Link Highlights | July 2019
Wednesday, 7 August 2019
| Ethos editor
Link highlights – July 2019
Below is a selection of links to online news and opinion pieces from July 2019. To keep up-to-date with our posts, ‘like’ us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.
The articles below are selected by the editor, Armen Gakavian, at his discretion. Neither the editor nor Ethos necessarily endorse the views expressed in these articles.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Kaley Payne writes: Catholic bishops have told Catholics around the country that walking alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can help deepen their faith as they learn from the spirituality of our First Nations peoples.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/we-must-recognise-the-gift-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people-to-the-church-catholics/
Andrew Hamilton writes: The NAIDOC theme returns to the other side of the relationship between First and later Australians — that of unity within a single nation — and invites cooperation in a project that matters to all Australians. At stake is not simply the fulfilment of Indigenous hopes but shared pride in an Australian identity.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/working-for-a-shared-australian-identity
Thalia Anthony writes: Queensland's payment to settle a stolen wages class action marks the first recognition that these claims have legal as well as moral and political merit.
https://theconversation.com/the-new-mabo-190-million-stolen-wages-settlement-is-unprecedented-but-still-limited-120162
Marcia Langton writes: The moral legitimacy of Australia as a modern state will remain at issue as long as an honourable place for Indigenous Australians in the formal Constitution of the nation remains unresolved.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/marcia-langton-australia-moral-legitimacy-and-indigenous-sovere/11287908
Alice Moldovan and Siobhan Hegarty write: Alison Wylie spent her childhood summers at archaeological excavation sites. Today, she's redefining the field to include Indigenous perspectives.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-06/philosophy-archaeology-benefit-first-nations-indigenous/11249516
Michelle Grattan speaks with University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini about the government's plans to put forward a referendum to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.
https://theconversation.com/video-michelle-grattan-on-the-governments-plans-for-indigenous-recognition-120231
Susie Agoston writes: A documentary filmmaker reflects on the mutually beneficial experience of taking a mini-bus full of Sydney teenagers to meet Indigenous Elders in north-west NSW, a trip that “made everything real.”
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/netball-team-roadtripped-brewarrina-indigenous-elders-welcomed/11288994
Megan Davis writes: Despite Australia’s history, the participants in the dialogue at the National Constitutional Convention at Uluru acknowledged that while the law can oppress, the law can also redeem. The Voice to Parliament is about using the highest Australian law to empower our people so they can take their rightful place in our nation.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/megan-davis-voice-to-parliament-our-plea-to-be-heard/11300474
Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens ask: two years since the Statement from the Heart was presented to the nation, what are the chances now of some serious reckoning with the truth of Australia’s past?
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/voice,-treaty,-truth:-what-would-it-mean-to-truly-listen-to-the/11293294
Mark Bowling writes: A Catholic human rights advocate has welcomed a historic agreement to pay lost wages to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as an act of healing.
http://catholicleader.com.au/news/act-of-healing-injustice-reparation-for-10000-indigenous-workers-who-had-wages-stolen
Gabrielle Appleby writes: Two former high court justices and constitutional experts have thrown their support behind the importance of a First Nations Voice to parliament.
https://theconversation.com/a-worthwhile-project-why-two-chief-justices-support-the-voice-to-parliament-and-why-that-matters-120971
Abortion
Ben McEachen writes: A pro-life group is “disappointed” its outdoor advertising has been taken down by the billboard company that put it up, following public complaints about it being “offensive”.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/pro-life-billboard-pulled-down-for-being-offensive/
Michael McGowan writes: An abortion bill with cross-party support was due to be introduced on Tuesday, but Coalition conservatives complain it has been rushed.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/30/nsw-abortion-decriminalisation-delayed-after-conservatives-resist
Alexandra Smith writes: New South Wales Finance Minister Damien Tudehope says the community “will not stand” for a bill to decriminalise abortion, warning it would deliver an “unjust and illiberal” law.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/unjust-and-illiberal-nsw-finance-minister-attacks-abortion-bill-20190731-p52cld.html
Paul O’Rourke writes: Even a cursory look at the Bible confirms that children are considered a blessing. And Jesus was reaffirming the value of life and children from conception by undergoing the usual gestational process.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/what-the-bible-says-about-abortion/
Xavier Symons writes: Politicians in the New South Wales State Parliament are about to commence debate on a controversial bill that would decriminalise abortion and provide a legislative framework for terminations throughout pregnancy.
https://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/new-south-wales-debates-the-decriminalisation-of-abortion/13162
Samantha Maiden writes: Former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has raised concerns about a loophole that requires the state to issue birth and death certificates for late-term abortions as “medically and ethically confusing”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2019/08/05/kristina-keneally-abortion-bill/
Aesthetics
Andrew Errington writes: In his novels, Tim Winton puts forward a proposal about the way forward for Australia, which centres on a love of place ― even such a difficult place as Australia ― won through struggle and love and achievement.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/tim-winton,-st.-augustine-and-the-promise-of-place-for-australia/11344038
Apocalypse
One thing is certain — the world as we know it will one day end. But exactly when and how is a lot more ambiguous. James Carleton talks to Sarah Bachelard and Greg Clarke about doomsday.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/facing-doomsday/11299428
Art and Culture
Ben McEachen writes: Nick Cave is one of Australia’s leading artistic exports and the singer/writer/thinker has recently taken to answering any question his fans put to him.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/nick-cave-answers-your-questions-about-god/
Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit explore what beauty is – is it just ‘high art’ or is it broader than that? What can nature teach us about beauty? And is there a commonality of the experience of beauty that might be objective truth?
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/podcasts/ep-21-what-good-is-beauty-in-an-ugly-world
Asylum seekers, refugees and migration
Mathew Schmalz writes: Trump administration’s immigration policies are deeper questions about what it means to welcome the stranger. So, what does the Bible actually say?
https://theconversation.com/the-bible-says-to-welcome-refugees-120477
Bioethics
Charles Smith writes: If the bill is passed, the option of 'buying a womb' to address perceived reproductive injustices will be added to existing family formation options for men, that already allow them to adopt and foster.
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20412
Crime and violence
Andrew Hamilton and Madison Rosaia write: When devising policies for people on the margins, Australian governments seem always to settle on punitive measures. Although imprisonment has a place in penal policy, the focus should be on the persons who perpetrate crime and on those who are damaged by it. Penal policy is ultimately about ensuring just relationships.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/combating-crime-by-restoring-relationships
Death and Dying
In his latest column for The Age, Barney Zwartz reflects on death, grief, mortality, meaning, and the real comfort faith can bring.
https://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/faith-mortality-and-the-blessing-of-a-good-death-20190720-p5292r.html
Economics, finance and inequality
Luigino Bruni writes: The great social innovation of modern capitalism is to attempt to extract further profits by claiming it can repair the damage it has done in the very act of making profits.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/creative-destruction/11267002
Marcia Pally writes: Forgiveness of financial debt has been part of the long history of the Lord’s Prayer, not surprisingly, given Jesus’s many teachings to give both spiritual and material aid to the needy.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/forgive-our-debts-the-economics-of-the-lords-prayer/11314116
The income gap between rich and poor is a bigger drag on the wellbeing of the Australian community than previously estimated, a broad measure of national welfare shows. Matt Wade writes.
http://cathnews.com/cathnews/35546-gap-between-rich-and-poor-a-247-billion-drag-on-wellbeing
Bruce Baker and Tom Parks ask: What might companies learn from the Old Testament practice of gleaning?
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/july-august/gleaning-business-csr-bible.html
Environment and Nature
Joëlle Gergis writes: The results coming out of the climate science community at the moment are, even for experts, similarly alarming.
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2019/august/1566136800/jo-lle-gergis/terrible-truth-climate-change
Emma Frances Bloomfield's new book, Communication Strategies for Engaging Climate Skeptics: Religion and the Environment, considers Christians and the variety of ways they incorporate the environment into their faith.
https://theconversation.com/understanding-christians-climate-views-can-lead-to-better-conversations-about-the-environment-115693
Everyday living
Cheryl McGrath writes: We’re urging one another to ask “R U OK?” and open up to one another. At the same time, we’re thumbing our nose at people whose truth is “too negative” for us to care about. Anybody else see a double standard?
https://twentysixletters.org/why-im-not-cutting-negative-people-out-of-my-life/
Fashion
Yvette Selim writes: The prospect of China using forced labour to supply foreign companies highlights the importance of modern slavery laws.
https://theconversation.com/four-corners-forced-labour-expose-shows-why-you-might-be-wearing-slave-made-clothes-115462
Food
Simon Carey Holt writes: Mum never liked cooking. For her it was a means to other things. Cooking was service, a humble and routine act of service. But in that service there is something of the essence of ministry and the spirituality that shapes it.
https://simoncareyholt.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/men-in-the-kitchen-food-gender-church-culture/
History
Simon Kennedy writes: The history that we write, argues former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, should not simply “mirror … our own preferences and assumptions”. History should speak to us and change us through its very strangeness.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/rowan-williams-and-the-strangeness-of-history-and-identity/11343964
Homelessness and housing
James Petty and Alison Young write: Last week seven people were arrested for being alleged members of a begging 'syndicate'. Stories like this entrench public perceptions of the homeless as criminal.
https://theconversation.com/begging-professionally-doesnt-make-their-poverty-and-vulnerability-any-less-legitimate-120010
Eliza Berlage writes: Housing Minister Luke Howarth came under fire for saying he wanted to put a 'positive spin' on homelessness, but worse than his comments is the misinformation. While his claim that 'half a per cent of the population don't have a permanent roof over their head' is correct, that still means one in 200 Australians is experiencing homelessness.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/facts-belie-positive-spin-on-homelessness
Law, human rights and free speech
Rivka Witenberg writes: How can we guard against harmful or hateful speech when freedom of speech is highly cherished in democratic societies?
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20385
Peter Kurti writes: Free speech is being closed down in the name of preventing ‘hate speech’; bonds of trust in commercial life are broken, and religion is now so divisive that a new law is needed to protect religious freedom.
https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/whats-happening-to-our-live-and-let-live-culture/
Paul Karp writes: The case of Michaela Banerji, who posted anonymous social media posts criticising the government’s immigration policy, has implications for 2 million federal, state and local workers.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/aug/07/high-court-rules-public-servants-can-be-sacked-for-political-social-media-posts
Law, human rights and free speech – Israel Folau
Michelle Grattan talks with expert for the Turnbull-era Religious Freedom Review, Father Frank Brennan, about the way forward on the "wicked problem" of ensuring religious freedoms in Australia.
https://theconversation.com/politics-with-michelle-grattan-father-frank-brennan-on-israel-folau-and-religious-freedom-119821
Chelsea Candy writes: I can't help but wonder about the priorities of the Christians supporting Israel Folau's fundraiser. As a former community lawyer, I can think of many ways $2 million might be spent to help those facing a battle with the law.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/folau-funds-could-have-served-a-greater-good
Simon Longstaff asks: Is the position adopted by Christians like Israel Folau consistent with the teachings and example of Christianity’s founder, Jesus of Nazareth?
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/simon-longstaff-do-those-who-condemn-homosexual-persons-betray/11272740
Greg Callaghan writes: Should Rugby Australia have rethought its policies on social media posts? No, not unless it wanted to trash the spirit of inclusiveness that has become the hallmark of Australian sport over the past decade or so.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-unholy-folau-quagmire-and-the-living-hell-for-gay-people-20190705-p524ih.html
Greg Sheridan writes: Israel Folau got both his scripture and his theology slightly wrong. But he is manifestly a good person. He was trying to help people, not hurt them. And the disproportion of his punishment to his offence is absolutely insane.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/israel-folau-errors-of-judgment/news-story/95bdb6458c3cf894c1748224c5955fc9
Christian Concern UK writes: In a landmark judgment, the UK Court of Appeal has upheld the rights of British Christians to freely express their faith by handing victory to former student social worker Felix Ngole.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/englands-version-of-israel-folau-wins-his-case/
Neil James Foster writes: An important decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal has ruled that a social work student, Felix Ngole, should not have been dismissed from his course on the basis of comments he made on social media sharing the Bible’s view on homosexuality.
https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog/2019/07/04/social-work-student-wins-appeal-against-dismissal-for-views-on-sexuality/
Sarah Martin writes: Tim Costello has called on his fellow Christians to “calm down” about their alleged persecution, amid a brewing political storm over how the government should act to protect against religious discrimination.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/09/tim-costello-christians-need-to-calm-down-and-suck-it-up-over-alleged-persecution
Peter Lewis writes: The public appears to display a degree of nuance sorely lacking in the shoutiness of the current debate.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2019/jul/09/as-the-outrage-around-israel-folau-peaks-lets-turn-the-volume-down-a-notch
Patrick Emerton writes: The idea of religious freedom is important for liberalism. But it has a history, a context in which it was seen to make sense. Reflecting on its purpose may help us appreciate some dimensions of our social and political problems.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/israel-folau,-religious-freedom-and-the-limits-of-toleration/11272700
The Morrison government intends to introduce major changes to laws around religious freedom by the end of this month. It's a move that's being welcomed by some religious communities, but not all. Hosted by ABC's Leigh Sales.
https://www.abc.net.au/7.30/religious-freedom-law-changes-welcomed-by-most/11297496
Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens speak with Patrick Emerton about the Israel Folau affar and ask: what, exactly, is at play here?
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-israel-folau/11274950
Elizabeth Farrelly writes: We have the bizarre, unconscionable spectacle of a 21st century, new-world culture preparing statutes to defend talk of eternal damnation. The spine-chilling medievalism of all this - the unmistakable Handmaid’s Tale-ism of it all - would be risible were it not also terrifying.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/bizarre-unconscionable-we-re-about-to-legitimise-folau-s-madness-20190711-p526cg.html
Akos Balogh responds to Elizabeth Farrelly: Australian Christians might be shocked to hear that some (many?) of our secular elite believe we want to turn Australia into Gilead down under, but it shouldn’t surprise us.
http://akosbalogh.com/2019/07/14/does-religious-freedom-lead-to-the-handmaids-tale/
Tim Costello writes: In this social climate we need to be less focused on fear of what we might lose - or what we might be challenged about - and be more open to what is important to hold onto. There needs to be less focus on taking offence and enforcing rights - and more focus on respect.
https://10daily.com.au/views/a190715hzmek/tim-costello-this-is-why-i-said-christians-need-to-relax-20190715
Katrna Grace Kelly writes: Steenhof, trying to draw parallels with the unlawful termination case of Israel Folau, pointed to a case in Britain. To the extent that any court case in another country is relevant to any court case in ours, there is a better case to consider.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/folau-is-doing-christianity-no-favours/news-story/58dca18c1acf33f3ee4c535f91b8539e
Kate McClymont writes: Scott Morrison is going to hell. So is Hillsong Pastor Brian Houston and most of the donors who gave money to former Wallaby star Israel Folau’s legal defence fund organised by the Australian Christian Lobby, according to the teachings of Folau’s church.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/why-the-pm-and-most-christians-are-going-to-hell-20190719-p528xx.html
Stephen McAlpine writes: “Phew!! Many an evangelical just let out a huge sigh of relief following yesterday’s definitive exposé of just how right-of-centre Israel Folau’s church group is. Izzy’s just been outed as totally non-kosher in the orthodox Christian world, so we can all get on with ignoring him.”
https://stephenmcalpine.com/what-a-relief-israels-not-kosher-after-all/
Third of 3 articles on Israel Folau and freedom of speech:
Augusto Zimmermann writes: Any reform should not use the language of discrimination but actually put Australia in line with its international human rights obligations to protect religious freedom.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20407
Bruce Wearne writes: Those advising Folau see this as a ‘poster campaign’ for ‘freedom of religion’. I think this seriously mishandles both Folau’s sacking and the freedom of religion issue that arises because of the amendment to the Marriage Act in 2017.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/12885-essay-israel-folau-codes-of-conduct-and-australia-s-marriage-amendment-act
Moon landing 50th anniversary
On this special moon landing edition of Life & Faith, Simon Smart mulls over some existential questions with philosopher Richard Shumack, and Andrew Smith, author of Moondust: In Search of the Men who Fell to Earth.
https://www.publicchristianity.org/one-giant-leap/
Laurel Moffatt writes about the Apollo 11 astronauts' return to earth, and what the experience of going to the moon and coming back reveals about human nature.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/07/by-the-light-of-the-moon/
Persecution
Tim Costello writes: Our secular society needs biblical answers to modern concerns of fear, anxiety, and the nihilism of a life without faith. So when people of faith sound like they are fearful, the strength of the witness is diminished.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/folau-let-perfect-love-cast-out-our-fear/
Stephen McAlpine writes: When those in Christian ministry chide the fear of those working in the public setting, it just comes across bad. If you've got no skin in the game, then shouting from the bleachers is not all that helpful.
https://stephenmcalpine.com/which-tim-costello-will-we-get-this-week/
Place
Andrew Errington writes: In his novels, Tim Winton puts forward a proposal about the way forward for Australia, which centres on a love of place ― even such a difficult place as Australia ― won through struggle and love and achievement.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/tim-winton,-st.-augustine-and-the-promise-of-place-for-australia/11344038
Politics, society and ideology
Luigino Bruni writes: The great social innovation of modern capitalism is to attempt to extract further profits by claiming it can repair the damage it has done in the very act of making profits.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/creative-destruction/11267002
Dominic Erdozain writes: The real Enlightenment was as religious as anything that came before it: a time of both spiritual awakening and criticism. Indeed, faith and doubt were often two sides of the same coin.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/recovering-the-religious-character-of-the-enlightenment/11278006
Deirdre McCloskey writes: The system of virtues developed for two millennia in the West was widely abandoned by the end of the 18th century. It was not dropped because it was found on careful consideration to be mistaken. It was merely set aside with a distracted casualness.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/primary-colours-how-humanity-forgot-the-seven-principal-virtues/11272726
Dani Rodrik writes: If authoritarian populism is rooted in economics, then the appropriate remedy is a populism of another kind — targeting economic injustice and inclusion — but pluralist in its politics and not necessarily damaging to democracy.
https://www.socialeurope.eu/whats-driving-populism
Simon Kennedy writes: The history that we write, argues former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, should not simply “mirror … our own preferences and assumptions”. History should speak to us and change us through its very strangeness.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/rowan-williams-and-the-strangeness-of-history-and-identity/11343964
Scott Buchanan writes: The morally decrepit nature of a regime doesn’t mean that it is guilty of every accusation levelled against it. And in this case, I am convinced that primary responsibility lies, not with Iran, but with the Trump Administration and its retinue of media supporters.
https://scottlbuchanan.wordpress.com/2019/07/24/stumbling-towards-war-tracing-responsibility-for-iran-us-tensions/
Phillip Blond writes: The future is there to be gained. It is the politics of the middle, the life of the civic, and the empowerment of the ordinary.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/shattered-society/
Prayer
Marcia Pally writes: Forgiveness of financial debt has been part of the long history of the Lord’s Prayer, not surprisingly, given Jesus’s many teachings to give both spiritual and material aid to the needy.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/forgive-our-debts-the-economics-of-the-lords-prayer/11314116
Religion in Politics - Scott Morrison
Kylie Beach writes: Prime Minister Scott Morrison prayed for Australia at the opening night of the Hillsong Conference tonight, telling the largest annual Christian gathering in the country that he believed religious freedom would be secured for Christians in the future but what Australia really needed was “more love”.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/scott-morrison-prays-for-australia-at-hillsong-conference/
Kylie Beach writes: Last Tuesday, the nation’s most famous Pentecostal, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, urged Australians to treat others with love. The following morning, just a short distance away, another Pentecostal pastor stood, trembling and shackled by mechanical handcuffs, and made a similar plea.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/the-pm-is-a-good-pentecostal-but-is-he-a-good-samaritan/
Religion in Society
Ben McEachen writes: Nick Cave is one of Australia’s leading artistic exports and the singer/writer/thinker has recently taken to answering any question his fans put to him.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/nick-cave-answers-your-questions-about-god/
Gordon Preece writes: Nick Cave, the great Australian gothic rock artist, writes songs that are God-bothering and bothered. But his line ‘I don’t believe in an interventionist God’ - along with REM’s ‘Losing my Religion’ - has been misunderstood by Christians and atheists alike.
www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/in-depth-articles/god-the-intimate-interventionist
Garry Linnell writes: 'Blindly donating to an institution that provides little transparency on how it spends the dough? Problem is, I’ve seen where some of it goes.'
https://thenewdaily.com.au/religion/2019/07/10/garry-linnell-collection-plate-sin/
Dominic Erdozain writes: The real Enlightenment was as religious as anything that came before it: a time of both spiritual awakening and criticism. Indeed, faith and doubt were often two sides of the same coin.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/recovering-the-religious-character-of-the-enlightenment/11278006
Deirdre McCloskey writes: The system of virtues developed for two millennia in the West was widely abandoned by the end of the 18th century. It was not dropped because it was found on careful consideration to be mistaken. It was merely set aside with a distracted casualness.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/primary-colours-how-humanity-forgot-the-seven-principal-virtues/11272726
Natasha Moore talks with Michael Ramsden, International Director of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, about how we respond to injustice: as nations, groups, and individuals.
https://www.publicchristianity.org/are-we-victims/
Mark Christensen writes: Rejecting the religious pride by which some think they’re morally superior, the Canadian-born American also observes there is 'nothing worse than people who are so spiritualised they don’t love the world’.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20409
Religious Freedom
Sarah Martin writes: Tim Costello has called on his fellow Christians to “calm down” about their alleged persecution, amid a brewing political storm over how the government should act to protect against religious discrimination.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/09/tim-costello-christians-need-to-calm-down-and-suck-it-up-over-alleged-persecution
Tony Walker writes: Why do we need to put ourselves to the trouble of the significant distraction of a religious discrimination debate since freedom of religion is protected explicitly by section 116 of the constitution in contrast to no explicit protection for free speech?
https://www.smh.com.au/national/there-s-a-better-way-to-protect-religious-speech-and-other-freedoms-20190712-p526oi.html
Patrick Parkinson explains what is currently happening in terms of new legislation on religious freedom, and what will need to happen further into this term of Government.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/the-governments-plans-for-freedom-of-religion-legislation/
Christian ministers have been given a legal briefing on the planned overhaul of religious freedom that says it will not address the “precarious” state of freedom of speech on matters of faith and conscience.
http://cathnews.com/cathnews/35492-protection-of-free-speech-in-a-precarious-state
Jeff Sparrow writes: The conservative base wants religious protection for Christians, but has a long history of vilifying Muslims, who, presumably, could also claim protection from any new law. One struggles to imagine a law that might enable a footballer's right to send homophobic tweets, while enabling courts, parliaments and schools to ban burqas.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/religious-freedom-feint-has-liberals-in-knots
Augusto Zimmermann writes: Any reform should not use the language of discrimination but actually put Australia in line with its international human rights obligations to protect religious freedom.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20407
Mark Fowler writes: The commonwealth parliament is about to embark on what could be the most significant raft of reforms affecting religious freedom this country has seen. Prosperity and security rely on our freedom to worship.
http://cathnews.com/cathnews/35625-prosperity-and-security-rely-on-our-freedom-to-worship
Tim Costello writes: Our secular society needs biblical answers to modern concerns of fear, anxiety, and the nihilism of a life without faith. So when people of faith sound like they are fearful, the strength of the witness is diminished.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/folau-let-perfect-love-cast-out-our-fear/
Stephen McAlpine writes: When those in Christian ministry chide the fear of those working in the public setting, it just comes across bad. If you've got no skin in the game, then shouting from the bleachers is not all that helpful.
https://stephenmcalpine.com/which-tim-costello-will-we-get-this-week/
Science
On this special moon landing edition of Life & Faith, Simon Smart mulls over some existential questions with philosopher Richard Shumack, and Andrew Smith, author of Moondust: In Search of the Men who Fell to Earth.
https://www.publicchristianity.org/one-giant-leap/
Laurel Moffatt writes about the Apollo 11 astronauts' return to earth, and what the experience of going to the moon and coming back reveals about human nature.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/07/by-the-light-of-the-moon/
Sexual abuse and #MeToo
Rosie Dawson investigates previously overlooked Old Testament stories that depict violence against women, and asks how Christians should read them today.
https://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2019/July-2019/SheToo-You-ll-never-read-these-Bible-stories-in-the-same-way-again
Sexuality
John Sandeman and Justin Koonin write: Perhaps there is room to respond with gentleness to this gay leader calling for us to consider about “the public expression of views that have the potential to cause harm”.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/hearing-from-the-lgbtq-community/
Christopher Brittain writes: It is imperative for Christians who find themselves in disagreement over issues like same-sex marriage to continue to strive to achieve better mutual understanding. This is about how to establish sufficient rhetorical and imaginative space to allow for peaceful relations and reconciliation.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/theological-disagreement-over-same-sex-marriage-reply-to-ephrai/11318348
Slavery
Yvette Selim writes: The prospect of China using forced labour to supply foreign companies highlights the importance of modern slavery laws.
https://theconversation.com/four-corners-forced-labour-expose-shows-why-you-might-be-wearing-slave-made-clothes-115462
Spirituality
Harriet Sherwood writes: Joshua Harris, author of bestselling Christian guide to relationships, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, has announced that his marriage is over and he has lost his faith.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/29/author-christian-relationship-guide-joshua-harris-says-marriage-over
Michael Frost writes: Maybe, we need to turn our attention back to our own church culture to ask the really difficult questions about how to disciple children and teenagers to develop a strong, robust faith with enough flex to cope with the complex moral world into which they will one day swim.
https://mikefrost.net/lets-not-condemn-the-victims-of-the-evangelical-bubble/
Stephen McAlpine writes: Joshua Harris' story sounds and feels like a homecoming for the prodigal. He will have many a story to share upon this parody of a homecoming. So make no mistake, this is a salvation story; a secular salvation story.
https://stephenmcalpine.com/josh-harris-new-creation-story/
John Sandeman writes: In walking away from Christianity, and passing up the option of settling for a progressive version, Harris will have both disappointed and pleased his former evangelical supporters.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/josh-harris-kisses-jesus-goodbye/
Rosie Clare Shorter writes: Purity culture isn’t liveable, yet its grip on the Evangelical imagination for how to live, how to imagine a future good life, remains pervasive.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/joshua-harris-and-the-cruel-optimism-of-christian-purity-culture/11369762
Suicide
Michael Pascoe writes: In many ways, Dead Poets Society was an inspirational film, but it failed because of the omission of a final impassioned speech by Robin Williams’ character on how suicide betrayed the essential message of “seizing the day”.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/07/17/dead-poets-society-suicide-wrong-message/
Western civilisation
Andrew Gleeson writes: Critics of the Ramsay Centre have convinced many people that it is little more than a conservative project aimed at glorifying straight white European male supremacy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The curriculum reveals instead a cunning left-wing plot to subvert the established order of capitalism itself.
https://www.abc.net.au/religion/ramsay-centre-western-civilisation-and-its-discontents/11293684
Women
Sixty women leaders from 18 nations gathered in Amsterdam this month to celebrate the gifting, service and leadership of women in the Church across the globe.
https://www.worldea.org/news/4948/christian-women-leaders-call-for-united-action-to-promote-and-value-the-contribution-of-women-and-girls-to-the-church
Malcolm Brown writes: The Vicar of Dibley performed by Dawn French might be seen by some as the best advertisement for the ordination of women in the Anglican Church. However, the career of Kay Clark, another woman of the church, might ultimately be regarded as the better role model.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/kay-clark-questioned-biblical-claim-men-should-head-the-church-20190706-p524q5.html
Rosie Dawson investigates previously overlooked Old Testament stories that depict violence against women, and asks how Christians should read them today.
https://www.premierchristianity.com/Past-Issues/2019/July-2019/SheToo-You-ll-never-read-these-Bible-stories-in-the-same-way-again