Boise State has suspended all 52 sections of a required general education course on ethics according to Inside Higher Ed. The course has been running since 2012. It concerns ethics and diversity and challenges students “to inquire into key ethical ideas and values together, giving equal voice to all who are committed to the public good.” Individual course section topics differ and include moral problems, moral courage, censorship, the ethics of food, folklore, deviance, and human rights. Thirteen hundred students are enrolled and therefore affected by the decision. [Read More]
Episode 45 – Cancel Culture
There’s been a lot of talk about cancel culture recently. People have been really riled about children’s books and potatoes. There’s been a lot of talk about censoring certain ideas and perspectives. I’ve done an episode on cancel culture before, but I thought it worth re-visiting this week since we have been so immersed in the conversation for the last few weeks. And it should come as no surprise that I’m here to tell you – cancel culture is not censorship. [Read More]
Episode 44 – Christian Nationalism
I know all the words to the Air Force song, the Marine’s Hymn, the official Army song, and other military hymns and songs and have since my youth. I am not from a military family. Nobody in my family was in the armed forces except my grandfather, who served for a short time in WWII. But I know all the songs. The reason I know these things is because the church I went to when I was in junior high and high school went freaking nuts on July the 4th. They spent almost as much time and energy getting ready for their July 4th celebration as they did for their Easter celebration, it seemed. [Read More]
Episode 43: Grievances and the Golden Calf
The book of Exodus in the Old Testament tells the story of the children of Israel’s escape from slavery out of Egypt. They spend a lot of time wandering around in the wilderness, exploring their relationship with Yahweh, before they settle in what would ultimately be deemed “The Promised Land.” [Read More]
Episode 42 – Terms and Definitions*
I was talking with a listener in the past week and she said she wished we would talk a little bit more about how words and word choice mattered. And I thought that was such an important thing that we could spend some time on it today. So I thought I’d talk about two related things – definitions and word choice. [Read More]