Dr Paul Allen

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, is still remembered for his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Today in 1758 Jonathan Edwards died. He was 54 years old. It was a fever he had contracted from a small-pox inoculation just a month before. After weeks of worsening weakness and the recognition of his immanent death , he spoke his last words to his daughter, Lucy, who attended him. Toward the end he said, "As to my children, you are now to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek a Father who will never fail you." There is so much to say of Edwards, of his vision of God , of his shortened life, of his influence. But consider for a moment this scene just before he died — a scene that took place this very day 255 years ago. We would think that Edwards, with the mind he had, must have been overwhelmed with the thought of leaving so many unfinished works . I mean, what ab...

The following letter on pornography and business ethics was written by two prominent public intellectuals— Robert P. George , a Christian and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf , a Muslim —and sent to hotel industry executives last week. We write to ask you to stop offering pornographic movies in your company’s hotels. We make no proposal here to limit your legal freedom, nor do we threaten protests, boycotts, or anything of the sort. We simply ask you to do what is right as a matter of conscience. We are, respectively, a Christian and a Muslim, but we appeal to you not on the basis of truths revealed in our scriptures but on the basis of a commitment that should be shared by all people of reason and goodwill: a commitment to human dignity and the common good. As teachers and as parents, we seek a society in which young people are encouraged to respect others and themselves—treating no one as an impersonal object or thing. We hope that you share our desire to build such a society. Shoul...

Peep show window displaying pornographic entertainment at Cherries on St. Mark's Place in New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The following letter on pornography and business ethics was written by two prominent public intellectuals— Robert P. George , a Christian and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf , a Muslim —and sent to hotel industry executives last week. We write to ask you to stop offering pornographic movies in your company’s hotels. We make no proposal here to limit your legal freedom, nor do we threaten protests, boycotts, or anything of the sort. We simply ask you to do what is right as a matter of conscience. We are, respectively, a Christian and a Muslim, but we appeal to you not on the basis of truths revealed in our scriptures but on the basis of a commitment that should be shared by all people of reason and goodwill: a commitment to human dignity and the common good. As teachers and as parents, we seek a society in which young people are encouraged to respect ...

Image via Wikipedia The question of the status of the human embryo (and fetus) has been at the center of heated political debate, typically focusing on the issue of abortion.  Such debate has only intensified as disputes over stem cell research have entered the public consciousness as well.  The ethical questions involved in these issues are numerous.  The most significant question, however, is the one that is often overlooked as rhetoric about “choice” and “privacy” drowns it out.  This question that must remain at the forefront of such debates is this: At what point does the life of an individual human being begin? Embryo: A Defense of Human Life   by Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen addresses this and other related ethical questions. Robert George is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and is a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University .  He is the author of several books including   Making Men Moral   and ...