Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly is a production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET. Visit www.pbs.org/religionandethics for additional information. Show #1919 will be fed over PBS at 5:00 p.m. EST on January 8, 2016 (check local listings).
Faith Groups and Big Business – Faith groups have been attempting to use their influence as stockholders to press major corporations to exercise social responsibility. Lucky Severson talks to Rev. David Schilling of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility about their efforts to promote reform within major U.S. corporations and to Rev. Bill Lupfer, the Rector of New York City’s Trinity Church, which holds stock in Walmart and their attempts to get it to stop selling high capacity assault rifles. He also interviews Michael Hammond of the Gun Owners of America who feels churches should stick to preaching the gospel.
Death With Dignity – Five states, now including California, allow physicians to aid in dying and in 2015 23 more states introduced “death with dignity” laws. According to a recent Gallup poll, more than two-thirds of Americans say doctors should be allowed to assist the terminally ill. Deborah Potter reports on this movement, talking to supporters and opponents including Father Thomas Petri, Dean of the Dominican House of Studies, who says the Catholic Church’s viewpoint is it’s never permissible to take a life for the sake of alleviating suffering, that “you are killing a person to remove suffering from their lives.”
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