

(Pic found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/prasoonpics/325703407/ - some excellent pictures here, and I'm glad to credit them.)

Another interesting news item on PM today was about whether or not it's a good idea to buy someone a goat for Christmas ... or rather, should a gift of a goat for someone in a developing country be made instead of buying someone a present in the UK?

This link introduces the issue, raised here in February 2006.

A Goat is not just for Christmas ...

CAFOD, Oxfam, Christian Aid, Food Aid and other organisations all have schemes where you can buy a goat, some educational textbooks, medicine, a well or other similar gifts for people in LEDCs, and you give a card to your loved one telling them what has been bought. This has proved to be very popular.

The idea is based on the old Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for today. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

However, the World Land Trust has pointed out that goats eat lots and drink lots of water, so may not be the best gift for someone in a developing country.

Look up the arguments ... what do you think?

Piergiorgio Welby ... Italian man allowed to die

I recommend listening to Radio 4 ... you learn so much, and often the programmes focus on religious or ethical issues. There were two such stories on the PM news tonight.

The first story is about a man called Piergiorgio Welby who suffered from muscular dystrohy. "A doctor has admitted switching off the life support machine of a terminally ill Italian man who had lost a legal battle for the right to die", reads the BBC article. Italy is a predominantly Catholic country, and, as you know, euthanasia is not allowed in Catholicism (other than in cases where the Doctrine of Double Effect comes into place). However, Mr Welby's doctor denies that this is euthanasia, and instead has argued that he had fulfilled the patient's legal right to refuse treatment. There is a lot of debate about this in Italy.

Look up more details on the link below.

BBC News: Welby

General Sixth Form RE

Just to remind you of the arrangements for after Christmas.

Week 1: I will introduce the topic of "Sects, Cults and New Religious Movements".
Week 2: Sonjay - Christian Sects, including looking at Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses.
Week 3: Errol/Vincent - Cults, including Scientology.
Week 4: Emilia - Islam and its sects (Sunni, Shia, Sufi)
Week 5: Tonny - Judaism and its sects (Kabbala)
Week 6: I will finish by looking at the response of the Catholic Church to other religious movements.

Later I will post a link to sites that can help you in your preparation.

Moral Relativism Essay

a) Explain what is meant by 'moral relativism'. (33)
b) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of moral relativism. (17)

a)
* "Moral relativism is the belief that morality does not relate to any absolute standards of right and wrong, but that 'good' and 'bad' are dependent on culture and circumstance." (Libby, Foundation for the Study of Religion, p. 50)
* The opposite of moral absolutism.
* Moral relativism - what is right for one person/culture/situation could be wrong for another. Everyone should be tolerant of each other.
* Today - emphasis on tolerance, multi-culturism, freedom of speech, individuality ...
* Cultural relativism - morality, religious belief, social behaviour ... ("When in Rome, do as the Romans do")
* Moral relativists - do not all share same views ... tend to believe that practical applications of right/wrong depend on circumstances.
* Some moral relativist systems - Social contract theory, Utilitarianism, Situation Ethics

b)
Strengths -
* Situation Ethics - based on what is the most loving action
* People have to take responsibility for their own moral decision-making
* Fits in with the popular individual way of thinking today
* Moral relativism has moved away from religious absolutism, which is perhaps more attractive to many people suspicious of fundamentalism today

Weaknesses -
* Nothing is condemned ... everything is allowed ... (eg is torture morally acceptable in any circumstance?)
* Is morality nothing more than what is socially acceptable?
* Taken to its logical conclusions, moral relativism is self-contradictory (eg ...)
* How do you view an intolerant view?
* Could be impractical (eg ...)
* James Rachels - all societies have some common principles (eg ... )
* Two people could look at the same situation and have good reasons for justifying different actions

Virtue Ethics Essays

a) Explain the theory of Virtue Ethics. (33)
b) 'Virtue Ethics is of little practical use to someone faced with a moral problem.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain modern versions of Virtue Ethics. (33)
b) 'Virtue Ethics is a useful way of making moral decisions.' Discuss. (17)

We will be studying Virtue Ethics after Christmas ... but you have the notes already and here are some more questions to guide your studies!

Natural Law Essays

a) Explain the theory of Natural Law. (33)
b) 'If Natural Law theory is applied rigidly to ethical problems, obvious injustices arise.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain what is meant by a Natural Law approach to ethics. (33)
b) 'The strict application of Natural Law goes against common sense.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain what is meant by Natural Law. (33)
b) 'Natural Law is unjust.' Discuss. (17)

Again, write essay plans for each.

Moral Relativism Essays

a) Explain what is meant by 'moral relativism'. (33)
b) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of moral relativism. (17)

a) What is meant by Moral Relativism? (33)
b) 'The problem with relativist theories is that they don't provide any definite answers.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain what is meant by moral relativism. (33)
b) 'Compassion is the main strength of moral relativism.' Discuss. (17)

Do you see a pattern emerging?! Make sure you can write essays that describe each of the key Ethical Theories and you should make a good start to earning your first 33 marks! Secondly, learn the strengths and weaknesses of each of the Ethical Theories so you can respond clearly to the second part.

Hope your revision is getting easier already!

Meta-Ethics Essays

a) Examine different ways in which 'good' is used in meta-ethics. (33)
b) 'Anything people approve of must be good.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain the difference between meta-ethics and normative ethics. (33)
b) 'We all know what "good" means.' Discuss. (17)

a) Explain what is meant by meta-ethics. (33)
b) 'Words such as "right" are meaningless.' Discuss. (17)

TASK: Write essay plans for each essay question. You can refer to my last essay plan to help guide you.

Meta-Ethics Essay

a) Explain different views about what people mean when they call a moral decision "wrong". (33)

b) '"Right" and "Wrong" are just expressions of preference; they do not refer to any absolute set of values.' Discuss. (17)

Here are some key points/ideas that I would want to include in my answer:

a)
* Meta-Ethics is the study of the language of ethics ... what does it mean to say something is "right" or "wrong"?
* A Naturalist (eg Thomas Aquinas, an Ethical Naturalist) would believe that they can use their senses to verify that something is wrong .... observation would show that the results of that action caused unhappiness, so must be wrong ...
* G.E. Moore would describe that belief as the "Naturalistic Fallacy" ... he did not believe that right or wrong could be verified using senses ... instead he argued that it could be acertained using intuition (Intuitionism) ... if an Intuitionist says that something is "wrong", she means that ...
* Emotivism ... A.J. Ayer would say that to call a moral decision "wrong" simply means that you do not like that action eg abortion - boo! (C. Stevenson ... added ...)
* Prescriptivism ... Hare universalised Ayer's idea by saying that if you thought "abortion - boo!", you should also want everyone else to think "abortion - boo!", therefore if you call a moral decision wrong, you are saying that you don't like this decision and neither should anyone else.

b)
* Emotivism would certainly agree that "right" and "wrong" are simply expressions of preference ... you are simply stating whether or not you like or approve of an action or not.
* However, other positions and ethical theories would suggest that it is possible to use "right" and "wrong" in a way that refers to a set of absolute principles.
* Intuitionism suggests that there are things which are absolutely right or wrong.
* In Normative Ethics, there are relative and absolute moral codes. For example, in Natural Law (and therefore also in Naturalism), Aquinas would suggest that it is possible to observe that some actions are "right" and others "wrong".

What other ideas would you include?

BAE Investigation dropped

A fraud investigation into a Saudi Arabian arms deal has been closed down, probably under pressure from the Saudi Arabian government. There seem to be two reasons for this: one, reasons of "national security" means that the relationship with Saudi Arabia needs to be protected, and two, if the Saudis had pulled out of deals with BAE Systems, then maybe jobs could have been put at risk.

Metro: BAE Investigation dropped

This sounds like a Utilitarian argument to me: the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. What would Fletcher have said? Is this the most loving action? How would Kant have felt about stopping an investigation into fraud?

Suffolk Killer ....

"Should the prostitutes [with drug problems] be given free heroin if it stops them gambling with their lives?"

This was the question asked at the end of a bulletin on BBC News 24, looking at the reasons why some women are continuing to "work the streets" despite the risks they are facing at the moment.

What do you think?

BBC Religion & Ethics Site

• BBC Religion and Ethics

This is an excellent site for up to date issues.

The Philosophers' Magazine

• Philosophers-Net

You will find lots of philosophical articles and interesting philosophical and ethical games here.

Welcome to your blog!

I hope to post links here to useful sites, or point you in the direction of topical issues of Religious or Ethical interest, or post reflections on the topics we are covering in school ... I may even post your homework here with hints to help you!

Visit regularly to see what's new, and look back at previous posts to inspire you.

Enjoy learning more about Religious Studies and Ethics!