Link highlights | June 2017
Saturday, 1 July 2017
| Ethos editor
Link highlights – June 2017
Below is a selection of links to online news and opinion pieces from 4th to 30th June 2017. 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.
Movie reviews
Though focused on just a few days of Churchill’s life, this is a story of courage in the midst of personal despair, of perseverance when you are at the very edge of giving up and being given up on, showing us a flawed but courageous man who fought until the end, writes Nils von Kalm.
https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/reviews/on-the-screen/7546-on-the-screen-churchill-s-narrow-focus-leaves-audience-wanting-more
The Wonder Woman movie tackles wider themes of compassion, sacrifice and justice. And at its heart, it confronts the problem of evil, writes Katherine Ladd.
https://www.licc.org.uk/resources/the-greatest-wonder/
Abortion
They call themselves "sidewalk counsellors" and they gather around reproductive health clinics, which are (whisper it!) the places where women go to procure abortions, writes Jacqueline Maley.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/they-call-themselves-helpers-of-gods-precious-infants-but-they-are-not-here-to-help-20170606-gwlac3.html
Apocalypse
Apocalyptic visions tell us it’ll be every man for himself, but some historians suggest The Walking Dead has it all wrong, writes Rebecca Onion.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2017/06/what_really_happens_after_societal_collapse.html
Asylum seekers, refugees and migration
Refugee success stories often unwittingly reinforce the expectation that the refugee must make good in order to justify their costly welcome by the host nation. Refugees must prove that they weren’t a bad investment, writes Justine Toh.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/refugees-are-our-equals/
“These poignant examples of sacrificial hospitality to strangers show how physical and spiritual refuge can be a powerful witness of God’s love to the persecuted”, writes Sarah Judd-Lam.
This Refugee Week, let us reflect on the practical actions we can take in our own lives to welcome those in our midst, and offshore, who are seeking shelter and support in our peaceful and prosperous nation.
http://www.commongrace.org.au/god_is_our_refuge_we_are_theirs
"With courage let us all combine" is the theme for Refugee Week. CPX’s Justine Toh and Simon Smart speak with an asylum seeker couple about the ups and downs of life in their new country - and we consider what it means to truly "welcome the stranger".
https://publicchristianity.org/library/free-like-a-bird
Blasphemy
The crime of blasphemy is wholly inconsistent with a secular and religiously diverse Australian society, gives official preference to Christianity, involves the state enforcing religious orthodoxy and orthopraxy and is contrary to international human rights norms, writes Luke Beck.
https://theconversation.com/blasphemy-is-still-a-crime-in-australia-and-it-shouldnt-be-78990
Business
Companies that try to "do good" are likely to find that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is bad for their bottom lines, according to a new study from Florida Atlantic University's College of Business.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-06/fau-ig060617.php
Civil society
The Politics of Listening: Democratic politics demands the humility to recognise that, whatever the justice of my cause, I could be wrong and don't have a monopoly on wisdom about how to live well, writes Luke Bretherton.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/29/4693897.htm
I want to live in a society where we can debate ideas honestly and accept difference, but also be respected for holding firmly to beliefs about right and wrong, writes Amanda Jackson.
https://amandaadvocates.blog/2017/07/02/when-tolerance-is-not-ok/
Crime & punishment
Evangelical Christian leaders are spearheading a campaign for criminal justice reform, calling for equitable punishment, alternatives to incarceration and a different take on the “tough on crime” language of the Trump administration, writes Adelle M. Banks.
http://religionnews.com/2017/06/20/evangelical-leaders-push-for-criminal-justice-reform/
Disability and mental illness
Should religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws be extended to allow churches to refuse employment to those who display ‘disturbed behaviour’? Tess Holgate explores the controversy around a recent submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry by FamilyVoice.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/people-with-disability-and-mental-illness-belong-in-church/
Pauline Hanson's comments about placing autistic children in separate classrooms re-ignited “those familiar feelings — dismay at the ignorance and lack of empathy of some people, worry for the future, and defiant pride in their diverse children”.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52616#.WUz2z1OGOu4
Pauline Hanson claimed that students with disability have a negative impact on their peers. Yet international research shows otherwise. By Linda J. Graham and Kate de Bruin.
https://theconversation.com/pauline-hanson-is-wrong-we-need-to-include-children-with-disability-in-regular-classrooms-79897
Economics & inequality
There is nothing 'natural' about disasters, write Jason von Meding et al. Instead, they usually have root causes of vulnerability that reflect social inequality, poverty, political ideology, class and power relations.
https://theconversation.com/grenfell-tower-fire-exposes-the-injustice-of-disasters-79666
Gender inequality, a lack of religious tolerance and political terror are negatively affecting Australians’ quality of life, a new report has revealed. By Rachel McFadden.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/06/gender-inequality-religious-intolerance-pull-australia-ranks/
Can the Market Heal the Wound It Inflicted? Growth and profits achieved by repairing of the damage done in the very act of making profits in the first place - this is the great social innovation of the capitalism of our time. By Luigino Bruni.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/22/4689809.htm
End of life
Clive Deverall was a champion for palliative care. But, as a cancer patient in ‘every kind of pain’, he took his own life.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/weekend-australian-magazine/clive-deverall-andrew-denton-euthanasia-assisted-dying/news-story/30067c6a6dffa3a7a61c7de58c977a92
Andrew Denton and Virginia Trioli recently called it ‘the biggest social justice issue of your life’ at the 2017 Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration.
https://www.communitiesincontrol.com.au/cic/speeches/?speechId=7202
In his series of podcasts, Better Off Dead, Andrew Denton presents many moving stories designed to elicit compassion (and a perceived need for assisted dying as a solution to the ‘problem’). However, there is very little critical reflection or exploration of moral arguments, writes Denise Cooper-Clarke.
http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/Blog/podcast-review-better-off-dead-by-andrew-denton
It's not hard to see why Team Andrews is treading gently. Having come so far, it would be disappointing if this long-awaited reform fell down at the final stretch, writes Farrah Tomazin.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/assisted-dying-why-government-should-tread-carefully-with-the-proposed-bill-20170602-gwj27c.html
We should consider what end-of-life legislation would look like from the perspective of an insurance company trying to improve its bottom line. Aren't some things best kept out of the hands of markets? Daniel Fleming writes.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/15/4685997.htm
An assisted dying law will give the terminally ill dignity and an end to suffering, because even the best palliative care won’t work for everyone, writes Andrew Denton.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/andrew-denton-we-can-put-an-end-to-the-suffering-of-the-terminally-ill/news-story/8f58a55cc1fe43ed4314b906fefb5414
Proposals for voluntary assisted dying do not do enough to protect the most vulnerable in our society, writes Julian Porteous.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/safeguards-not-strong-enough-to-protect-the-most-vulnerable/news-story/82eb070ed86597b31759bdf7e3703fe0
The right to die will ease needless pain, and public support is overwhelming for voluntary assisted dying, writes Lara Giddings.
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/opinion/talking-point-right-to-die-will-ease-needless-pain/news-story/654f43e83355c9912054f9fd69dd67a6
Lyle Shelton speaks with Stewart Migdon, Executive Producer of the film Voiceless about the pro-life message of the film.
http://www.acl.org.au/pro_life_film_voiceless
“How life ends: Death is inevitable. A bad death is not” was on the cover of The Economist last month, yet the story said nothing about how religion shapes our view of death, writes Martin E. Marty.
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/how-life-should-end
The Christian political lobby, which represents a small minority of the community, will use the processes of representative democracy to get a result that is wholly unrepresentative of the community view, argues Andrew Denton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2017/06/17/the-religious-lobby-against-assisted-dying/14976216004799
It is feasible that euthanasia could form part of government planning for service provision for people nearing end-of-life – a chilling thought, writes Rochelle Galloway.
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4681006/assisted-dying-bill-needs-to-be-analysed/?cs=97
Environment
Doing what we can to care about climate change is our responsibility as Christians, just as much as caring for the poor, no more and no less. Nils von Kalm explains why.
http://soulthoughts.com/climate-change-why-should-christians-care/
Central to Pope Francis' passionate exhortation to care for the environment is that the environment is not something outside ourselves. We are part of it, and understanding this requires intellectual conversion. Andrew Hamilton writes.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52437
What are the experts saying about the Finkel Review into Australia's National Electricity Market?
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/06/what-experts-have-to-say-about-the-finkel-review-into-australias-electricity-market/
A number of geoengineering technologies have nasty side effects, and none of them will work alone. But there are also a theological side: geoengineering can be viewed as a form of Baalism, seeking the solution to a problem from its very cause, writes Mick Pope.
http://ethos-environment.blogspot.com.au/2017/06/pie-in-sky-geoengeering-not-fix-for-our.html
By allowing - indeed, encouraging - the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, wealthy states were committing an injustice for which their present citizens owe reparation, writes Janna Thompson.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/20/4688715.htm
The moderator of the Uniting Church in Western Australia has criticised the Labor government’s decision to allow four existing uranium mine projects to proceed, describing it as ‘a hollow moral position’.
http://www.afr.com/brand/rear-window/jesus-doesnt-like-uranium-who-knew-20170621-gwvpk0
Gambling
Australia has more poker machines per person than any country in the world, excluding casino-tourism destinations like Macau and Monaco. Why are we not concerned? Martin Young and Francis Markham write.
https://theconversation.com/three-charts-on-australias-addiction-to-poker-machines-78353
Gun control
Most conservatives are in dismay over a rights-oriented society, but don’t talk of our obligations to ensure safety for the general public. Many conservatives also believe that foetuses have a right to life, so why not extend that right to the living? Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin writes.
http://religionnews.com/2017/06/16/scalise-guns/
History
What happens when we stop listening to people from other times and places? Professor Sarah Williams on historical ignorance, arrogance, evidence, and confidence.
https://publicchristianity.org/library/the-history-gap
Homelessness
When you see a man in an expensive-looking suit drive his Mercedes to the soup van, it’s a reminder that homelessness hasn't got a 'look' — and the word 'homeless' never describes the person, only their circumstance, writes Danusia Kaska.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52594#.WUtXn1OGN0s
Hospitality
Sharing food is a recipe for friendship between refugees and Jewish women. The Shared Table Project brings women of different faiths together over food, promoting understanding and friendships, writes Rachael Kohn.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-05/shared-table-project-encouraging-tolerance-friendship/8589354
Indigenous affairs
Australians have to stop thinking of the Bible as a “white man’s book”, historian of religion Meredith Lake told a sold out-session on The Good Book? The Bible in Australian Culture Today at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Anne Lim reports.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/the-bible-is-not-just-a-white-mans-book/
Greg Sheridan’s vision of a whitebread liberal democracy is unfit for purpose, writes Noel Pearson.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/noel-pearson/resistance-to-full-embrace-jars-25-years-after-mabo/news-story/5dbb5b963c4c69854de877bcdd6a5750
I admire Noel Pearson. But I don’t believe recognition should be achieved through constitutional change, writes Greg Sheridan.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/greg-sheridan/noel-pearson-i-support-recognition-of-aboriginal-culture/news-story/2103a93e85ea44ad261b9c9a9920591b
Australians won’t have a bar of a constitution that would divide us on racial lines, writes Simon Breheny.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/simon-breheny-no-place-for-race-in-our-constitution/news-story/cc6214518fe7792ade68f9f02666a7e9
Lawyer and activist Michael Mansell is proposing a new Indigenous Australian state and says it can be achieved within the current legal and constitutional framework, writes Stan Grant.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-03/an-indigenous-seventh-state-radical-and-constitutional/8585078
Behind the landmark Uluru statement are years of conservative negotiation and compromise, led by Noel Pearson, writes Karen Middleton.
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2017/06/03/the-making-the-uluru-statement/14964120004739
Uluru Statement 'not contentious' and should be heeded, human rights bodies urge Australia's nine major human rights bodies have rebuffed the Turnbull government over its sceptical reception of the Uluru Statement.
http://www.examiner.com.au/story/4710149/uluru-statement-not-contentious-and-should-be-heeded-human-rights-bodies-urge/
Rights and Respect For Australia’s First Peoples Andrew Meehan is the national director of ANTaR, a national advocacy organisation dedicated to the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/06/rights-respect-australias-first-peoples/
Mabo legacy inspiring next generation of Indigenous leaders Young Indigenous leaders still consider Eddie Mabo's "great legacy" of monumental importance as they take on the unique problems facing their generation.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-06/mabo-legacy-inspiring-next-generation-of-indigenous-leaders/8592050
Indigenous young people are taking their views from Canberra to the country Video At the National Indigenous Youth Parliament in Canberra last week, Melbourne teenager Aretha Stewart-Brown became the first female elected Prime Minister. Alongside fellow delegate Aimee McCartney, they hope to give voice to Indigenous youth at the highest levels in politics.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-05/youth-parliament/8575904
After Mabo: Removing the stain of racism with his vision for a Great Society Jeff McMullen Author, journalist and activist Jeff McMullen delivered this speech at the 25th Anniversary Mabo Celebration last night.
https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/after-mabo-removing-the-stain-of-racism-with-his-vision-for-a-great-society,10368
Uluru statement: not merely Australian citizens, but active citizens Kim Rubenstein The Uluru statement can take Indigenous people beyond being subjects to their rightful place.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/public-service/uluru-statement-not-merely-australian-citizens-but-active-citizens-20170604-gwk2as.html
National Reconciliation Week National Reconciliation Week is a time to celebrate and build respect between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. This year's theme is 'Let's take the next steps' which for some means constitutional recognition.
http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/thai/en/content/national-reconciliation-week
The 25th Anniversary of the Mabo decision It's been 25 years since the landmark Mabo High Court decision - that formally recognised the land rights of Indigenous people and paved the way for native title.
http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/thai/en/content/25th-anniversary-mabo-decision
On the 25th Anniversary of the ‘Mabo Case’, Torres Strait Islanders Aunty Rose Elu and Joyce Waia share the significance of what happened, what it means for our nation, how they will be celebrating, and their reflections on the work still ahead of us. By Scott Sanders.
http://www.commongrace.org.au/celebrating_mabo_day
25 years ago, the Mabo decision overturned the absurb proposition of terra nullius. However, degrees of colonial disruption – or invasion – will now largely determine the success of native title claims, writes Paul Daley.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2017/jun/03/mabo-25-years-on-lets-look-at-the-vast-absurdist-fiction-this-ruling-toppled
Mabo forced us to confront the convenient fiction upon which Australia was built, but it has not borne out the inflated expectations of the time, with native title often proving elusive and no further rights beyond land being recognised, writes George Williams.
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/the-ongoing-legacy-of-the-mabo-decision-20170602-gwj2p4.html
This guide by the Parliamentary Library provides an overview of the recent ‘Uluru Statement from the Heart’, which brought together over 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders last month.
http://apo.org.au/node/95356
Ten years after what would become known as "the intervention", Indigenous leaders are still calling for a voice in a political process that does not hear the ambitions and aspirations of Aboriginal people, writes Stan Grant.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/stan-grant-a-decade-on-from-the-nt-intervention/8638628
“It would have been far better to do some of the same things with the full compliance of the community.” A look at how the Commonwealth Intervention into the Northern Territory has impacted communities 10 years on.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-21/how-commonwealth-intervention-in-nt-impacted-communities/8637298
Islam
It will not do to couch the debate around handling extremism in purely sociological terms, even though there is clearly a role for that. For all our sakes – including Muslims – we need to embrace mature discussion about political theology, writes Richard Shumack.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/we-cant-ignore-the-role-islam-played-in-the-brighton-shooting-20170615-gwrlnb.html
Islamic terrorism has been a shock to the secular soul of the West. We have tried to address the security challenge, but are not across the intellectual challenge, and the ‘myth of the extremist’ has not helped, writes Mark Durie.
http://blog.markdurie.com/2017/06/excuse-me-but-your-cognitive-dissonance.html
Law, human rights and free speech
Neil Foster reviews all the relevant clauses in discrimination laws in Australia (Commonwealth, State and Territories) which balance religious freedom with the right not to be discriminated against.
https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog/2017/06/14/protection-of-religious-freedom-through-discrimination-balancing-clauses/
Too often the vital link between human rights and their associated obligations is ignored or paid lip-service. Yet clarifying that link is central to addressing the challenges human rights face today, writes John Tasioulas.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/28/4692937.htm
Media/social media
Young people get much of their news from social media feeds, where false, exaggerated or sponsored content is often prevalent. With the right tools, they can learn to assess credible information, writes Joanne Orlando.
https://theconversation.com/how-to-help-kids-navigate-fake-news-and-misinformation-online-79342
In this period of fragmentation and polarisation in public discourse, by far the greatest fragmenting and polarising force is social media, writes Denis Muller.
https://theconversation.com/mixed-media-how-australias-newspapers-became-locked-in-a-war-of-left-versus-right-79001
Moral philosophy
It is time to imagine our entire politics in loving terms Philip McKibbin Love is central to our personal relationships. Why can’t it also guide our political exchange?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/05/it-is-time-to-imagine-our-entire-politics-in-loving-terms
Nationalism, patriotism and extremism
As embodied creatures, we can't pour our hearts into lofty abstractions like "humanity" or "the world". For all the hazards of praying “God bless America”, and for all the other prayers we ought to pray, it remains a prayer for something real and tangible, writes Matt Reynolds.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/july-august/you-have-gods-blessing-to-say-god-bless-america.html
Politics, society & ideology
What are the new lines of political division? Behind the illusion of UK politics, neo-liberalism is evolving into quasi-fascistic oligarchy. Only when this is confronted by an authentic left populism will our politics have ceased to be spectral, writes John Milbank.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/07/4682148.htm
Why is it that the louder a Christian politician talks about their faith the more conservative they seem to be? Toni Hassan writes.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/left-behind-progressive-australians-reluctance-to-talk-religion-20170616-gwsmv6.html
When it comes to ease and comfort, the infrastructure of the modern world is unsurpassed. However, the recent epidemic of mental health challenges is telling us that something else is going on. Interview with Mark Sayers, by Hunter Baker.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/june/how-bible-helps-us-live-well-in-world-gone-mad.html
Christian shouldn’t be looking around for the next political liberator. We need to be looking inside for evidence of spiritual renewal – the renewal of the mind, and the living out of a new set of habits and values.
http://mikefrost.net/tempted-choose-sides-look-inside/
The Liberals are learning they need to adjust to an electoral atmosphere in which neoliberal dogma is increasingly toxic, writes Bernard Keane.
https://www.crikey.com.au/2017/06/21/the-surprisingly-quick-death-of-neoliberalism-in-australia-is-underway/
It does not bode well when competence is no longer the baseline in politics; though in a leadership vacuum, groups like One Nation hold a natural appeal. In any case, there can be worse things than incompetence: timidity; mediocrity; running up the cost of doing nothing at all. In so many ways, the Australian political class is holding us back. That is the crux of nearly every policy impasse over the past several years, writes Fatima Measham.
http://eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52598
Racism
Can a comparison be drawn with Australia's mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and White Australia Policy? The Southern Baptist Convention’s reluctance to condemn racism is not only true to its history but it reflects how white supremacy is built into the very DNA of American Christianity, writes Daniel José Camacho.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/17/powerful-church-group-southern-baptist-struggle-denounce-white-supremacy
Southern Baptists approved an alternate resolution against the Alt-Right, initially delayed due to confusion over the scope and severity of the white supremacist movement, writes Kate Shellnutt.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/june/southern-baptists-vote-resolution-against-alt-right-sbc17.html
That racism is a sin and a gospel issue — and not just a political matter for us as Christians — was asserted once more yesterday, writes Jim Wallis.
https://sojo.net/articles/white-supremacy-anti-gospel-i-m-glad-southern-baptist-convention-agrees
Public figures are currently rushing to exonerate themselves from racism. One of the many limitations of modern white culture is our lack of frameworks within which to take responsibility for our own complicity in structural injustice, writes Joanna Cruickshank.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/29/4693528.htm
Religion in politics
Bernie Sanders implied that saying that Jesus is the only way to heaven is Islamophobic and that those who believe this should be excluded from holding government positions. This shows his ignorance, both of the Constitution and of basic Christian doctrine, writes John Sandeman.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/bernie-sanders-jumps-the-shark/
Were Sanders’s statements a religious test, or concern about equal treatment of people of different religions?
Regardless, Sanders’s comments raise questions about what Christians expect non-Christians to know about the fundamentals of their faith and how they should express the nuances of their theology to an increasingly pluralistic and non-religious country.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/june-web-only/bernie-sanders-christian-literacy-public-square.html
Religion in Society
Shouldn't religion be treated like an essential news desk? What does journalistic competence in this area look like? How do funding cuts affect the way religion is covered? In this Extra episode of ChatterSquare, Rohan Salmond and Tito Ambyo take us through the challenges and benefits of religion reporting. Hosted by Fatima Measham.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52461
‘While Australia is a secular society, to deny the significance of Christianity is to deny the nation’s heritage and culture and to ignore what underpins our political and legal systems’, writes Kevin Donnelly.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/lets-not-deny-our-christian-roots/news-story/878614f0355a7dec05751932c55aa814
Justine Toh and Michael Jensen respond to the question: what does it look like to be a Christian, publicly, in an increasingly secular culture?
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/dr-justine-toh-and-dr-michael-jensen/8605784
In response to the blasphemy accusation recently lodged in Ireland against Stephen Fry, Barney Zwartz considers what it truly means to take the Lord's name ‘in vain’.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/faith-20170601-gwiix8.html
Heard of the Thessalonian Option? Australia's Michael Bird argues that churches and Christian organisations need something more disruptive than the Benedict Option to keep secular hostility at bay.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/lyris/ctbooks/archives/06-20-2017.html
Why is it that the louder a Christian politician talks about their faith the more conservative they seem to be? Toni Hassan writes.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/left-behind-progressive-australians-reluctance-to-talk-religion-20170616-gwsmv6.html
I do not take the view that Christians 'should impose the tenets of faith on society', explains Tim Farron in his resignation letter from leadership of the UK’s Liberal democrats. 'Even so, I seem to be the subject of suspicion because of what I believe and who my faith is in'.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/06/tim-farron-choose-christianity-leading-lib-dems/
The leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, a centrist political party, says he is stepping down because the tension between his strong evangelical Christian faith and politics has become too great, writes John Sandeman.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/i-cant-follow-jesus-and-be-a-politician/
"Notwithstanding Tim Farron's rather untenable line that 'my faith is private', it was notable that he had tried with patience to prove his liberal credentials. Including eventually responding to persistent questions around gay sex with a response he hoped and thought would answer his critics. But to no avail", writes David Landrum.
https://www.christiantoday.com/amp/farrons.fall.neither.liberal.nor.democratic/109981.htm
Amid mounting scrutiny over his evangelical faith, the UK's highest-ranking Evangelical politician and head of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, has resigned.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2017/june/uk-evangelical-tim-farron-steps-down-liberal-democrats.html
Nearly 30 per cent of Australians say they have “no religion”, according to the latest Census data, up from nearly 22 per cent in the 2011 Census, and 0.8 per cent in 1966.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/aussies-are-getting-less-religious/
The most intriguing aspect is the inability of insiders to provide a coherent account of what is actually going on. How did Donald Trump, you know, happen? Mark Christensen writes.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19115
Peter Berger’s sympathetic treatment of faith made him a rock star among Christ-following academics, writes D. Michael Lindsay.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/june-web-only/why-christian-scholars-loved-peter-berger.html
The dream Jesus had and prayed for has materialised over and over throughout history. In God's new order, these dreams become reality as together we tear down the walls of division that divide this broken world, writes Nils von Kalm.
http://christiantoday.com.au/news/the-power-of-one.html
Science
The scientific hypothesis known as the Big Bang Theory has stoked controversy among some in the Church, but it's often forgotten that the idea was conceived by a Christian priest, writes Joseph Hartropp.
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/are.god.and.science.at.war.not.according.to.the.priest.behind.the.big.bang.theory/110095.htm
Sexual abuse
‘Silence and submission make fundamentalist Christians a ripe target: “Church people are easy to fool”, boasts one sexual predator.’
Fundamentalist churches face a widespread epidemic of sexual abuse and institutional denial that could ultimately involve more victims than the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church. Kathryn Joyce writes.
https://newrepublic.com/article/142999/silence-lambs-protestants-concealing-catholic-size-sexual-abuse-scandal
Sexism
We need to move beyond echo-chamber church discussions around ‘complementarianism’ and ‘egalitarianism’ and, instead, unite and come together to fight against what really matters, writes Karina Kreminski.
http://www.karinakreminski.com.au/2017/05/16/getting-rid-christian-labels-calling-sexism/
Israeli airline employees cannot ask women to change seats to spare a man from having to sit next to them, a Jerusalem court ruled on Wednesday, handing down a groundbreaking decision in a case brought by a woman in her 80s. Isabel Kershner writes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/world/middleeast/israeli-woman-who-sued-el-al-for-sexism-wins-landmark-ruling.html
Sexuality and same-sex marriage
Jayne Ozanne, a member of the Anglican Church General Synod, says that there is a need for government regulation to stamp out ‘conversion therapy’, which is 'group led spiritual abuse'. Ruth Gledhill writes.
https://www.christiantoday.com/article/gay.christian.activist.calls.for.an.end.to.spiritual.abuse.and.conversion.therapy/110137.htm
What happens to Mormons who are gay and still have a strong testimony of LDS beliefs? Can they remain active in a church that claims to welcome them but whose policies have been—and continue to be—damaging? Kristin Lowe writes.
http://religionnews.com/2017/06/13/married-gay-mormons-try-to-stay-lds-part-1/
The lull in the debate over recognition of same-sex marriage provides a valuable opportunity to consider the ‘end game’ to this long-running controversy. John de Meyrick suggests leaving the Marriage Act and the definition of traditional marriage alone and recognise same-sex unions in their own act of parliament with their own definition of their own kind of marriage.
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19110&page=0
“I’m gay and up until recently I was an active member of the equality movement, sitting on the board of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby in NSW. A few hardline members of my community took exception to this involvement and campaigned for my removal, all because I work here at News Corp.” By Shannon Molloy.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/fight-for-equality-cant-be-won-by-hotheads/news-story/39933988f8d8a5362c1cfae58057f3e8
Margaret Court is wrong to claim marriage is “a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible”. Concepts of family and marriage have evolved and changed throughout human history, including within the church, writes Robyn J. Whitaker.
https://theconversation.com/note-to-margaret-court-the-bible-isnt-meant-to-be-read-that-literally-78665
Margaret Court is right to stand up for a traditional view of marriage, but needs to nest that conviction in a Christian ethic of love for one’s neighbour, including one’s LGBTI neighbour, writes Michael Bird.
http://www.thermidorian.com/2017/06/05/margaret-court-needs-to-be-more-biblical-on-gay-marriage/
So how can we better hold law and grace in an effective tension that allows us to maintain our convictions and also show love toward those who do not? Neither legalistic condemnation nor progressive license are the answer. Bekah Mason writes.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/women/2017/june/finding-my-true-self-as-same-sex-attracted-woman-obergefell.html
Spirituality
Finding Lost Words: The Church’s Right to Lament, is a call to (re)discover and appropriate the psalms of lament which have generally been lost, or certainly marginalised, by the church in the West. Megan Powell du Toit speaks with the authors, Geoff Harper and Kit Barke.
https://www.actheology.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/June-2017-NEXUS.pdf
Is happiness a slightly flimsy, shallow notion? Might it not be better to seek something a little more solid, like contentment, which is more about being satisfied within realistic parameters, and not being rendered miserable by unmet, unrealistic or unjustified material and self-indulgent desires. Michael Short writes.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/why-happiness-is-overrated--and-why-contentment-is-a-better-measure-20170609-gwo1hb.html
Since Evangelical Christianity began infiltrating politics, officially in the late 1970s, there has been a disturbing trend to limit or remove rights from those who don’t meet the conservative idea of an American, writes Tim Rymel.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/has-evangelical-christianity-become-sociopathic_us_5914ce6fe4b02d6199b2ed92
Sport
Professional sportspersons receive little attention in Catholic social thought, which is a pity because a Catholic understanding of work provides a helpful perspective. Its crucial insight is that work is a human activity, and that each human being is precious, unique and needs to be respected. Neither people nor work can be seen as means to an economic end, or as expendable, writes Andrew Hamilton.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52455#.WTdvFROGP_Q
Terrorism
Our response to terror boils down to what sort of society we want. Love absorbs suffering and defeats it, just as Jesus did on the cross, writes Nils von Kalm.
http://soulthoughts.com/love-in-the-face-of-terror/
Universities need to think carefully about how to balance academic freedom with the safe space we must provide to our students, staff and stakeholders, writes Lauren Rosewarne.
http://theconversation.com/islam-and-the-fine-line-of-academic-freedom-78843
If the worst enemy of good Muslims is militant Muslims, carefully reforming our immigration policy may turn out to be one of the best things the government can do for them in the long term, writes Stephen Chavura.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/we-would-be-doing-our-islamic-communities-a-favour-to-review-immigration/news-story/55c73fda8a8de2e51fc1bcbdf474c64c
“I try to access feelings of parental concern, but they're blocked. Maybe I'm confident my daughter will admire, as I do, Grande's defiance, courage and self-love, and ignore the manufactured raciness. For now, raunchy is resistance”, writes Julie Szego.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/admire-grandes-defiance-ignore-the-manufactured-raciness-20170602-gwixav.html
The Ariana Grande concert has been sentimentalised in the days since the attack as a magical rite of passage. Yet the dark excess stalking such entertainment events, which fuels a sense of Western degeneracy among Jihadists, seems to have escaped the sentimentalists' notice, writes Jenny Taylor.
http://blog.markdurie.com/2017/06/after-ariana-grande-manchester-attacks.html
Terrorists try to make ordinary life unliveable, not by the number of people it kills, but by the possibility it can undermine the trust, sense of security and optimism on which thriving ordinary life depends, writes Craig Calhoun.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/07/4682247.htm
Myths around Islam rely on a false dichotomy: Islam is a religion of absolute peace or absolute violence, but nothing in between; the jihadist movement has religious or political motivations, not both; and jihadists are deceitful or mad, but not rational actors who believe what they say they believe, writes Jonathan Cole.
https://www.academia.edu/33396592/London_terror_attacks_Myths_that_keep_us_blind_to_global_jihadist_movement
Attacks of terror committed in the name of God almost always have theological and ideological roots, and jihadists are very serious about the claims they believe their religion makes, writes Peter Kurti.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/london-attacks-we-need-to-discuss-islam-and-terrorism/news-story/77463edc43f8f52a6cbc1ab8ef4df298
At terrorism's heart is the potent narrative that sustains it. You can't imprison that potency out of existence. You can only try to make it ring less true, so fewer and fewer people are attracted to it, writes Waleed Aly.
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/saying-enough-is-enough-is-to-misunderstand-terrorism-completely-20170607-gwmwa3.html
It will not do to couch the debate around handling extremism in purely sociological terms, even though there is clearly a role for that. For all our sakes – including Muslims – we need to embrace mature discussion about political theology, writes Richard Shumack.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/comment/we-cant-ignore-the-role-islam-played-in-the-brighton-shooting-20170615-gwrlnb.html
Islamic terrorism has been a shock to the secular soul of the West. We have tried to address the security challenge, but are not across the intellectual challenge, and the ‘myth of the extremist’ has not helped, writes Mark Durie.
http://blog.markdurie.com/2017/06/excuse-me-but-your-cognitive-dissonance.html
Welfare
The Turnbull government plans to prevent some people with severe drug and alcohol dependence to get the disability support pension. This fails the most basic logic test, writes Toby Hall.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/21/the-proposed-changes-to-disability-support-pension-are-dangerous-and-unfair
War and Peace
We are confronted by weapons that allow us to destroy ourselves, a shared hazard for which our social mechanisms for managing large-scale violence are dangerously ill suited, writes Jeffrey Lewis in The American Scholar. "In the end, advances in technology won’t save us; only advances in ourselves can do that."
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/our-abyss
As a public that sends its citizen soldiers to war, it is our duty to understand better, and help heal, their inner wars, writes Nancy Sherman.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2017/06/23/4690415.htm
Women
We need to move beyond echo-chamber church discussions around ‘complementarianism’ and ‘egalitarianism’ and, instead, unite and come together to fight against what really matters, writes Karina Kreminski.
http://www.karinakreminski.com.au/2017/05/16/getting-rid-christian-labels-calling-sexism/
Christian conference attendees walk out after speakers suggest women should grow their hair long and defer to men at work, writes Julia Baird.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-07/christian-conference-speaker-tells-women-grow-hair-long/8595932
‘My concern wasn’t that you talked about hair or feminism or Kristen Stewart. And I accept that after searching the scriptures and wrestling with the hard stuff that you’ve landed with complementarian theology. Plenty of evangelicals do. But here’s the thing. Plenty of evangelicals don’t.’ By Kylie Maddox Pidgeon.
http://www.fixinghereyes.org/single-post/2017/06/04/Jesus-and-the-womens-fringe
Women’s writing and women’s voices are underrepresented in evangelical academia in Australia, and experience of women’s leadership is limited. Jill Firth asks why at https://www.actheology.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/June-2017-NEXUS.pdf (see pp.9-10).
"The Bible isn’t squeamish about this. In Scripture, women are portrayed as having to resort to subterfuge, deceit, their sexuality or even violence when men threaten to disadvantage them", writes Michael Frost.
I find it interesting that people are gushing about the breakthrough of having a female superhero in the very year that a number of exceptional female-led dramas have been released.
http://mikefrost.net/wonder-woman-isnt-female-hero-film-year/
“Why is it that my friend who by all accounts thinks and acts like a feminist, hates the label and won’t use it for herself?” Karina Kreminski writes.
While there should not be a debate around the nature of feminism or that boundaries should not be placed around the term, but unless we are going to make the feminist table very small indeed, then we had better listen to these voices of women and also men who are feeling left out of the conversation.
http://www.karinakreminski.com.au/2017/06/13/theres-room-everyone-feminist-table/
Wearing a head covering and dressing modestly makes me feel liberated. For me, it’s not an omen of oppression, but a flag of freedom, writes Norann Voll.
http://www.bruderhof.com/en/voices-blog/following-jesus/why-i-love-to-wear-a-head-covering
Are Africa’s ‘men of God’ preserving injustices against women? Akosua Adomako Ampofo explores the messages that some of the African church’s influential male leaders promote about masculinity, marriage and gender roles in society.
https://theconversation.com/are-africas-men-of-god-preserving-injustices-against-women-75089
Israeli airline employees cannot ask women to change seats to spare a man from having to sit next to them, a Jerusalem court ruled on Wednesday, handing down a groundbreaking decision in a case brought by a woman in her 80s. Isabel Kershner writes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/world/middleeast/israeli-woman-who-sued-el-al-for-sexism-wins-landmark-ruling.html
Let’s discuss the roles of men and women – but on the Bible’s terms. And let’s not be surprised if the conclusions the Bible comes to are different – sometimes radically different – to feminist ideology, writes Akos Balogh.
http://akosbalogh.com/2017/06/27/christian-discussion-and-feminism-heres-what-were-getting-wrong/
Work
Professional sportspersons receive little attention in Catholic social thought, which is a pity because a Catholic understanding of work provides a helpful perspective. Its crucial insight is that work is a human activity, and that each human being is precious, unique and needs to be respected. Neither people nor work can be seen as means to an economic end, or as expendable, writes Andrew Hamilton.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=52455#.WTdvFROGP_Q
Young people
Young people are more than “smashed-avo-eating, latte-sipping citizens”.
Leaders from Oaktree met with senior federal politicians on Tuesday to discuss the visions of young people for Australia’s role in the global community and make sure their voices were represented in the 2017 White Paper. Wendy Williams reports.
https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2017/06/young-people-speak-foreign-policy-collective-future/