Yes, the straightforward response to the question "Can you teach ethics?" is affirmative. The challenge lies in the implementation and enforcement mechanisms. Do you really think so? I mean, yes, enforcement is important, but when it comes to reasoning about ethics, it is critical to be a...

This conversation is very relevant to the current Booktalk non-fiction selection, The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck, which is quite an entertaining and easy short read. I have long resisted the book, but the main problem now is time. I will be doing well if I manage to read some of the discussion...

In contrast, the process of determining one's own ethics and morals is God at work. And yet a secular process of determining right & wrong somehow cannot be successful because it lacks God. I don't agree that such a secular process cannot be successful, or that it lacks God. Obviously it does n...

think of US politics as resembling the slide in Ancient Rome from Republic to Empire. Maybe. Newt Gingrich claimed that he foresaw a coming era of clash when we lost the enemy of Russian Communism. I think what he really saw was the opportunity to use all the funds available from the billionaires, ...

A trial is a crucible - only The Truth remains. A lot of people believe that, but is it really true? Consider a situation where a defendant performed X felony, which corresponds to a 5 on a 1 - 10 scale of severity. The prosecution will note the number 5 and load him up with tougher charges 6 &...

I regard today's decision on Trump's violation of the 14th Amendment as just such a case of SCOTUS deciding based on expediency rather than the actual law. The three liberal justices, and Amy Coney Barrett, concurred even thought they disagree with the majority finding that only Congress can decide ...

However to your point, although the admonition to kill those who commit adultery still exists, Jews and Christians do not enforce that. Why not? Well I think that exposes the paradox that even though we have numerous documents that purport to be the word of God, if those requirements go against our...

I am not talking about those sorts of dramatic changes as new religions form or a slow cultural evolution. if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. - Revelatio...

In the New York Times this week there was an Op-Ed discussing the turmoil in Constitutional Law classes due to recent (from "Heller" and "Citizen's United" on) U.S. Supreme Court behavior demonstrating that the principles of law were no longer guiding decisions, but rather the ra...

I do think Putin is an evil dictator and his invasion against Ukraine was a brutish act, causing profound misery for untold numbers of people, both Ukrainians and Russians. Maybe his invasion was justified to some extent, given the perceived threat of NATO on Russia's doorstep. I read an interestin...