Teaching to the converted: religious belief in the seminar room.
It is not unknown for participants in discussions of ethics to prefix their claims with a profession of their religious faith - to say, for instance, "Well, I'm a Christian/Muslim/whatever, so I think that ...". Other participants in the debate may well worry about how to respond without the risk of giving offence or appearing ad hominem. Within a teaching environment, the worry may be even more acute. Nevertheless, it is suggested in this paper that such worries should not be allowed to impede debate; moreover, a teacher who let such prefixes pass without critique would be considered a poor teacher. In fact, a kind of duty for a teacher of ethics is to be contrary and to play the apostate.
Brassington
I
I
School of Law, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Iain.Brassington@manchester.ac.uk
D001294:Attitude to Health; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003469:Culture; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009014:Morals; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*