Mid-City Christian: Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

Following is a brief outline of the stories Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly will be covering this week. Every Friday evening, the transcript and streaming video of each report will available on our Web site . Please note that in case of breaking news, stories may be subject to change.

FEATURED SEGMENTS

Religion and the Obama Inauguration
President Barack Obama was known for his God-talk on the campaign trail and religion has continued to be a focus during the first days of his new administration. He began his Inauguration Day as many presidents before him have — with a private prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House. And, as part of the swearing-in ceremony of America's 44th president, megachurch pastor and bestselling author Rick Warren gave the invocation, while Reverend Joseph Lowery, the veteran civil rights leader, gave the benediction.

Kim Lawton reports on all the faith-based events tied to the inauguration and how the Obama administration is likely to interact with the religious community as the new presidency moves forward. “I think that President Obama really is grounded in his personal faith,” notes Reverend William Sinkford with the Unitarian Universalist Association. “I think he values the religious voice. I think it is wise of him to bring in a broad spectrum of that religious voice."

End of Life Dilemmas
Over five million Americans are afflicted with Alzheimer's, an incurable and progressive disease. Oftentimes, these patients also develop other medical conditions and are kept alive through aggressive treatments such as feeding tubes that may prolong life for several months or years. But doctors claim that choosing this measure for end-stage Alzheimer's patient is not only expensive, but can cause serious complications and discomfort. Family members, however, insist that they must do everything in their power to keep a loved one alive.

Betty Rollin explores the moral and ethical issues raised by this debate. Dr. Doug Nelson, a geriatrician in Hickory, North Carolina, who oversees the care of many Alzheimer's patients, says that he's greatly troubled by the use of feeding tubes: “I would never want somebody to do this to me because when you look at the patient, they are sitting there. They're crumpled. They develop bed sores. They get contractures. They can't move their arms or legs. Their muscles just freeze up. And they are simply laying there, existing, waiting for something else to happen that would finally kill them.” But Sharon Newell strongly believes it is the right decision to keep her mother on a feeding tube: “She would never, ever give up on one of us, regardless. And there's just no way we could ever give up on her and not give her every benefit she deserves.”

Father Damien's Legacy
Father Damien de Veuster was a missionary Roman Catholic priest from Belgium who came to Hawaii in the mid-1800s at a time when its native people were suffering from a variety of diseases inadvertently introduced by foreign traders and sailors. Thousands of Hawaiians were dying of influenza, syphilis and other ailments, including leprosy — today known as Hansen's disease. In 1866, in an effort to stop the spread of this disease, lepers were forcefully separated from their families and exiled to Kalaupapa, an isolated settlement colony on the north side of the island of Molokai. When Fr. Damien heard about the lepers' plight and the medical difficulties they faced, he asked permission to leave his assignment at the Catholic Mission in North Kohala and relocate to Kalaupapa. He remained there for more than a decade, serving as both priest and doctor to hundreds of colonists before his own death from leprosy at the age of 49.

Lucky Severson travels to Molokai for a look at the life, work and legacy of Father Damien, who is scheduled to be canonized by the Catholic Church sometime this year. Father Lane Akiona, who grew up on Molokai, observes, “To know that so many people went there, feeling helpless — no sense of hope. And here comes this missionary from a foreign land and was willing to do everything for them. . . . . He was the builder; he was the coffin builder; he was the grave digger. He did the services. He anointed them. He was their nurse and doctor. He did practically everything for them.”

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Is Gaza a Just War?
Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza after a three-week military campaign against Hamas militants. Read what religious leaders, theologians, and others have said about Gaza and the just war tradition.

WHAT'S AHEAD

January 30: “Juvenile Life Without Parole" — Tim O'Brien explores the ethical debate over the sentencing of juveniles to life in prison without parole.

ONE NATION

Read Inauguration Day commentary by ethicist Robin Lovin, historian of American religion Mark Toulouse, and political science professor Stephen Monsma.

THE LIFE OF MEANING

The companion book to Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, now available in paperback in bookstores nationwide, can also be ordered through Shop Thirteen. “The Life of Meaning,” edited by the program's executive editor and host Bob Abernethy and longtime journalist William Bole, features a collection of insightful, moving and eloquent observations on life and how to live it by some of the most thoughtful men and women in America, and beyond. Among them are Desmond Tutu, Francis Collins, Marianne Williamson, Irving Greenberg, Barbara Brown Taylor, Harold Kushner, Madeleine L'Engle, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Jimmy Carter and the late William Sloane Coffin.

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