Standing Upright Here: Global Ethics for the 21st Century

I had been a volunteer teacher for years 7-8 in the New Zealand public school system of ‘Bible in School’, but there was a move, as our country became more secular and multicultural, to eliminate Christian teaching from our schools. I had concentrated on the wisdom literature and parables of the Bible and applied it to the everyday life of my students - basically, situation ethics with the Christian Bible, as well as reason as the authority. On going back to university for more academic qualifications in this field, I discovered that there was no likelihood of any ethical system based on the teachings of any particular religion being universally accepted, so I concentrated on finding ethical principles that were acceptable to the main religions and used them as the basis for consistent ethical reasoning in a multi-cultural society. My book examines these ethical principles and applies them to everyday situations. It starts with a short biography - an examination of my own background and my qualifications for writing such a book.