Review Questions in Moral Theology

1. Pork Barrell refers to the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that lawmakers receive every year for projects that they deem important. While the congressmen receive P70 million, the senators receive P200 million. Both amounts are from the public fund. that is, taxpayers' money. Some of the PDAFs go to NGOs, LGUs, barangays and other pet projects initiated for the good of their constituents.

Congressman A spent P150 million from his own pocket in the recently concluded national May elections. Elected to the Congress, he now wants to recover the amount he spent during the elections by taking P30 million from his pork barrell for the next 5 years. Moreover, he wants to keep P20 million a year for those constituents who would ask him for financial assistance: for tuition fees for their children, for funeral expenses of departed relatives, for the jobless to have something to live on, etc.

Question: 1) Is congressman A justified in doing this? Explain your answer by evaluating the morality of what he wants to do.

2. Wanting to increase her star power that has gone done and to reinvent herself from being sweet to sexy, Miley Cyrus performed a number in the recent Music Video Awards with Robin Thicke that shocked many people. In the middle of the song, she stripped down to her flesh colored undies and danced raunchily. Her twerking set a record in Twitter and she is being talked about again because of her infamous dance number.

Questions: 1) Evaluate the morality of her act.

                   2) Did she cause a scandal? Explain.

3. Desperate to pass a difficult subject in the first term, Susan studied hard for the term exam. Still lacking in confidence, she decided to write down in a small piece of paper some of the things she needs to know by memory. She was afraid of mental block. She knew that she run the risk of being caught but then she dismissed the thought by telling herself to be extra careful. When her conscience started bothering her, she calmed it down by telling herself that she will simply go to confession after the term exam. God will understand, she said. Susan is your best friend and she tells you of her plan.

Questions: 1) What will you tell Susan? What advise will you tell her?

                   2) Evaluate the morality of her action.

4. On March 10, 1993, Michael Griffin murdered Dr. David Gunn, a physician who performed abortion. Griffin waited outside Dr. Gunn's clinic and shot him 3 times in the back after yelling to him "DON'T KILL ANY MORE BABIES!"

Question: 1) Was it justifiable to kill Dr. Gunn in order to stop more abortions? Explain.

5. Sybil was 2 months pregnant with her first baby when she became ill with lupus, a rare sickness that requires dialysis and steroid treatment. Her doctor informed her that such treatment will endanger not only the health but also the life of the baby in her womb. She was advised to interrupt her pregnancy so that she could receive treatment right away. If she were to choose to delay her treatment in order to save her baby, her life and that of her baby may be in very serious danger. She could die while giving birth.

Being good Catholics, Sybil and her husband George considered 3 possible options carefully in their prayer. First, for Sybil to be treated of her sickness even if it would endanger the health and even the life of her baby; Second, for Sybil to follow the suggestion of her physician, that is, to interrupt her pregnancy; Third, for Sybil not to receive treatment, carry on with her pregnancy and receive treatment only after the birth of her first child.

Questions: 1) Which of these 3 options is acceptable from the moral point of view?

                   2) Is the principle of double effect applicable in any of the options? Which one? Explain.

6. In many countries, same sex marriage is now legal. In some, it is in the process of being legalized. Some say that those who do not approve of same sex marriage should not work against its legalization because doing so would mean intolerant discrimination.

Question: 1) What do you think? Explain.

7. Elizabeth is 15 years old, in 3^rd year high school and in full adolescent blossoming. Aside from the teenager’s angst, peer pressure has a lot of influence on her behaviour. She wants so much to fit in, to be accepted, to belong to a barkada. She does not want to be left without a group. Hence, she dresses in the same way as her friends dress. She watches what her friends watch. She likes listening to the same music that her friends listen to and goes to the same parties where her friends go to, afraid of missing out and being left out.

In one party, her friends were taking drugs and drinking alcohol. Elizabeth knew that it is bad to do these but she is afraid that if she does not do what her friends do, she will be asked to leave the barkada. She took drugs and drank alcohol too, like her friends.

Question: 1) Is Elizabeth fully responsible for her actions? Explain.

8. Lawrence is an OFW languishing in jail in the Middle East awaiting his execution. He incurred death penalty for having stabbed his Arab employer who tried to sexually abuse him. He pleaded not guilty saying that there was no other way to stop his Arab employer who was bigger and stronger than him from doing what he intended to do except by stabbing him to death. The Arab court however found him guilty of homicide and sentenced him to death.

Questions: 1) Make a moral evaluation of Lawrence’s act.

                    2) Was he morally responsible or not for what he has done? Explain.

9. Ebony has been failing her quizzes in Religion. Her CS (class standing) just prior to the Term Exam is 70. She knows that she should not only pass the term exam in order to pass the first term: she needs to get a high score in the term exam. Fortunately, for the term exam, her best friend Ivory, a consistent awardee in school, was seated just beside her in the classroom. Ivory has always been there for her and has never said no to any request Ebony asked of her. And so, shortly before the term exam in Religion, Ebony asked Ivory not to cover her test paper so she could take a look at her answers. In her desire to help her best friend, Ivory did as Ebony requested and both of them scored high in the term exam. Ebony passed the term and resolved to study harder for the second term.

Questions: 1) Give a moral evaluation of Ivory’s action.

                   2) If you were Ivory, would you do the same? Explain.

10. In 2011, there was an uprising against President Assad of Syria who has been in power since 2000. He succeeded his father who led Syria for 30 years prior to his death.

The domestic and international community initially saw him as a reformer, but when he ordered a mass crackdown and military operations on pro rebel protesters during the Arab Spring movement of 2011, calls for his resignation increased, eventually leading to open rebellion and outright civil war.

The international community has been monitoring the situation in Syria with great concern. The rebels have since gained strength and have managed to take hold of some major cities, closing in to the capital Damascus. The Syrian government however has also managed to neutralize the rebel grounds, keeping them away from the capital city.

Last August 21, more than 2000 people, including women and children, died in East Damascus. It was discovered, after careful examination of the bodies of the dead, that chemical weapons were used against the rebels. There was uproar in the international community. France and the US are planning to strike the government forces of Syria to stop the mass killing. Other countries refused to join the two countries.

Questions: 1. Is it moral to use chemical weapons to stop the Syrian rebels? Explain.

                   2. If you were the president of the Philippines, would you side with the US and France? Why?