Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly is a production of THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET. Visit www.pbs.org/religionandethics for additional information. Show #1844 will be fed over PBS at 5:00 p.m. EST on July 3 (check local listings).
Can charity do harm? – People of faith consider it their religious duty to give to the poor. But Lucky Severson reports on a Presbyterian psychologist in Atlanta, Robert Lupton, who thinks some charity can do harm. He preaches helping the very poor to learn to help themselves, and what is called “re-neighboring” — encouraging the well-off to come live alongside the poor.
Ethics of Gene Editing – There is a new genetic editing technique called CRISPR/Cas9 which has the potential to fix devastating illnesses. It allows scientists to identify a single defective gene among 30,000 and then cut and repair it. Correspondent Betty Rollin speaks with George Church of Harvard Medical School about its therapeutic potential and with ethicist Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society who has called for a moratorium using gene editing on human embryos. Darnovsky is concerned about gene editing’s safety especially since changes made to a human embryo would not only affect that individual but all of his or her descendants and also has ethical concerns that the same gene editing technique used to cure diseases, could potentially allow wealthy parents to genetically enhance their offspring.
Religious Reaction to Same-Sex Marriage Ruling – Faith groups continue to analyze the implications of last week’s landmark Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Host Bob Abernethy and Managing Editor Kim Lawton discuss the range of religious reactions, from those who are celebrating the decision to those who fear it could infringe on their religious liberty.
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