Jim Crow

For reasons completely unknown to me, I was asked to address the following question: “What might a parishioner do to aid in forming opinions/positions on cutting-edge ethical and moral issues currently facing the church and society?”

As part of a recent seminar on the Prayer Book and Ethics, the Rev. Harmon Smith, retired professor from Duke Divinity School, defined and elaborated on differences between ethics and morals and proposed a method by which different perspectives on important issues may be addressed with constructive dialogue. According to Dr. Smith, ethics relate to beliefs, character, and creed while morals relate to behavior, conduct, and deed.

His thesis is: conduct derives from character; morals derive from ethics; 'what' derives from 'why. Though both are important, probing the question, 'why', as opposed to 'what', is more likely to lead to a set of fundamental principles, which are hopefully shared by all in a group (or Communion). Given a set of shared, fundamental principles, understanding and respect can develop, common beliefs can be formed, and a moral group conduct will be effected.

This is the end of my understanding (or misunderstanding) of Professor Smith's lecture.

Using this paradigm, one could propose the following fundamental principles and develop arguments to address important moral issues in a constructive, understanding, and respectful manner:

• We, as Christians, are called to respect the dignity of each human being regardless of circumstance
• God is actively present in each human being regardless of his/her circumstance
• It is our duty to see God in each human being, and acknowledge and recognize His presence in each human being and to treat each human being accordingly.

Using these three basic principles of Christian beliefs, we, as a parish, diocese, and world-wide communion, are called to address difficult cutting-edge social moral issues such as divorce, euthanasia (as recently presented in Florida), capital punishment, sexuality, and homelessness, to name but a few. To be sure, given agreement on certain fundamental issues, we, as Episcopalians, will probably not agree on most, or even perhaps any, of these difficult issues. However, with continued respectful dialogue (asking/answering 'why' we hold certain moral views and not obsessing about the moral itself), prayerful reflection, and thoughtful attention, differences among us can be respected, consequences resulting from our differences minimized, and, at times, even agreement reached on very difficult, personal and divisive issues.