Discussion Thread: Ethical Application replies
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Discussion Replies: Ethical Application
To-Do Date: Dec 5 at 11:59pm
Return to Discussion Thread: Ethical Application from Module 5: Week 5 and reply to 1 of your peers.
Respond to one classmate’s thread who wrote their thread on a different topic than your own. Provide respectful and constructive criticism regarding their application and areas of disagreement. You are expected to incorporate the textbooks and outside academic sources in your reply.
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Submit your 1 reply by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module 6: Week 6.
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In the discussion prior – Compare and Contrast Metaethical Theories, I compared Virtue Ethics and Divine Command Theory with Divine Command Theory being the stronger theory in my personal opinion. The issue on Abortion is what I chose that interests me for this discussion. As we all know abortion is a very touchy subject for almost all people – both men and women for that matter. Let us start off with defining what abortion is. I know that everyone knows what it is but it will help with the discussion. According to Opposing Viewpoints, Abortion is a medical or surgical procedure to deliberately end a pregnancy. Medical abortions use a combination of drugs to induce an abortion, while surgical abortions uses a vacuum aspiration for the procedure.[1]
In the beginning of Chapter 5 of Moral Choices, Rae gives some history of this topic. It states that there is a rich and long standing philosophical and religious tradition that reflects on issues at the edges of life, and most cultures have literature that chronicles such reflection on some of life’s important issues.[2]
So Christians never debated the killing of an infant but now question if abortions are moral or not. Catholics are against preventive contraceptives that kill sperm and think it is a sin while Protestant churches are okay with it. The belief of Catholics could be somewhat of the Divine Command Theory as it believes the good comes from God’s command – hence the Ten Commandments from the Bible. The main concern regarding abortions is figuring out the stage of when life begins and this could be an argument for those of the Divine Command Theory. Even though there is no distinction in which the moment of when a human being gains a soul, those who support that theory may look down on abortion due to one of the commandments. One of those commandments says Thou Shall Not Kill and that goes for any innocent life – even though it does not directly discuss abortion, you can still understand what God means.
The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 1:5 that “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.â€[3] This shows the possibility that the soul of a person starts at conception. There are times when it could be difficult in determining if abortion is acceptable especially in the case of where rape was involved. This could be difficult for the mother in deciding if it is okay to terminate the pregnancy and also a difficult situation for those who believe in the Divine Command Theory, as God values every life and abortion would be going against Him as Abortion is killing a human being. I still feel strongly that the Divine Command Theory is the stronger theory however, it could change based on other research. Time will tell.
[1] “Abortion” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2022.
Scholarly Articles on Abortion: History, Legislation & Activism (gale.com)Links to an external site.
[2] Rae, S. (2018). Moral Choices (4th ed.). HarperCollins Christian. https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/books/9780310536437Links to an external site.
[3] King James Bible Online 2022, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah-1-5/Links to an external site.
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