Social Virtues

A love song to God

2012-02-18T15:17:00.001-05:00

A favorite song from my favorite rock band. There's some heavy theology going on here!

Where are the good Samaritans?

2012-02-18T15:16:00.000-05:00

This was a sad, striking item in the news last year: a Chinese toddler hit by a truck and many people go by for several minutes afterward, ignoring her. Why do you think this happens... what's going on with people when they pass by?

Two questions for the U.S. Bishops

2012-02-10T08:10:00.001-05:00

Thinking about the brouhaha about the Department of Health and Human Services rule requiring most employers to offer employee insurance plans that cover contraception without copays, I have two questions for the U.S. Catholic bishops. Have any bishops addressed these two questions? Or does anyone have an idea about what they would say?

1. If the Jehovah's Witnesses ran a university that employed 2000 people, and only 500 of them were members of the Witnesses' church, could JW University rightly offer a health insurance plan that refused to cover blood transfusions? So that, if a Catholic employee of JWU was rushed to the hospital and needed a blood transfusion and received one, they would need to pay, say, $1000* out of pocket? Is this how religious liberty should play out? If not, how is this analogy different from the Church's position?

2. From pulpits in Connecticut (including where I attend) and across the land this past weekend, a message was read to Catholic parishioners urging them to contact their elected representatives to protest the DHHS rule. Now, the Catholic Bishops have long stood for universal health coverage as a basic human right and have advocated for this in various ways; but they have never to my knowledge, asked their faithful from the pulpit to advocate for universal health coverage. Why not? Is it the Church's position that health care for the poor and underinsured, the ability for all Americans to be able to afford insurance is less a matter of justice than the current issue about coverage of contraception?

Any Catholic bishop is welcome to post a response here (seriously). I think this is an important conversation to have, and the bishops need to be in dialogue with their faithful.

[A few edits were made 4 hours after the initial post. I am not sure what a blood transfusion costs a patient, but it would be at least as much as the estimated per unit cost of $552 to $1183.]

Another step toward what's right: Prop 8 struck down, for now

2012-02-10T07:56:00.000-05:00

A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal has struck down Proposition 8. That's the law passed by California voters in 2008 to rescind gay marriage rights. A Supreme Court case is surely coming, but it is hard to know what will happen then. Many commentators said that the Appeal court's opinion was written as a direct plea to Justice Kennedy, since he will be the key swing vote on the Supreme Court. So the opinion tried to use the same concepts and language that he used in previous opinions.

The appeal court opinion is written somewhat safely, so as not to invite rejection at the Supreme Court. “Plaintiffs do not ask that marriage be extended to anyone... The question is whether there is a legitimate governmental interest in withdrawing access to marriage from same-sex couples.” “Proposition 8 subtracted a disfavored group from a scheme of which [the group] was already a part.” Source

But there is a lot more to be said about why this right matters. To that end, few do it better than the team of lead attorneys who fought Prop 8. David Boies is considered a liberal, but his legal partner on this case, Ted Olsen, former Solicitor General for President Bush, is an unimpeachable conservative. From that conservative worldview, Olsen says that marriage rights for gay and lesbian people is not a liberal or a conservative value, but an American value. (Thanks to Jackie for prompting me to write.)

Rachel Maddow Interviews Prop 8 Attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

"I'm Twitter famous... so not famous"

2012-01-24T20:15:00.000-05:00

This is a pointed SNL skit about the over-confidence of the YouTube generation. I think I'm old enough to not to be seduced to this way of thinking, but, of course, it's easy to be self-deceived!
(You can see it better on Hulu: SNL of 1/14/2012. But the link only showed a commerial here, I'm not sure why. So here is a YouTube video of it.)

Capitalism and charity

2012-01-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

Bill Clinton has an interesting opinion piece [registration may be required] at the Financial Times titled "Charity needs capitalism to solve the world's problems." Clinton proposes that we need to "rethink the relationship between economic and social challenges, so that benefits and opportunities are available to more people." He points to the good work that can be done for holistic economic development when nonprofit organizations (such as the Clinton Global Initiative), governments, and businesses partner together. Recent developments in Haiti are an example.

In a time when even Republican candidates are decrying "vulture capitalism," this is good stuff. It points to the kind of efforts much needed if we are to recover from the global economic crisis on a sure footing for the decades ahead. The point of Clinton's article is twofold: it's both that charity needs capitalism and that capitalism needs charity to solve the world's problems. It's funny, but disturbing, then, that FT's banner link to the article reads "Capitalism, not charity, will save the world." That teaser is complete misrepresentation of what Clinton argues. Let's get beyond fighting over the -ism's and heed Clinton's advice:

The most effective global citizens will be those who succeed in merging their business and philanthropic missions to build a future of shared prosperity and shared responsibility.

Re-boot of the uncommon blog for 2012

2012-01-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

Hello to readers, whoever you are. If you are reading this, you probably know me; I probably goaded you by email or Facebook to come read this new blog. I hope you'll return frequently and comment on the posts. Eventually, total strangers may find this, and I hope you'll enjoy participating as well.

I blogged once before under the title "Deep Down Things" on the Wordpress site. But after a flurry of writing in August and September 2009, I fell away, for reasons I can’t quite figure. Just plain busyness, isn't that what we all tell ourselves?

Well, it was a bad excuse--a rationalization--and I've felt itchy to get back to writing with a public purpose. So I’m restarting blogging, but in the meantime, I’ve grown fond of Blogger for a few reasons. (1) Its integration with Google. I’m using lots of Google apps for all kinds of work, and I started using Blogger for teaching in some online courses, as I am a college professor. (2) I find it easier to edit and design the way I’d like it to look. (3) I think it will be easier for readers to comment on the blog on this site. A Google (Gmail) account, or any of about six other common web accounts will get you going.

At the inception of my old blog, I posted that someone asked me “what are you complaining about?” It’s a common perception about blogs of the social/political type that they are all about complaining... because so many blogs are like that. That’s not my style, and it’s in fact a key reason I wanted to write in this format. I hope to throw down my own two-cents on various matters, offering my opinions without tearing down those I disagree with. (Can we hope that people are tiring of over-the-top fear-mongering of Glenn Beck's variety?) That doesn't mean you can't criticize me; just be civil.

The topics will be wide-ranging, all at the intersection of personal and social values. I hope you enjoy reading, and perhaps participating.