What is ethics?
By Roger Pawsey
Bibliography
Introduction
As we look at the subject of ethics it is important that we
are able to define what we mean. William Barclay says, "If you want to put it
in one sentence, ethics is the science of behaviour. Ethics is the bit of
religion that tells us how we ought to behave."
Ethics is a code of behaviour that enables people to make
moral judgements about difficult situations. For the Christian such topics
could include abortion, suicide, homosexuality, genetics and ecology. It also
asks the question "can there be a just war?" or "is slavery permissible?"
There are so many questions it is important that we first
look at how we arrive at a code of behaviour that will serve us as practicing
Christians.
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