Friday, October 23, 2020
As some of you know, I sit on the Board of the New Jersey Council of Churches, serving as co-chair of the Public Policy Committee. For the last several months we have been wrestling with the issue of ethical questions regarding the distribution of the much expected and desperately needed vaccine. The ethical dilemma is how we as a society decide who gets the vaccine first since there won’t be enough for everyone.
Not quite a Sophie’s choice but close. There must be several guiding principles including a rational method of setting priorities taking all of us into account regardless of race or class. The decision-making process must be transparent so that there is room for public debate. And above all, it must be ethical, laden with the values essential to peoples of faith.
We are not doing this in a vacuum but in collaboration with bioethicist at leading institutions. These are difficult decisions because it seems clear that this virus is not going away but will be with us for a long time. They are decisions that must be made thoughtfully and prayerfully.
Prayer for the Day
Holy Mystery, whom we often do not understand,
We seek to be like the disciples but fear to be like them;
We worry more about our place in the realm you bring
Than being the good news to the dispossessed.
We seek rewards for our service and expect your praise
Move us past our pride and sense of accomplishment.
So we may be more like the model of our lives,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Nothing you do in science is guaranteed to result in benefits for mankind. Any discovery, I believe, is morally neutral, and it can be turned to constructive ends or destructive ends. That’s not the fault of science.
Arthur W. Galston, botanist & bioethicist (1920–2008)
When morality encounters reality on the road to Jericho, whom should the Samaritan save when he cannot save everybody?
Margaret Farley, Yale Divinity School professor of ethics
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
Psalm 30: 1–2