Ethics & Moral Issues gathers Christian Standard articles that apply biblical truth to today’s hardest moral questions and cultural debates. Here you’ll find thoughtful, Scripture-shaped guidance on topics like sanctity of life, sexuality and gender, marriage and family ethics, religious liberty, justice and human dignity, bioethics, and the moral dimensions of public life. These articles aim to help Christians form convictions, speak with clarity and compassion, and live faithfully in a complex world.
September 9, 2025
American Christians may have to learn to live in an environment where their religious liberty is protected while their historic beliefs on sexuality and marriage are unpopular outside the church.
September 1, 2024
Gender dysphoria is real. To treat them with anything less than compassion is not Christian. What is up for debate is the efficacy of the current practices in transgender healthcare for youth. Recently, England released a scathing review that challenges the established gender affirming care model.
June 24, 2024
Hilary Cass is the leading pediatrician in England’s National Health Services. She recently completed what The Economist has deemed the most significant review “ever undertaken in the field of transgender health.”
January 1, 2024
By Rubel Shelly Stated in the most basic terms, sex is an objective category defined by empirically discernible and set-at-birth qualities, whereas gender is a subjective self-perception and option for the presentation of oneself to others. The former is biological, while the latter is psychological. The former states who a person is in terms of bodily taxonomy, and the latter offers what a person may feel about one’s placement in the world’s social structures. A biological male with a high-pitched voice, shorter-than-average height, and/or wearing a pink shirt is still male. A biological female whose voice has a lower pitch
November 1, 2023
By Tyler McKenzie Did you know that in the past century at least three countries outlawed the public recitation of Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)? • Before the end of British rule over India, the Magnificat was prohibited from being sung in churches. • In the 1980s, the Guatemalan government banned it because they believed Mary’s words provoked revolutionary zeal. • And the military dictatorship that ruled in Argentina from 1976 to 1983 also banned the Magnificat. During that time, those in command “disappeared” 30,000 people. Mothers created signs emblazoned with the names of their abducted children and Mary’s song and took
May 8, 2023
A group is protesting Milligan University’s avowed biblical position on human sexuality by posting on a billboard near campus last month that “Trans is Holy,” “Drag is Holy,” “Queer is Holy,” and “You are Holy." . . .
November 1, 2022
By Tina Wilson, Guest Columnist The landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision from 1973 was overturned in June. For many, this was an answer to decades of prayer. For some, this was a repeal of freedom. For Christians, this should be a call to action. Proper response, though, demands proper understanding of what happened. Prior to 1973, abortion was a felony in most states, except in a few that had relaxed abortion restrictions in the years shortly preceding the ruling. “Jane Roe”—a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey—challenged Texas state law on abortion. To expedite the case’s hearing in the Supreme
June 25, 2022
With the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, the church has a lot to consider. How will we love people with whom we disagree? How can we say we love babies and we love women? How can we share Jesus? How can we best serve our communities?
February 1, 2021
After living a life as a criminal and prisoner, David Green has experienced—and now makes known a message of—redemption and reconciliation. In the early morning hours of Easter 1978, just after midnight, a group of adolescent boys entered a 24-hour convenience store in New Orleans’ notorious Ninth Ward, intending to steal alcohol. During the attempted robbery, shots were fired and the clerk on duty behind the counter was mortally wounded. All of the boys managed to flee the scene except one, a 15-year-old known to his cohorts as “Red.” As he tried to escape, a paying customer tripped him and
January 2, 2020
“I was sick and you looked after me.” _ _ _ By Nate Graybill “I’m one of ‘those people.’ Hypocrite. Liar. Addict.” This admission was a moment of rigorous honesty that changed my life. It came after hours of bingeing on my drug of choice. More afraid of where my habit was leading me than of being exposed, I woke up my wife and said, “Honey, I need to tell you something. I’m addicted to porn. I need help.” I finally accepted the fact that I was not powerful enough to control my sin. Broken and afraid of losing my
October 30, 2019
Compiled by Jim Nieman and Chris Moon Oakwood Christian Church in Enid, Okla., has started a support program for young women in unplanned pregnancies. OCC’s local Embrace Grace program was started by Tangee Lee to help young, unwed mothers stay involved in church life, according to the Enid News & Eagle. (The national program was founded in 2012.) “We want to break that stigma that’s been built up in society that the church is judgmental and you have to be perfect to be in church,” Lee told the newspaper. Alan Seibel, associate pastor at OCC, said the program can help
April 25, 2019
How the Church Must Respond to Sexual Identity Issues in Both Truth and Grace By Caleb Kaltenbach Not long ago, I sat in an apartment crying with two African-American lesbians. They were married and were attending a church in Houston that I was working with. After being with the church awhile, they concluded God designed sexual intimacy for marriage between a man and woman. They asked the church staff about next steps, but the ministers were as confused as the ladies. Now I was in their living room processing their situation. They had been together for 10 years and married
April 25, 2019
5 Ways to Help Emerging Adults Find Good Love and Good Lovin’ By Haydn Shaw Connie wrung her hands as she confessed that her 24-year-old daughter had started having sex with her boyfriend. “My husband and I raised her in the church. Until recently she believed that sex outside of marriage is wrong,” Connie told me. “But she informed me that as soon as she can get a better job, she’s moving in with her boyfriend. She says they love each other and plan to get married in a few years.” Why are my kids putting off marriage but not
January 17, 2019
It has been 100 years since ratification of the 18th Amendment prohibiting “intoxicating liquors in America. (Of course, Prohibition was countermanded by the 21st Amendment less than 15 years later.) But neither the passage of laws nor the passage of time has ended the debate over liquor. In the January 2019 issue of Christian Standard we published two essays responding to this question: “Is alcohol really a stumbling block?” Ken Idleman answered “Yes,” while Zach Spiering answered with a question of his own: “What if abstinence is the stumbling block?” (Check out the issue to read their “In the Arena” essays
January 3, 2019
Why a Quietistic Approach Is Biblically Insufficient By Andrew Kaake Abortion is the intentional killing of a human being before birth, usually in extremely violent fashion. It is a sin that harms mothers, fathers, and children. This month marks 46 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy in all 50 states. Though there is a clear biblical and philosophical basis for opposing abortion, most Christians (at best) passively fight abortion through voting, and many (at worst) ignore the testimony of God’s biblical and natural revelation that abortion
January 3, 2019
In the Arena In the arena of ideas and opinions, we offer a place for Christ-centered and Christ-honoring debate on nonessential issues. This month, Ken Idleman and Zach Spiering give us two opinions on a common hot-button issue among Christians: public drinking. Tell us what you think on this issue by leaving a comment below. (Also . . . tell us what other debatable issues we should discuss “In the Arena.”) _ _ _ By Zach Spiering During the time I taught at a Restoration Movement Bible college, I enjoyed the opportunities to work with wonderful, godly men and women
January 3, 2019
In the Arena In the arena of ideas and opinions, we offer a place for Christ-centered and Christ-honoring debate on nonessential issues. This month, Ken Idleman and Zach Spiering give us two opinions on a common hot-button issue among Christians: public drinking. Tell us what you think on this issue by leaving a comment below. (Also . . . tell us what other debatable issues we should discuss “In the Arena.”) _ _ _ By Ken Idleman As I address this question, it is day four of the weeklong FBI investigation into the allegations of sexual assault leveled by Christine Blasey Ford against
October 13, 2017
By TR Robertson Walk through the doors of First Christian Church in Belle, Missouri, on a Sunday morning and it seems, at first glance, like a typical rural church. There are farmers and blue-collar workers in semicasual dress, older women settling in to their usual seats, and children burning off energy before Sunday school starts. And then there”s the rest of the congregation. “I”ve been in church my whole life,” says FCC deacon Kevin Brown, “but I”ve never been in a church that had this many tattoos, this many bikes outside, this many leather jackets. We”ve welcomed people who have
April 14, 2017
By Jennifer Johnson Laura Setters“s brother has been an addict since he was 12 years old. When he finally celebrated a year of sobriety, she decided to mark the achievement””and ended up creating a new ministry. “By the time Michael got sober in 2014, our family had been dealing with his addiction for 26 years,” Setters says. “My mom, Beth, passed away the year before, and she had been the only one who never lost hope in him. I wanted to do something to honor her life as well as Michael”s one-year sobriety anniversary, so I donated to a recovery
March 25, 2017
By Tim Harlow In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, many women in the U.S. are feeling devalued. What should be the church”s response? Although many issues were debated during the 2016 U.S. presidential election, gender issues didn”t seem to be at the forefront. Most people seemed prepared for the possibility of a female president. It wasn”t a big deal. Even those who were dead set against Hillary Clinton for president seldom said it was because she”s a woman. And while many people were offended by Donald Trump”s comments and apparent attitudes toward women, they tended to overlook this
March 27, 2026
Rick Cherok
March 27, 2026
David Empson
March 27, 2026
David Faust