Rabbi James Rudin, the American Jewish Committee's senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published Cushing, Spellman, O'Connor: The Surprising Story of How Three American Cardinals Transformed Catholic-Jewish Relations.
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What Day, Maimonides, Niebuhr, and Wise Would Say About the Presidential Debate
Image via Gemenacom/Shutterstock
God’s role in our political system was prominently mentioned during the recent Republican debate, even more than the economy. Some presidential wannabes, sounding more like candidates for preacher-in-chief instead of commander-in-chief, believe God supports the Grand Old Party and their campaigns for the White House.
The debate forced me to seek the views of four famous religious leaders who grappled with the relationship between religion and society: Dorothy Day (1897-1980), a Catholic social activist and a candidate for sainthood; Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), a philosopher, rabbi and physician; Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), a Protestant theologian and champion of “Christian Realism;” and Stephen Wise (1874-1949), a prominent, politically active rabbi.
Mario Cuomo’s Overlooked Contributions to Bioethics
Then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo speaks at a rally. Photo courtesy of SGT TRACY SANTEE, USAF / Wikimedia Commons / RNS
Lost in the extensive media coverage of Mario Cuomo’s recent death was mention of one of the former governor’s most enduring achievements: the New York state biomedical Task Force on Life and the Law.
During his first term as governor, Cuomo established the 25-member task force because he was concerned that as developments in medical technology and science accelerated, neither society nor state government was prepared for the critical decisions required in the face of such rapid change.
Cuomo’s instruction to the task force was to study the new frontier of bioethics and make specific public policy recommendations for state lawmakers.
The task force included Christian and Jewish clergy, physicians, nurses, lawyers, ethicists, philosophers, academics, social workers, community leaders, and hospital administrators.
I was a founding member of the task force in 1985. During that time, I recognized that some long-held beliefs must be updated, reinterpreted or sometimes even abandoned in the face of medical advances.
Cuomo wanted us to focus on the right of patients to informed consent about their medical conditions.