Moral Choices, ch. 6-12

The chapters to following chapters take up various ethical issues that are prominent in today's dialogue.

Chapter 6 - Abortion - Dr. Rae marches through several of the most significant cases since the issues primary conception in the Roe v. Wade case. Rae then turns his focus on the Biblical considerations of life's beginning and implications of being human. I was surprised to see a section entitled "The Arguments for the Pro-Choice Position". However, as a good ethicist, Dr. Rae is careful to examine both sides. Ultimately, the issue lies around the personhood of the fetus.

Chapter 7 - Reproductive Technologies - I found this to be a helpful chapter as I have not given much thought to the issues. Rae comes out of the gate with a case study that I was uncertain how to pull apart to give good ethical advice. He walks through each scenario carefully. He believes that the only morally problematic (that is the strongest position he takes here) is with 'donor insemination, egg donation, and surrogate motherhood'. He demonstrates rightly a concern for any embryos created in a lab.

Chapter 8 - Genetic Technologies and Human Cloning - This popularized debate seems more about theory than practice. However, it has tremendous application since human cloning could manifest at any point. Rae again refers to issues in this section as 'problematic', but not taking a stronger position. He seemed to indicate that ability does not require obligation and availability.

Chapter 9 - Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia - This was one of the more confusing chapters for me. Rae deals with a lot of very difficult and technical issues such as termination of life support, PAS, active euthanasia, and various issues there surrounding. His section in the case against seems stronger to me, but that is the position I took going into the reading. I was dissatisfied with his conclusion that it is not always beneficial or helpful to give nutrition to a patient. This stems for a particular view of "good" that I am not sure I take. I defer to the ethicist on this for now.

Chapter 10 - Capital Punishment - Explaining the 'abolitionist' and 'retentionist' positions, Dr. Rae unpacks this very controversial issue. In the sections weighing the arguments, Rae seems more conflicted than in any other section. Yet, in his section on the Biblical teaching, he takes the postion that Genesis 9:6 allows for capital punishment based, not on Mosaic Law, but a foundational, universal/theological principle set in creation by God. He ends by questioning whether death penalty practiced today matches the requirement of certainty from the Old Testament.

Chapter 11 - Sexual Ethics - Rae jumps immediately the the Biblical view of sex in this chapter. I think this is appropriate in light of his position (spoken in regard to homosexuality) that it would be difficult to argue the point with someone who does not hold Scripture. In this chapter, Rae addresses homosexuality most dominantly. He is careful to address the variety of interpretations, but holding that there needs to be a distinction between homoSEXUALITY and homoEROTICISM. Rae also makes a plea for the restoration of sexual purity.

Chapter 12 - Morality of War - This chapter gave me a lot to think about. Rae seems to be most sympathetic to an adjusted 'pacifist' view similar to Augustine (with protecting out of love). Rae spends a lot of time presenting a Biblical case for pacifism and then presenting the argument for Just War. He then unpacks how he thinks just war goes down a slippery slope. Rae has given me a lot to think about. The ideal is certainly peace. And, I think just war is a very rare case; particularly in light of wars currently being fought. However, I think that pacifism has its slippery slope as well. I will need to do more work on this issue internally.