Moral Choice: A Christian View of Ethics

Appendix 3: Cases for Discussion

227 Appendix 3 CASES FOR DISCUSSION (From Issues in Chapter 8) Discuss the following cases using one or more of the following: • Work through the steps for moral decision making to solve each dilemma. (See chapter 7.) • Apply the criteria of the person adequately considered. (See chapter 5.) • What elements from your own moral iceberg (your family’s values, religious perspective, other elements from the objective culture, your own experiences) influence how and what you decide? • What methodology are you using to arrive at your conclusion? (See chapter 3.) • What are your intended consequence (end) and the intention (why do you do this)? • What motivation or restraint comes from superego and what from an appropriate sense of guilt? (See chapter 6.) • Decide the case using a perspective different from your own. Issue I: Making Love and Making Babies Case 1. Sam and Sally want to get married, but they want to complete their graduate work first. Both feel that, since they are committed to each other, it is not immoral to have intercourse now. Their parental families—both very religious—do not approve of premarital sex. The couple considers keeping it 228 Appendix 3 a secret if they decide to engage in intercourse. They have also decided that, when they marry, they will not have any children. No-baby sex now will test the waters for them. They respect your friendship, your religious perspective, and your integrity. What advice would you give them? Case 2. You are a college professor at a midsize Catholic college. A married student tells the class she has had two abortions. She is from another country where the pill is not available. “We cannot afford another child. I am going to have my tubes tied.” Some students say—out loud—that abortion is murder. It is never a moral option. Other students think that tubal ligation is immoral. Others say it’s no big deal, as people should be allowed to do what they feel is right. Still others point out that the woman should have brought the pregnancies to conclusion and given the babies up for adoption. If you were strongly antiabortion, would you have volunteered to raise the babies or worked to find some alternative to the abortions or tubal ligation? If the young woman is American but has no health insurance, does that change the advice that you would give? Case 3. I am gay. The college Bible study group to which I belong has been reading scriptural passages that seem to condemn homosexual activity. I want to speak out, telling them how it feels to be gay and that it is not morally wrong. Yet I’m afraid of how the group would take this information. One young woman, whom I know is sleeping with several guys, says, “Yuck. Homosexuality is SO against nature.” Is she right? She is not the first person to say that. God made me that way, isn’t that so? I’d really like to nail this woman, too, for her unkind remarks. What should I do? What would Catholic teaching say? What does your church teach? I am now three years older and graduated. I have met a young man I love. We would like to be committed to each other, with family and public support for our relationship. There is still a part of me that feels guilty for not only engaging in homosexual activity but also for being gay. Maybe the condition can be cured. My partner and I are considering moving to a state where gay marriage is legal. What should we do? Appendix 3 229 Case 4. Shakia and Sean want to have children but have been unable to conceive . They are exploring artificial reproduction. What questions should they ask, and on what basis should they make their decision? Issue II: Other Life Issues Case 5. Let us say that Shakia and Sean (see case 4) go ahead with the procedure . Five embryos are implanted. Farther along in the pregnancy, the doctor says that one of the embryos has died and the rest likely will not survive without selective abortion of at least one more embryo. What should the couple do? Shakia’s parents tell her that embryos are human lives and can never be destroyed. Sean’s parents are concerned about the possible death of not only all the embryos but also of Shakia’s health. Both couples...