Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
No matter how many traditional religious and ethical arguments one group makes, a second group maintains the primary function of both ethics and religion should be reducing and eliminating suffering. If technology offers us a way to do that, we should use it, they suggest.
Remember when I announced I was going to do something on church and society, Lupe and Myron offered some examples that have to be addressed. Lupe pointed to the death of hundreds of people in Pakistan who died of thirst during the Ramadan fast. Myron sent a New York Times article about India’s prime minister […]
Certainly a major factor Christians have to consider when making decisions in our modern world is the global economic system. Electronic media and computing enable us to engage with people we do not know on the other side of the earth, and we have used this primarily for economic transactions. This has brought new challenges […]
Lupe mentioned the situation her son faced when on assignment for the World Bank in Pakistan during Ramadan. With extremely high temperatures, over 700 people died observing the fast that includes not drinking water during daylight hours. Does following God’s will include this kind of renunciation?
Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment introduces a new stage in the ongoing conversation between Church and Society.
Boy, this one has some catchy adjectives. We are not to join just any church, but a “real” one that is relevant to the “contemporary” situation. In fact, it replaces “church” with “community,” implying it should not simply be a place where people go to worship but a gathering of persons who interact with one […]
As I write this lesson, politicians are debating whether they would have invaded Iraq, if they knew what we know now. The discussion began as a question from the press to see if they could connect Jeb Bush with his brother. When his answer was controversial, they began asking many candidates the same question. As […]
I was amused when I looked up the origin of “prestige.” Apparently it goes back to a French word for a conjuror’s tricks or illusions. And in some sense, all prestige has an element of deception about it. None of us is all that different from another. This became evident when I found myself dining […]
Too often, paying attention to beauty is regarded as a luxury in our society. People think only the affluent have time to appreciate the beautiful. Every one else has to spend all their time earning a living in order to feed their families. This kind of thinking denies the ancient wisdom that a satisfying human […]
When I was growing up, I would never have thought to include this in a Christian lifestyle. People were starting to limit the size of their families, but not because of the world’s limitations. But by the time I was called to my second parish, we were discussing world hunger, overpopulation, and pollution. Even then […]
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