R170 Religion, Ethics, and Public Life (3 cr) MW 12:20-1:10 FA015
(Miller) **Students must also register for a discussion section

This is an introductory course in religion and ethics, focusing on
social responsibility and American public life.  We will begin by
examining basic methods and tools in ethics, and will then spend the
majority of the semester examining six topics: abortion; war and
peace; death and dying in medicine; economic justice; discrimination;
and environmental ethics.  The chief goal of the course is to explore
the complexity of these topics and to understand how religious
thought, belief, and practice inform moral discussion in the United
States today.  Along the way, we will ask whether individuals or
groups have a responsibility to protect the interests of vulnerable,
or "at-risk" populations: fetuses, political communities under attack,
women in the economic and cultural marketplace, sick and dying
patients, the poor, racial minorities, and nonhuman lives.  These
groups, and the issues that surround their needs, stand at the center
of debates in public culture today--debates in newspaper articles,
religious gatherings, political elections, professional meetings,
evening talk shows, shop floor conversations, and family dinners.
With each topic we will examine different arguments and points of
view.  We will close the semester by studying some religious themes
that inform most of the readings, focusing on creation and covenant.
Sources draw from Judaism, Christianity, and contemporary social
thought.