Thinking Aloud: Faith and ethics in healthcare

On Friday 12th Feb, 7.30-9.30pm at the Vineyard Centre. Click below to let us know you are coming, so we get enough snacks and seats!

Two GPs, James Gerrard and Sally Wallace, will be sharing some of their thinking about faith and ethics in healthcare at Thinking Aloud.

James will look at common principles of medical ethics and will point out some of the difficult conundrums it leads to in ordinary medical care - particularly with the idea of autonomy. He has recently written a paper on whether it is ethical for a GP to claim a conscientious objection when asked to refer for abortion.

Sally is looks at the ethics of the different methods of contraception, not only from a Christian point of view, but also from the viewpoint of the different religious and ethnic groups she encounters as a GP in Leeds.

It promises to be a really interesting evening, with lots of interaction and discussion.

We've had lots of people volunteering topics, so this is likely to become a mini-series, with a couple more meetings in the pipeline in coming months - two about alternative therapy, and one on death, for example. Watch out for the next ones, and there is still room for more people to volunteer a topic.

As always with Thinking Aloud, this is less formal and shorter than a lecture format, and the aim is to stimulate each other to get on with that bit of thinking we really needed to do anyway. I know most of you have not been regulars at Thinking Aloud, but you will be very welcome. Snacks and refreshments provided.

I hope you can make it tomorrow, Friday 12th February, 7.30-9.30pm at the Vineyard Centre in Sheepscar Court.

Guests and friends are very welcome.

Thinking Aloud is an opportunity to explore topics of contemporary discussion and research with a Christian faith perspective. We aim to support one another in tackling the challenges to faith in the media, education, business, caring professions and academia.

questionmarks

We meet on the sofas at the Vineyard Centre in Sheepscar, with hot drinks and light snacks as "brain food". The current series is timed to coincide with the Friday Night Project youth club downstairs for the convenience of people with teenage children.

Anyone is welcome, whether you have a Christian faith or not, and including students, young people studying at school and their parents
Up to three people offer in advance to prepare a brief presentation on a topic they have been thinking about, discussing with friends, reading about and/or researching. Often the topics are related to each other in a theme.
- Typical topics look at the various perspectives of faith, theology, scripture and apologetics with science, philosophy, ethics, social sciences, the educational curriculum and so on.
- Most individuals have found that the stimulus of preparing for a discussion is helpful in consolidating and moving forward their thinking
Each presenter gets a maximum of 20 mins or 5 slides on one topic. It doesn't have to be the last word on a subject - thinking in progress and outstanding questions are fine.
- It is OK to re-examine even the core foundations of faith, or Christian practice (hence the pun on "Thinking Allowed"). See the talk on Honest Questions.
- We value input from ordinary people in the community, practitioners and academics, but ask for jargon and acronymns to be busted wherever possible. We don't tend to invite external specialist speakers (other groups in Leeds like WYSOCS and cafe scientifique do that very well)
During or following these introductory presentations, a facilitated discussion allows the group to explore the topic further. This is the other half of the "Thinking Aloud" pun.
- We explore different perspectives to understand whether and how they can be reconciled. It is a respectful discussion, not an aggressive debate between opposing viewpoints.
- We encourage self-disclosure and open self-reflection on the thinking process - however incomplete.
We invite the Holy Spirit to illuminate and guide our thinking and discussion, believing that with his help we get a clearer picture of reality.

In previous sessions (and we can revisit these topics if there is demand) we shared and reviewed some of our formative spiritual experiences, thought about how and why God gets personally involved with us humans, and checked to make sure it is not just a "trick of the mind" as Derren Brown would have it. We have frequently looked at the interplay between science and faith - take a look at some past material on Science and Faith. In May 09 we looked at prayer for healing - is it real? what is best practice in praying for healing?

If you'd like to come to the next one (no obligation to come to any more!), please fill in the form below and press Send so we get some idea of whether we'll need extra chairs to supplement the sofas!

Forthcoming Events

Thinking Aloud

More topics and dilemmas through through by health professionals in our midst

7:30pm Friday 26 March, The Vineyard Centre

Thinking Aloud

Response

I'd like to come to Thinking Aloud

Name:

Email Address:

Comments and topics you'd like to offer to talk or hear about:

David Wallace, 09/02/2010