Course materials

1. final exam christian ethics class
final exam christian ethics classRead thecase carefully and then respond to the following
questions in relation to thecase to determine what a Christian ethical response is and why.
Be detailed in your response and utilizeconcepts discussed within the course to support
your points.1. Roles,Relations and Duties:What are the various roles and relationships in
which the central characters inthis case find themselves? How do theseroles and
relationships connect or tie these persons to other persons or groupsof persons? As a result
of all thesediffering roles and relationships, what are some of the various moral dutiesthe
people in this case have to one another and other persons and/orgroups? Are some of these
duties moreimportant than others? Which are themost important?2. Virtues: What kinds of
persons would the people in this case needto be in order to recognize and fulfill the various
moral duties and challengesfacing them here? What are some virtues,attitudes, affections
and loyalties they would need to behave as authenticChristians? Choices 1. Identifyingthe
Choice:What is the basic or central choice confronting the people in this case? What are
some of the conflicting values orgoods that the people in this case will need to make choices
about? Are there competing duties that the people inthis case have to each other or other
persons or groups?2. Seek Counsel: What moral wisdom or insight can we gain about
thechoice(s) to be made from the voices of experience, Scripture andtradition? What
persons or resourceswould be most useful in discovering what these various fonts of
wisdom have totell us about the issues or choices in this case?3. Formulating a Christian
Response: What might be somebasic convictions that the Christian perspective brings to the
central choiceor issue in this case? What are somehard questions that need to be answered
regarding this choice? Community 1. SocialSins: Arethere some social sins embeIDed in
this case? Are there any social ills or injustices, any shared ways of thinking oracting that
are contributing to the problems in t his case or making it harderfor the people here to
make good choices and behave well?2. ChristianReforms: Whatsorts of social practices or
beliefs might need to be changed to make thestructures and institutions discussed in this
case more just, moreChristian? What kins of reforms areneeded on the institutional or
societal level? Why?Case 1: Jails for Jobs On a warm autumn evening State SenatorEllen
Costanza is sitting in her office listening to Bob Hughes, her campaignmanager, and she is
not happy. Just amonth away from the close of a very tight race for reelection, Ellen?s
marginallead is evaporating. Bob warns her thatunless she does something significant in the
next few weeks she can forget asecond term, and all the good she might have accomplished
as a newly appointedmember of three important senate committees. The something

2. significant Bob has inmind is SR 375, a new piece of anti-crime legislation pending before
thesenate. Calling for tougher sanction andmandatory minimum sentences for a broad
range of felonies, SR 375 also includes$780 million for the construction of several new
correctional facilities and an aIDitional $120 million tohelp put three to five thousand more
police officers on the streets. Bob is convinced that coming out insupport of this legislations
is, at present, about the only way to save the election. ?Ellen, this bill is just what thedoctor
ordered. First, by supporting ityou show the voters and the media that even with your
opposition to the deathpenalty, you are still tough on crime. In an instant our challenger?s
number one issue evaporates, and that?law and order? prosecutor from downstate has to
start talking about jobs andeducation, topics you can beat him on any day of the week.
Second, this bill means jobs, and I mean goodjobs, for our district. We may not be inthe ?rust
belt,? but in the last two decades we?ve lost thousands of highpaying factory jobs to
overseas plants and seen two military installationsclose up shop. ToID Meyers, the
bill?smain sponsor and the chair of the allocations committee, has made it clear he
wantsyou on board and that if you give himlots of support before the election, then one of
those new prisons will bebuilt in our district. That?s going tomean a lot of work for a lot of
folks €“ steady, long term work with pensionsand health care.? ?Now Ellen, I know you
have someconcerns about building more prisons. But you want the government to do more
about domestic violence and toput pressure on deadbeat dads. Well,sometimes people have
to be put in jail to make them see the light or to protectother folks from their violence.
Andfinally, making a compromise here means you get to do a lot of good work
towardeducation, housing, and aid to farmers. Do you think our challenger is going to do
any of that if we just rollover and let him win?? Perhaps. Perhaps this legislation would
save hercampaign and allow her to do real good. Certainly bringing thousands of high
paying jobs to her district wouldhelp a lot of folks. But is SR 375really a good idea? True,
Ellen?s statedoes have a high rate of violent crime, though not as high as it was in theearly
?90?s, and a lot of people do need to be punished for their offenses,particularly when they
are violent. Butdoes that mean that minimum mandatory sentences are a good idea or that
we oughtto aIDress overcrowding in our burgeoning prison system by building more
andbigger prisons? Will putting more policeon the streets really help? How much? Are there
other alternatives that might bemore effective, or humane?And just what will happen in
herdistrict in five or ten years when hundreds and then thousands of thesecriminals, most
of them from downstate, are released from jail? How many will settle in the local
communityand what sorts of problems will they bring to the area? Will there be a ?crime
leak? from the localprison, contaminating neighborhoods and towns in the area?And if the
state spends $900 million onthis piece of anti-crime legislations, what sorts of programs
will be cut topay for new prisons and police? Will themoney come out of education, housing,
health care? Should Ellen put her signature on thisbill? Should she be one of the swingvotes
to push it over the top?Sitting there in her office with Bob,Ellen is pretty sure she?s going to
have to think long and hard aboutthis. Bob, on the other hand, is certainshe only has a few
weeks to decide.Case 2: Health Benefits: ?It?s Not MyProblem??Jennie, I appreciate what
Father Ralphtold you in that class on Catholic social thought, and I believe in workers?
rightsas much as the next guy. Heck, my dadand Uncle Pete were in the union for forty

3. years, and I paid union dues for sixyears while I was working in a machinist?s shop and
going to night school atCity University.??But, I?m here to tell you that as theowner of a small
business I have no legal obligation to pay for healthinsurance for my employees. And,
giventhe stiff competition I face and my razor-thin profit margin, there is just noway I can
provide coverage for the unskilled women working for my cleaningservice, at least not if I
am going to pay tuition at a Catholic college whereyou and your brother can learn about
social justice and preferential option forthe poor.??I pay worker?s compensation and
socialsecurity, and two dollars over minimum wage. And I give these folks two weeks? paid
vacation and a full hour forlunch, which is better than they would get at most of the other
services intown. What?s more, I give everyone whoworks for me a bonus at Christmas. If
Ipaid for health coverage for my employees I would probably have to go out ofbusiness. We
would certainly have tomake significant changes in our lifestyle.??I appreciate that Dad,?
Jennieresponds, ?and I get it that it?s not your job alone to carry this burden. But the priests
at that Catholic college youand Mom were so eager for me and Mike to attend say that folks
have a basicright to health care. It?s like theirright to life, liberty, and freedom of religion.
And they say €“ heck the pope says €“ that oursociety has a moral duty to provide for that
right. Health care?s not just a ?benefit,? it?s aright. But at present more than fortymillion
Americans don?t have health-care coverage, and a huge percentage ofthose folks are
working-class women and men just like your employees.??Now, we are the only
industrializedWestern country without universal health care, in large part because lots
offolks like you and Uncle Joe €“ who haven?t belonged to a union in years €“ saywe
shouldn?t have big government or that the free market is the way to takecare of things.
Well, the free marketand competition have got you squeezed so tight you can?t provide the
basic sortof health care coverage for you workers that your dad and uncle fought so hardto
get for union members fifty years ago.??So that sort of leaves un in aquandary, doesn?t it??
Either we agree that health care coverage is just abenefit and that the popes and Church are
wrong to say it?s a basic right, orwe figure out a way to protect this right for the ore than
forty million folkswho lack access to basic health care. And if you?re right that as a small
business owner you simply can?tafford to pay for this coverage and keep afloat, then maybe
we need to look atthe way we provide for health care in this country. Maybe we need some
kind of major health-carereform coming out of Washington. I mean,one way or the other,
we?re going to have to figure out how to solve this problem,aren?t we???I?ll make you a
deal, Jennie,? herfather replied. ?You bring home the textbook for that course in Catholic
social though, and I?ll read it. After all, I paid for it. And in May when I come to pick you up
fromschool, I?ll meet with your Father Ralph and talk to him. But this summer, you?ll come
to work with meat the office. You?ll go over the booksand you?ll check out all the options
for health insurance plans available tosmall business owners like myself. Andtogether we?ll
look at what the politicians in the state capital and Washingtonare offering in terms of
health care reform. Then, in September, we?ll make a plan that you and I and everyone
elsein this family can actually live with.??Of course, we may discover that wecan?t be just to
my workers and pay your tuition at a Catholic college. Or that we need to make significant
changesin our lifestyle €“ which other people in the family might not be so willing todo.
Would you be willing to have thoseconversations and make this deal with me??I suspect

4. that you?re bluffing just abit here, Dad. But it?s an intriguingoffer, and I?d be silly to turn
you down, even if it is also pretty scary. By the way,? Jenny wondered, ?does this meanthe
family trip to Costa Rica is off this Christmas??