McFarland Center Events Put Ethical Focus on Election Issues

The Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross will present lectures this fall that focus an ethical lens on issues that have come to the foreground in the course of the presidential campaign. The events will include opportunities to learn about ISIS as a perpetrator of genocide in the Middle East, how fundamental Christian beliefs could guide U.S. immigration policy, how to approach political discourse the classroom, and the economics and ethics of America’s gun industry.

McFarland Center programs foster dialogue that respects differences and provide a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious as well as interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope. The talks, held in the College’s Rehm Library, are free and open to the public.

Monday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. Christianophobia: A Neglected Genocide in the Church's Biblical Heartlands? — Rupert Shortt, religion editor and writer for The Times Literary Supplement and author of “Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack” (Eerdmans Publishing, 2013), will speak on ISIS as a perpetrator of genocide against Christians and other groups in the Middle East. Co-sponsored with the W. Arthur Garrity Sr. Professorship in Human Nature, Ethics and Society and the Department of Economics and Accounting.

Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. Kinship with Migrants in the Year of Mercy — Kristin Heyer, professor of theology at Boston College, will discuss her book “Kinship Across Borders: A Christian Ethic of Immigration” (Georgetown University Press, 2012) and Catholics’ responsibilities to immigrants in light of Pope Francis’ declared Year of Mercy. The discussion will include questions on how fundamental Christian beliefs about the human person, sin, family life, and global solidarity guide Catholics’ understanding of U.S. immigration policy. This discussion is one of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Thursday, Sept. 29 at 4:30 p.m. You Can't Say That: Teaching Controversy in the Age of Trump — Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, will probe the history of America's longstanding controversy over controversial issues in schools, explaining the restrictions on teachers and framing a case for lifting those restrictions. Zimmerman says, “At a moment when American political discourse has descended to almost unimaginable levels of snark and invective, we need our teachers to model a better way to discuss our differences.” Co-sponsored with the education department.

Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 4:30 p.m. Supply and Demand in the U.S. Firearms Industry: A Data-Based Exploration — Jurgen Brauer, professor of economics at Augusta (Ga.) University, is an expert on gun manufacturing firms and gun violence in the U.S. In 2013, he published a major study on the U.S. civilian firearms industry, and his methodology to estimate firearms sales in the United States has been used by newspapers and others in the debate on firearms proliferation here in the states and beyond. Co-sponsored with the W. Arthur Garrity Sr. Professorship in Human Nature, Ethics and Society and the Department of Economics and Accounting.

Many of the McFarland Center’s talks are video recorded and made available online. Visit the McFarland Center's website to learn more.