Link Highlights | November-December 2019

Sunday, 22 December 2019 | Ethos editor

Link highlights – November-December 2019

Below is a selection of links to online news and opinion pieces from November and December 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

Marcia Langton and Tom Calma AO write: We have welcomed the opportunity to guide the co-design process because we feel this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to recast how decisions are made in Indigenous affairs.

https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-committed-to-an-indigenous-voice-we-should-give-it-a-chance-to-work-126683

Alison Holland writes: The Coalition government is stressing partnerships and accountability in its Indigenous policies, but PM Scott Morrison is actually taking a top-down approach and ignoring Indigenous advice.

https://theconversation.com/the-governments-new-page-on-indigenous-policy-is-actually-just-more-of-the-same-126179

In her first Boyer Lecture, leading Indigenous filmmaker Rachel Perkins says the Uluru Statement from the Heart gives us "the opportunity to finally end the great Australian silence".

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-16/boyer-lecture-rachel-perkins-echoes-uluru-statement/11696504

Aunty Jean Phillips, in partnership with Common Grace, invites Australian Churches to hold services of acknowledgement, lament and prayer as we approach January 26th – a day of mourning for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters. In January 2020, the #ChangeTheHeart Prayer Services will be guided by the theme "Truth Telling: the truth will set us free".

https://www.commongrace.org.au/jan26_2020_prayer_services

Maria Giannacopoulos writes: In the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker, while in his home and on his country, an issue that has always possessed a certain urgency for Indigenous peoples now demands attention from the broader population: Are law and policing in Australia sufficiently disentangled from their colonial function?

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-death-of-kumanjayi-walker-and-the-crisis-of-colonial-law/11722836

Mike Bowden writes: More than 16 per cent of Territorians under 16 are homeless. Twenty per cent of Aboriginal people in the NT are homeless. It's time to do something.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/just-do-something-about-nt-homelessness

Aid and Development

Samuel Moyn writes: The contemporary call for global justice was inspired, not by the cosmopolitan tradition going back to the Greek and Roman Stoics, but by the global South, which ought to be credited with first elevating egalitarian distributive justice to a worldwide scale. Tragically, that initial proposal was stopped in its tracks at precisely the moment that political philosophers tried to make it their own.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/samuel-moyn-what-happened-to-the-dream-of-global-justice/11658576

Art and Culture

Philip Jenkins writes: At a time of rapid secularization, filmmakers seem intrigued — if sometimes also repelled — by religion.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/notes-global-church/look-faith-film-over-last-decade

Asylum seekers, refugees and migration

Since WWII, ethical issues concerning migrants have been shaped by the Holocaust and the experience of European Jews. As postcolonial subjects, 21st century refugees have a different history and a different political context. How should they be received and understood? Radio National talks to Aamir Mufti.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/migrants-and-other-others/11677452

Foreign Minister Marise Payne is absolutely correct to express deep concern over the mass detention and treatment of thousands of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province. But Australia's human rights record isn't too flash either.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/11/18/australia-china-human-rights/

Nathan Campbell writes: The good neighbour binds up the wounds of the broken; those broken by criminals. The good neighbour does not perpetuate the results of the criminals, or compound their behaviour, in order to deter the criminals or to teach them that their victims are indeed less than human.

https://st-eutychus.com/2019/medevac-and-the-good-samaritan-my-letter-to-scott-morrison-and-maybe-those-who-think-the-medevac-repeal-is-a-good-political-move/

Kylie Beach writes: A controversial crossbench senator rises to address their fellow senators. The weeks of being lobbied by their major parties has clearly taken a toll on their nerves. The burden of their decision weighs heavily on their shoulders.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/holding-on-to-hope-in-an-era-of-medevac-politics

Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv. has expressed concern over the repeal of legislation that gave doctors decision-making power in the transfer of asylum-seekers requiring medical treatment from offshore detention facilities to Australia.

https://cathnews.com/cathnews/36820-time-to-get-offshore-detainees-to-safety-bishop-long

Berlin Wall

The otherwise unremarkable city of Leipzig, and especially the Church of St. Nicholas, was the epicentre for the popular opposition that precipitated the fall of the Berlin Wall, writes Simon Smart.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-german-church-and-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall/11683466

Barney Zwartz writes: The lesson of the miracle of Leipzig is that violence often falters before moral power, which is one of the central teachings of Christianity’s founder.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/faith-the-miracle-of-leipzig-20191030-p535tl.html

Bioethics

Xavier Symons writes: Gene-editing may one day provide a cure to debilitating genetic diseases. Yet gene-editing for the purposes of enhancement is a different scientific project altogether. Amid the zealous enthusiasm about gene-editing technology, we should be mindful that genes are more than mere biological material, and enhancement is more than just therapy.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-promise-and-perils-of-gene-editing-technology/11650348

Neera Bhatia and Evie Kendal. Yes, there are pros and cons of this new reproductive technology. But there are many other issues about maternal and child health we need to tackle first.

https://theconversation.com/we-may-one-day-grow-babies-outside-the-womb-but-there-are-many-things-to-consider-first-125709

Body and Body Image

In her newly published memoir Metanoia, Anna McGahan describes her struggles with self-worth, body image, relationships, and spiritual hunger, and how they led her to an unexpected place.

https://www.publicchristianity.org/memoir-of-a-body/

Business and industry

David James writes: At the next global financial crisis, when questions about what we want our monetary system to do for us become a matter of survival, why not devise a transactional system that is not just geared towards the consumption of goods and services, but involves monetary exchanges for social goods, such as sustainable production, or civic benefit?

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/it-s-the-end-of--industry-as-usual---so-what-next

Child sexual abuse

Laura Griffin writes: Addressing the legal responsibility of institutions for the actions of abusers has proven incredibly complex. Victoria thought it was making things easier for victims, but the opposite is true.

https://theconversation.com/victims-of-child-sex-abuse-still-face-significant-legal-barriers-suing-churches-heres-why-126510

Children

Ed West writes: The working environment allows kids to interact with adults, adopt their social norms and learn skills.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/why-child-labour-beats-school/

Giles Fraser writes: To make children constantly choose is to abdicate one’s responsibility for being a parent.

https://unherd.com/2019/12/our-modern-parenting-is-making-monsters-2/

Christmas and Advent

Mal Fletcher writes: Christmas, it is often said, is a time for giving. Perhaps the greatest gift we can offer those we love is the gift of our attention. This may require a deliberate decision to spend less time in the world of social media.

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20614&page=0

Reflecting on Luke 1:39-56, Anna McGahan writes: These scriptures do not assure me that God will give me every desire of my heart – but they model a bold faith I can learn from. A longing I can learn from.

https://www.commongrace.org.au/advent_we_are_longing_day13

Louise Grimmer, Gary Mortimer and Martin Grimmer write: Australians spent $400 million on unwanted Christmas gifts last year. There must be a better way.

https://theconversation.com/your-christmas-shopping-could-harm-or-help-the-planet-which-will-it-be-123340

Katherine Richardson writes: Now that I'm grown I've realised that while Christmas felt that way for me, it isn't magical for everyone. For many people Christmas is a hollow reminder that there is someone missing from the table, and no matter whether it's the first year or the 50th, that chair will always remain empty.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/coming-to-terms-with-christmas-grief

Reflecting on John 1:14-18, Jonathan Cornford writes about how the creator of all things has entered into creation.

https://www.commongrace.org.au/advent_we_are_longing_day18

Amanda Jackson writes: Who can believe in joy in these strange and troubling times? If we don’t have faith in the good news of Jesus, we must trust in the dubious ways of humans – of Brexit, climate disasters, impeachment and nasty populism.

https://amandaadvocates.blog/2019/12/17/what-does-joy-look-like-this-christmas/

Angier Brock writes: To think through our common loss, hurt, and rage may seem an odd project for the Advent journey. Wouldn’t we rather focus on love, peace, good will? But to lament the threats to the things we most value as a community is the project to which Psalm 80 calls us.

https://www.lumunos.org/single-post/2019/12/22/Reflections-During-Advent-Week-IV

William Schweiker looks at the unseen forces of religion at work during the holidays and what they tell us about this age.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/everythings-sale-appropriations-religion

Angela McCarthy writes: A Mexican statue of a baby Jesus resembling an adult Phil Collins has become a social media phenomenon. But the history of depictions of baby Jesus unearths some interesting parallels to this work.

https://theconversation.com/baby-jesus-in-art-and-the-long-tradition-of-depicting-christ-as-a-man-child-127812

Robyn J. Whitaker writes: The idealisation of Mary as a virgin has created a misguided and deeply damaging relationship between sex and sin within the Christian church.

https://theconversation.com/from-virgin-births-to-purity-movements-christians-and-their-problem-with-sex-118327

Dorothy Ann Lee writes: Belief in the eternal virginity of Mary has inflicted damage to women, who can never attain her sexless motherhood or unsullied 'purity'. Yet in the Gospels, Mary is strong-minded and courageous.

https://theconversation.com/how-the-cult-of-virgin-mary-turned-a-symbol-of-female-authority-into-a-tool-of-patriarchy-127806

CPX's Natasha Moore explains why Christmas is an invitation to vulnerability.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/don-t-expect-a-christmas-card-but-let-me-share-a-story-of-a-vulnerable-god-20191219-p53lm8.html

Writing for The Age, Barney Zwartz ponders the beauty of the Christmas story.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/for-all-its-commercialism-christmas-still-means-something-20191217-p53kqa.html

Simon Smart talks to Rev Bill Crews on 2GB Radio Sydney about the commercialisation of Christmas, and what Christmas truly means.

https://www.2gb.com/podcast/finding-joy-in-christmas-stress/

Barney Zwartz reflects on Christmas, loneliness, and the resources faith can provide.

https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/lonely-christmas-faith-may-be-part-of-the-problem-and-the-solution-20191218-p53l07.html

Ben McEachen writes: With biographer Dudley Delffs evidently convinced the Queen is thoroughly shaped by her Christian faith, Eternity asks the American author what he believes have been her notable contributions to the work of God’s Kingdom in our world. His answer is a fitting tribute to a monarch who knows whom she serves.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/good-news/the-transparent-faith-of-queen-elizabeth/

Cities and population

Timothy Baker and Kristy Hess write: Rural and urban environments bring different challenges for working professionals. Good and bad practices can occur in both. But it is narcissistic to believe geography is a key determinant of quality.

https://theconversation.com/geographical-narcissism-when-city-folk-just-assume-theyre-better-127318

Civil disobedience

Is conscientious objection based on religious beliefs an appropriate use of conscience or an abuse of it? T. Patrick Hill explores Cardinal John Henry Newman's thinking and its implications for today.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/conscience-its-use-and-abuse

Extinction Rebellion protesters have invoked Dietrich Bonhoeffer as justification for civil disobedience, while conservative US Christians have done the same in explaining why they voted for Donald Trump. These days, it seems everyone is having a Bonhoeffer moment. Radio National talks to Petra Brown.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/the-bonhoeffer-moment/11792864

Christiane Barro writes: Demonstrators in India are adamant they would not disperse unless Narendra Modi redefined a controversial rule preventing Muslim illegal immigrants from becoming citizens.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/12/28/india-protests-explainer-citizenship-law/

Civil society and discourse

Peter W. Marty writes: If my need to be right is more important than my being in relationship, I’m in trouble. Arrogant certainty is not only a threat to civility; it also overlooks our need to be wise, patient, and caring.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/publisher/cultivating-uncertainty

Creationism

Dennis Sewell writes: The public’s perceptions of the Scopes trial have been shaped and coloured by popular culture. But almost everything we think we know about the trial turns out to be untrue.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/americas-great-victory-for-science-and-scientific-racism/

Criminal justice

Nikki Marczak writes: Survivors of ISIS brutality, disempowered by atrocity crime and disheartened by abandonment by the global community, are being driven to appear in media stunts only in the absence of genuine justice processes.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/staging-yazidi-victim-perpetrator-confrontations-is-unethical/11804950

Death and Dying

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has urged the Labor states to “hasten very slowly” on euthanasia, as the looming enactment of Western Australia's laws triggered doctors to warn more time is needed to evaluate risks.

https://cathnews.com/cathnews/36819-rudd-tells-states-to-hasten-very-slowly-on-euthanasia

Anne Lim writes: The Australian Christian Lobby has denounced euthanasia legislation passed this week by the West Australian parliament as “the most dangerous and unsafe in the world”.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/euthanasia-law-the-most-dangerous-in-the-world/

Dementia

Muireann Irish writes: The view that without our memories we are no longer ourselves is pervasive, and has led to the use of stigmatising language, even within the dementia-care setting, such as ‘loss’, ‘disintegration’ and ‘unbecoming’. However, recent research by my lab challenges the idea that the self is entirely lost in Alzheimer’s.

https://aeon.co/ideas/the-self-in-dementia-is-not-lost-and-can-be-reached-with-care

Democracy

John Gray writes: Xi Jinping is not leading the nation on a path of slow evolution towards liberal democracy.

https://unherd.com/2019/12/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-china/

Domestic violence

Vicki Lowik and Annabel Taylor write: Considering gender inequality is a well-known driver of domestic violence and abuse, peddling women’s subordination as being ordained by God is placing the safety of conservative Christian women at risk.

https://theconversation.com/evangelical-churches-believe-men-should-control-women-thats-why-they-breed-domestic-violence-127437

Anne Lim writes: A series of 16 daily reflections from Common Grace on domestic and family violence (DFV) aims to reclaim the Bible as a resource that has positive things to say about upholding women’s safety and healing.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/reclaiming-the-bible-to-protect-women-against-domestic-violence/

Anglican Deaconess Ministries (ADM) has announced an $80,000 grant to implement an innovative idea that would equip churches to provide the kind of sanctuary sought by victims of domestic violence.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/80k-to-develop-innovative-dv-program/

Drugs

Peter Hurst writes: If cannabis is legalised then the only winners will be big tobacco, alcohol and pharma. The rest of us will all be losers, and the worst affected will be those already living at the margins of society.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/ive-seen-what-cannabis-can-do-we-musnt-legalise-it/

Economics, finance and inequality

James Billot writes: In a recent speech, Marco Rubio looked to Rerum Novarum, a 19th century Papal Encyclical, to find answers to America’s broken economics and broken society. He argued that: “An America in which no one is held back by their gender, the color of their skin, or their ethnic origin is no longer just morally right, it’s a national imperative.”

https://unherd.com/thepost/full-speech-marco-rubio-looks-to-pope-leo-viii-to-fix-the-broken-economy/

Kate Galloway writes: It is up to business to determine what the market wants. And business is being given a very clear message of market sentiment, through people protesting. For government to attempt to regulate this is a burden on freedom of speech and a significant imposition on the market mechanism, the very thing Morrison says he is trying to protect.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/environmental-boycotts-and-the-free-market

John Quiggin writes: From wage growth to renewable energy to religion, projections are being treated as predictions. We'd be better off insisting on genuine forecasts.

https://theconversation.com/please-no-more-projections-what-we-need-are-predictions-and-theyre-harder-126734

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/it-s-the-end-of--industry-as-usual---so-what-next

Nick Dyrenfurth writes: Working-class people and middle Australia can be united in terms of shared material interests and wellbeing and non-material values. That’s Labor’s reason for being and its only future.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/22/labors-future-lies-in-acknowledging-the-complexity-of-working-class-people

Is economic growth a virtuous circle or a Faustian treadmill that benefits some and immiserates others (human and not)? Or is the very questioning of "economic growth" the privilege of those who are already exempt from destitution? Radio National talks to Miriam Bankovsky.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/false-necessities:-is-economic-growth-a-moral-good/11721418

Richard Eckersley writes: Some countries are now giving priority to wellbeing over economic growth, but are they going far enough fast enough?

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20666

Education

Ed West writes: The working environment allows kids to interact with adults, adopt their social norms and learn skills.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/why-child-labour-beats-school/

Entertainment

Is there a line between a joke, a tasteless joke, and an unacceptable joke? What makes a great gag anyway, and why do we laugh? Josh Szeps talks to a panel of comedians and a former ABC host.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-people-vs/the-people-vs-comedy/11649170

Environment and Nature

Wendy Steele and Michelle Maloney write: Laws in other countries recognise 'rights of nature'. But even trees sacred to Indigenous Australian communities have no special protection.

https://theconversation.com/churches-have-legal-rights-in-australia-why-not-sacred-trees-123919

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/environmental-boycotts-and-the-free-market

Tim Hutton writes: Miners are not the enemy. In fact, those who once worked in mining are a key element to implementing the change required. After all, renewable energy isn't going to build and maintain itself. Our existing coal-fired power stations are starting to reach the end of their life cycle, and many countries are rapidly divesting from coal. We owe it to our nation’s workers to act responsibly and plan for the future.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/greenies-and-miners-don-t-need-to-be-at-war

Janet Stanley, University of Melbourne Fire officials warn that this week's catastrophic fire conditions are "where people die". Climate change has arrived, and politicians should drop the meaningless rhetoric.

https://theconversation.com/mr-morrison-i-lost-my-home-to-bushfire-your-thoughts-and-prayers-are-not-enough-126754

Catherine Ingram writes: Human extinction is highly probable – it may already be too late to reverse climate change. It may feel like there is no point in going on, but there are other ways to use your attention that make life still relevant and even beautiful.

https://www.catherineingram.com/facingextinction/

Karina Kreminski writes: What posture do we take in the midst of doomsday prophetic movements, the effects of climate change and insufficient action by governments and citizens? Will we be prophets of doom or prophets of hope?

https://neighbourhoodmatters.com.au/uncategorized/human-extinction-and-being-prophets-of-hope/

Frédérik Saltré and Corey J. A. Bradshaw write: The Earth has experienced five periods of mass extinction. Scientists can't quite be certain yet, but they're fairly sure we're now well into the sixth.

https://theconversation.com/what-is-a-mass-extinction-and-are-we-in-one-now-122535

Carly Cassella writes: A doomsday ending to climate change is not inevitable, but the situation is becoming ever more desperate. A new analysis predicts that, by 2050, climate change could become an "existential threat to human civilisation" that can never be undone.

https://www.sciencealert.com/by-2050-climate-change-could-alter-human-civilisation-as-we-know-it

Mike Pearl writes: Many people are suffering from what could be called "climate despair," a sense that climate change is an unstoppable force that will render humanity extinct and renders life in the meantime futile.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5w374/climate-despair-is-making-people-give-up-on-life

Michael Shellenberger writes: The catastrophist framing of climate change alienates and polarizes many people and risks distracting us from other important issues. There is a plenty of middle ground between climate apocalypse and climate denial.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/11/25/why-everything-they-say-about-climate-change-is-wrong/#59014b8812d6

Scientists tell us we are in the middle of a climate crisis. There are many contributing factors, but could our theology be partly to blame? Guest host Justine Toh and the God Forbid panel explore the wild world of eco-spirituality.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/wild-spirituality-for-a-warming-world/11686176

Benita Kolovos and Zach Hope write: The operator of Hazelwood coal mine has been found guilty of failing to prepare for a 2014 bushfire that spread to the mine, choking the Latrobe Valley community in toxic smoke and ash for 45 days.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hazelwood-mine-operator-guilty-over-fire-20191120-p53cfi.html

Nathan Campbell writes: When 11,000 Scientists, including Christians, tell me that the world is heading towards catastrophic change, and I can see a pretty direct link to individual and systemic sin, I’m happy to take note.

http://st-eutychus.com/2019/the-climate-apocalypse-is-real-and-heres-why-we-need-a-different-sort-of-climate-apocalypse-that-begins-with-jesus-and-us-christians/

In a parched and burnt land, Byron Smith reminds us to walk with those yearning for God’s arrival.

https://www.commongrace.org.au/advent_we_are_longing_day8

Paul Daley writes: It’s no longer the Boomers making the policy and political decisions – or abrogating their responsibilities to do so.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/11/australias-lungs-have-collapsed-and-generation-x-needs-to-take-part-of-the-blame

Toni Hassan writes: His government continues to support, with massive subsidies, extractive and exploitative industries that undeniably warm the planet and threaten the natural environment. How can this be a legitimate perspective as a publicly-confessing Christian? Why would this shepherd not want to move all of us to safer ground?

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/wrestling-morrison-s-brand-of-christianity

Everyday living

Rebecca Abbott writes: Aside from today’s polarisation of cultures, this love affair with gloom and doom is certainly not a new phenomenon, says Natasha Moore. But how can Christians combat cultural pessimism?

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/our-love-affair-with-doom-and-gloom/

James Bloodworth asks: Why are we so keen to place civilisation on the precipice of disaster?

https://unherd.com/2019/11/were-all-doomed/

Feminism

Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens talk with Meagan Tyler: What does feminism demand of men? Can men be "feminists"? Does the utopian radicalism of some of feminism’s earlier formulations present a coherent political and moral program that should be taken seriously?

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/what-moral-obligations-does-feminism-impose-on-men/11653446

Film reviews

Mark Greene writes: The Crown has given us no glimpse of the resources in Christ which have enabled her to be God’s woman for all seasons – through crises even greater than this week’s.

https://www.licc.org.uk/resources/the-crown-and-the-queen/

Foreign policy

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/11/18/australia-china-human-rights/

Forgiveness, reconciliation and reparations

Susan Neiman writes: Those responsible for slavery may be long gone, but many of the corporate entities that legalised and profited from slavery still exist. So do descendants of those who still suffer because they are part of a group that was brought to America in chains. So long as they live in a society built on injustice, even those who have not incurred guilt are responsible for correcting it.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/susan-neiman-reparations-and-working-off-the-past/11760928

Gender

https://theconversation.com/evangelical-churches-believe-men-should-control-women-thats-why-they-breed-domestic-violence-127437

William Loader writes: What people value in their God, they value in life. Today, this might mean men can conclude that if they are right, they, too, have the right to be dominating.

https://theconversation.com/god-as-man-man-as-god-no-wonder-many-christian-men-today-are-having-a-masculinity-crisis-126504

Robyn J. Whitaker writes: In the societies the Bible was written in, masculinity was the ideal. So it's astonishing there are moments of gender subversion and gender diversity found in the Bible’s pages.

https://theconversation.com/god-made-the-rainbow-why-the-bible-welcomes-every-colour-in-the-gender-spectrum-126201

Genocide

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/staging-yazidi-victim-perpetrator-confrontations-is-unethical/11804950

Grief

A beautiful and candid conversation between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper's about grief.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB46h1koicQ

Halloween

Rev. Bill Crews chats to CEO Simon Smart from the Centre for Public Christianity about the hype of Halloween and how Christian families should deal with the event.

https://www.2gb.com/podcast/halloween-polarising-or-uniting/

Happiness

What is happiness, and why are we incapable of getting a fix on it? Is the happiness industry really in the business of making us unhappy? And can philosophy help? Radio National talks to Todd May and Caroline West.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/happy/11770150

Homelessness and housing

Mike Bowden writes: More than 16 per cent of Territorians under 16 are homeless. Twenty per cent of Aboriginal people in the NT are homeless. It's time to do something.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/just-do-something-about-nt-homelessness

Hope

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/our-love-affair-with-doom-and-gloom/

Horse racing

Jeff Sparrow writes: No normal person looks at the Melbourne Club and sees a vision of the 'fair go'. No-one celebrates Vow and Declare's owners as 'a bunch of ordinary Aussies'. On the contrary, much hostility to horse racing — this year's Cup attracted the smallest crowd since 1993 — stems from a perception that its rituals celebrate grotesque inequalities.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/class-and-climate-drive-melbourne-cup-hostility

Justice

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/samuel-moyn-what-happened-to-the-dream-of-global-justice/11658576

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hazelwood-mine-operator-guilty-over-fire-20191120-p53cfi.html

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/staging-yazidi-victim-perpetrator-confrontations-is-unethical/11804950

Kanye West

Shane Claiborne writes: What’s just as important as the lyrical content of Kanye’s album is what he does in the wake of it. The question isn’t simply: Do you like “Jesus Is King”? The real question is: Who is liberated from poverty and oppression because Jesus is king?

https://www.redletterchristians.org/is-jesus-king-of-kanyes-bank-account/

Justine Toh writes: What God might make of the (what appears to us) sudden about-turn in the lives of people: when a killer becomes an Apostle, a Kanye becomes a Khristian?

https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/11/kanye-west-holy-fool/

Andrew Legg writes: As a musician who has been privileged to play with many contemporary gospel artists, I get it. Jesus is King is gospel. Maybe Kanye’s gospel, but gospel all the same.

https://theconversation.com/i-teach-and-play-gospel-music-and-i-think-kanyes-jesus-is-king-is-a-remarkable-gospel-album-126191

Curtis Yee writes: When I visited Kanye's Sunday Service, I was met by contradiction, a mix of characters, and a spiritual lesson.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/november-web-only/what-kanye-wests-sunday-service-taught-me-about-grace.html

Kylie Beach writes: “It is most interesting to observe that congregational singing is sure to revive at the same moment as gospel-preaching”, Spurgeon surmised. Some are wondering whether he would see West as the latest instalment in that history.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/kanyes-sunday-services-a-new-wave-of-revival/

American Bible Society today announced that they will send up to 1,000 free Bibles to any Americans curious about the historical book and Christian faith. This comes largely in response to the release of American rapper Kanye West's latest album, Jesus is King.

https://www.charismanews.com/us/78609-american-bible-society-to-give-1-000-free-bibles-to-kanye-west-fans

Nathan Campbell writes: I understand Kanye’s desire to preach about the grace that it appears has been given to him. But there is no way he is ready for the task of preaching yet. I understand Izzy’s passion to save people from God’s wrath; but he is not just unqualified as a preacher of the Gospel, he is disqualified because he explicitly rejects the Trinity.

http://st-eutychus.com/2019/fame-does-not-qualify-you-to-be-a-preacher/

Law, human rights and free speech

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/11/18/australia-china-human-rights/

Papuans in Indonesia have called on Christians around the world, including Pope Francis, to “show humanitarian solidarity” in their Advent prayer intentions by remembering the human rights abuses occurring in Papua.

https://www.ucanews.org/news/indonesian-papuans-call-on-all-christians-to-recognize-their-plight/86785

John Tasioulas writes: Too often the vital link between human rights and their associated obligations is ignored or paid the tribute of lip-service. Yet clarifying this link is central to addressing the challenges human rights face today.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/human-rights-duties-and-duty-bearers/11719722

Law, human rights and free speech – Israel Folau

Prime Minister Scott Morrison blasted Israel Folau’s “appallingly insensitive” comments, while Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese called the sacked Wallabies star “reprehensible”.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/11/17/israel-folau-bushfires-gods-judgment/

Stephen McAlpine writes: Folau’s great mistake is to read the Old Testament law and prophets without reference to the cross of Jesus. But Izzy is not on his own in his misinterpretation.

https://stephenmcalpine.com/christians-when-it-comes-to-old-testament-pronouncements-dont-do-an-izzy/

Akos Balogh writes: When it comes to God’s judgement, Folau has some things wrong. And one thing right.

http://akosbalogh.com/2019/11/20/what-izzy-folau-got-wrong-and-right-about-bushfires-and-gods-judgement/

John Sandeman documents twelve types of responses to Israel Folau's latest controversial statement in church.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/the-twelve-tribes-of-israel-folau/

Matt Anslow writes: Some have suggested the fires should call us to repentance. I completely agree. In saying that, I’m inclined to take a divergent view of what judgement and repentance might in this case entail.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/are-the-bushfires-judgement-from-god

http://st-eutychus.com/2019/fame-does-not-qualify-you-to-be-a-preacher/

Mark Jennings writes: The Australian Christian Lobby raised money for Israel Folau’s legal fees and have been vocal advocates for his right to post anti-LGBTIQ content on social media. But they’ve chosen to ignore Folau’s frankly heretical beliefs. Has the battle over the inclusion of LGBTIQ people in Christianity really become more important than the central teachings of the faith?

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-australian-christian-lobby-and-the-heterodox-israel-folau/11776738

Akos Balogh writes: A better test than doctrinal fidelity is whether the religious belief is genuinely held by its adherents. After all, religious freedom is for everyone – not just for those whose beliefs are considered orthodox by a secular court.

http://akosbalogh.com/2019/11/27/should-a-secular-court-decide-if-izzy-folau-is-a-christian/

Richard Shumack writes: Despite there being no obvious winners or losers in these matters (important as they are) I’m happy with the resolution for one simple reason: both parties said ‘sorry’ to each other.

https://www.spectator.com.au/2019/12/why-the-rugby-australia-settlement-is-the-most-christian-thing-israel-folau-has-done/

Literature

The Apostle Paul’s Damascus Road encounter inspired award-winning author Christos Tsiolkas’ new novel Damascus. Set in a brutal world riven by shame and violence – it’s not for the fainthearted. But on a personal level, Christos has been wrestling with Paul and his writings for decades now. He tells Meredith Lake why.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/soul-search/christos-tsiolkas:-doubt-on-the-road-to-damascus/11783758

Loneliness

Alex Haslam, Catherine Haslam and Tegan Cruwys write: Loneliness is a bigger cause of death than a poor diet, obesity, alcohol consumption, and lack of exercise, and it's on a par with heavy smoking. So let's get talking about it.

https://theconversation.com/loneliness-is-a-social-cancer-every-bit-as-alarming-as-cancer-itself-126741

Medicine

Jeffrey P. Bishop writes: The good physician is supposed to fill the gap between the body as an “It” and the patient as a “You”; between the law-like generalisation and the particular patient in the bed. Perhaps the physician’s role is humanely and wisely to stand in the breach with the patient. And that, a machine cannot do.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/the-practice-of-medicine-and-the-limits-of-artificial-intellige/11775358

Men

William Loader writes: What people value in their God, they value in life. Today, this might mean men can conclude that if they are right, they, too, have the right to be dominating.

https://theconversation.com/god-as-man-man-as-god-no-wonder-many-christian-men-today-are-having-a-masculinity-crisis-126504

https://theconversation.com/god-made-the-rainbow-why-the-bible-welcomes-every-colour-in-the-gender-spectrum-126201

Nationalism

William Cavanaugh writes: Nationalism calls forth certain virtues of love and self-sacrifice that can be both productive and dangerous because of their proximity to the virtue of religion. Yet even the most high-minded nationalism cannot seem to do without the more visceral kinds of energy that nationalist rhetoric marshals: The exaltation of “us” and the demonisation of “them.”

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/william-cavanaugh-the-virtues-and-vices-of-nationalism/11725344

Pentecostalism

David Hummel writes: In the twenty-first century, Israel represents hope for the largest generation of new Christians around the globe. As Israel expands its outreach to Christians into the new global Pentecostalism, we are likely witnessing a key arena in which the future of the Middle East will be decided.

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/the-new-christian-zionism

Persecution

https://www.ucanews.org/news/indonesian-papuans-call-on-all-christians-to-recognize-their-plight/86785

We watch aghast as state-sanctioned persecution of Christians, and other minorities, unfolds globally. In India, wide-ranging destructive consequences of a deceptive new law includes excluding and, possibly expelling, Muslim immigrants. It could also include a deluge of Hindu migrants displacing fragile Christian and minority ethnic communities in the north-east of the country.

https://barnabasfund.org/en/news/betrayed-with-a-kiss-state-sanctioned-religious-persecution-rolls-out-under-banners-of-

Politics, society and ideology

Carol Johnson writes: Authoritarian populism has been around for a while, but this government's determination to punish some groups make the label more apt than just "conservative".

https://theconversation.com/is-the-morrison-government-authoritarian-populist-with-a-punitive-bent-126032

Malcolm King writes: Advocates of identity politics are demanding that white writers stop creating fictional characters who are different from their own race, gender or sexual orientation.

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20584

Heath W. Carter writes: In her book, Spiritual Socialists: Religion and the American Left, Vaneesa Cook finds in the past ample evidence that the intersection of Christianity and radicalism in the modern United States has in fact been quite bustling.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/november-web-only/spiritual-socialists-vaneesa-cook.html

Richard L. Wood introduces a forum of short essays that probe the meaning, history and relevance of movements and actors that may be grouped together under the label of a religious left, i.e., progressive political movements rooted in religion.

http://tif.ssrc.org/category/exchanges/religious-left/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/22/labors-future-lies-in-acknowledging-the-complexity-of-working-class-people

Giles Fraser writes: Eviscerated in its traditional heartlands, the British Labour Party has retreated to its final redoubt: the University city, the eponymous home of the universal. If Labour is to recover the winning formula of uniting the working class with the university educated, it will have to overcome this basic tension.

https://unherd.com/thepost/labours-problems-start-at-university/

Murray Campbell writes: In the space of a few short years we are witnessing 100 years of women’s rights being erased. The very premises used to construct feminist ideology are now being used to supplant feminism with transgenderism.

https://murraycampbell.net/2019/12/20/through-the-looking-glass-and-out-the-other-end/

John Gray writes: Xi Jinping is not leading the nation on a path of slow evolution towards liberal democracy.

https://unherd.com/2019/12/what-the-west-gets-wrong-about-china/

Peter Franklin writes: Unhelpfully, social and cultural conservatives are often used interchangeably.

https://unherd.com/thepost/the-difference-between-social-and-cultural-conservatism/

Polly MacKenzie writes: There's a reason books such as Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train have been so popular this decade.

https://unherd.com/2019/12/how-liars-become-leaders/

Prayer

https://theconversation.com/mr-morrison-i-lost-my-home-to-bushfire-your-thoughts-and-prayers-are-not-enough-126754

Race and racism

Dennis Sewell writes: The public’s perceptions of the Scopes trial have been shaped and coloured by popular culture. But almost everything we think we know about the trial turns out to be untrue.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/americas-great-victory-for-science-and-scientific-racism/

Religion in Politics

Jayson Casper writes: With a prayer tent going up in Beirut square, participants see a “spiritual dimension” to anti-corruption demonstrations.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/november/lebanon-uprising-evangelicals-president-beirut-uprising.html

James Billot writes: In a recent speech, Marco Rubio looked to Rerum Novarum, a 19th century Papal Encyclical, to find answers to America’s broken economics and broken society. He argued that: “An America in which no one is held back by their gender, the color of their skin, or their ethnic origin is no longer just morally right, it’s a national imperative.”

https://unherd.com/thepost/full-speech-marco-rubio-looks-to-pope-leo-viii-to-fix-the-broken-economy/

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/the-new-christian-zionism

John Sandeman writes: Labor’s report into its surprise 2019 Federal Election loss calls on the party to “broaden its support base by improving its standing with economically insecure, low-income working families, groups within the Christian community and Australians living in regional and rural Australia.”

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/what-labors-review-says-about-christians/

Martyn Iles writes: The reason I regard religious freedom as the crucial political issue of our times is that it relates directly to Christ’s call upon us to evangelise the world. It keeps the doors open for the gospel.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/how-to-fight-the-war-on-truth/

Religion was everywhere in 2019, and it looks like 2020 will be no different. James Carleton and the God Forbid panel take a look at Australia's Pentecostal prime minister, religious freedom legislation, and what's happening to the Catholic Church.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/how-religion-dominated-headlines-in-2019/11771386

Religion in Politics - Scott Morrison

Carol Johnson writes: Authoritarian populism has been around for a while, but this government's determination to punish some groups make the label more apt than just "conservative".

https://theconversation.com/is-the-morrison-government-authoritarian-populist-with-a-punitive-bent-126032

Janet Stanley writes: Fire officials warn that this week's catastrophic fire conditions are "where people die". Climate change has arrived, and politicians should drop the meaningless rhetoric.

https://theconversation.com/mr-morrison-i-lost-my-home-to-bushfire-your-thoughts-and-prayers-are-not-enough-126754

Religion in Society

Mark Stephens writes: British author Tom Holland claims that Christianity has revolutionised our posture towards everything: be it religion, sex, power, love, or people, our secular age remains instinctually Christian. In other words, we're all kind of Christian now.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-03/dominion-tom-holland-christianity-shaping-western-mind/11663018

Wendy Steele and Michelle Maloney write: Laws in other countries recognise 'rights of nature'. But even trees sacred to Indigenous Australian communities have no special protection.

https://theconversation.com/churches-have-legal-rights-in-australia-why-not-sacred-trees-123919

James Hannam writes: The medieval Church was surprisingly supportive of science and mathematics — and even popularised the modern university.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/the-myth-of-the-anti-science-middle-ages

Rabbi Raymond Apple writes: It’s rare to hear a genuinely prophetic voice on broader issues such as education and communications, science and medicine, penology and the economy. We hear slogans and stereotypes, but there are too few voices that uphold the dignity of human beings. Perhaps this is the ongoing contribution that clergy can make to our common life.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/rabbi-raymond-apple-clergy-and-politics/11687440

Ben McEachen writes: The ABC’s ‘Australia Talks National Survey‘ of almost 55,000 Australians reveals that more than 70 per cent of those who profess to be religious feel they are discriminated against “occasionally or often”.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/shock-abc-finds-religious-discrimination-is-real/

Barney Zwartz writes: In Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, historian Tom Holland argues for the transformative and disruptive influence of Christianity in shaping the West. Even those who reject religion, he argues, find their beliefs ineradicably shaped by Christian presuppositions.

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/christianity-still-shapes-modern-western-mortality-20191107-p5389s.html

Julie Zauzmer writes: A sweeping theory published Thursday in the journal Science posits a new explanation for the divergent course of Western civilisation from the rest of the world: The early Catholic Church reshaped family structures, and by doing so, changed human psychology forever after.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/medieval-catholicism-explains-the-differences-between-cultures-to-this-day-researchers-say-20191115-p53axb.html

Giles Fraser writes: New polling in the UK finds that faith is more vigorous in the cities, especially in places shaped by migration.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/where-in-britain-does-do-god/

Natasha Moore writes: Underneath the cynicism, the absolutism, sometimes the smugness of criticisms of Christianity, I wonder if what I’m really hearing is pain.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/november-web-only/religion-poisons-everything.html

William Schweiker asks: Are we experiencing the opposite of a “Great Awakening” in the U.S. today?

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/great-american-slumber

Anne Lim writes: Australians’ attitudes towards religion as a force for good have recovered a little in the latest Australian Community Survey released today by NCLS Research.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/aussies-are-feeling-a-little-bit-better-about-religion/

Emma Green talks with theologian N. T. Wright about the politicisation of Christianity in the US.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/12/nt-wright-american-evangelicals-and-trump/602749/

Philip Jenkins writes: At a time of rapid secularization, filmmakers seem intrigued — if sometimes also repelled — by religion.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/notes-global-church/look-faith-film-over-last-decade

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/how-religion-dominated-headlines-in-2019/11771386

As the reactionary right denigrates ideas of human dignity and equality that can be traced back to the first formulations of early Christianity, liberals of goodwill need to unite across the religious/secular divide in 2020, writes The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/25/the-guardian-view-on-the-rise-of-christian-nativist-populists-a-troubling-sign-of-things-to-come

Christiane Barro writes: Demonstrators in India are adamant they would not disperse unless Narendra Modi redefined a controversial rule preventing Muslim illegal immigrants from becoming citizens.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/2019/12/28/india-protests-explainer-citizenship-law/

Freddie Sayers writes: The instinct to turn away from mainstream society is found far beyond American Christians.

https://unherd.com/thepost/the-british-answer-to-the-benedict-option/

Ioan Voicu writes: More than a quarter of the world's countries experienced in recent years a high incidence of conflicts or hostilities motivated by religious intolerance, mob violence related to religion, terrorism, and harassment of people for violating religious codes.

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20669

Religious Freedom

Meredith Doig writes: If the bill simply added 'religion' to the set of anti-discrimination grounds, that would be no bad thing. After all, the Australian government is obliged to operationalise international agreements.

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20574

Peter Kurti writes: The Religious Discrimination Bill would have been unnecessary had it not been for the intolerant actions of the secular left determined to silence and shame religious believers who dared to voice their beliefs in public.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/left-has-driven-need-for-religion-bill/

Kylie Beach writes: Attorney-General Christian Porter described the process of drafting the Religious Discrimination Bill as “a delicate process of balance” through which he has found “human rights are in a constant state of conflict”.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/religious-discrimination-bill-faces-a-tough-path/

Nick O'Malley writes: Australians support religious freedom protections for individuals but less for institutions such as schools or hospitals run by religious organisations, a new report has found.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australians-back-religious-freedom-for-people-not-for-institutions-20191202-p53g5r.html

Monica Wilkie writes: Australians’ famously tolerant attitude toward religion endures. But this view has a clear blind spot — religious organisations.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/respect-and-division-how-australians-view-religion/

Neil James Foster writes: The Commonwealth Government‘s second version of its draft legislation on religious discrimination has made a number of important changes to the previous drafts. But there are areas for improvement.

https://lawandreligionaustralia.blog/2019/12/10/second-draft-of-religious-discrimination-package-released/

Is there religious discrimination in Australia? John Steenhof has been involved in cases of Christians taken before various tribunals, employers and even the courts.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/its-not-persecution-but-these-christians-got-a-raw-deal/

John Sandeman writes: A definition of “vilify” is one of the key changes to the draft Religious Discrimination Bill announced by the federal Attorney-General Christian Porter.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/new-draft-of-religious-discrimination-bill-plugs-holes

Science

Dennis Sewell writes: The public’s perceptions of the Scopes trial have been shaped and coloured by popular culture. But almost everything we think we know about the trial turns out to be untrue.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/americas-great-victory-for-science-and-scientific-racism/

James Hannam writes: The medieval Church was surprisingly supportive of science and mathematics — and even popularised the modern university.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/the-myth-of-the-anti-science-middle-ages

Tom McLeish writes: The science-versus-religion opposition is a barrier to thought. Each one is a gift, rather than a threat, to the other.

https://aeon.co/essays/its-not-science-vs-religion-but-each-one-via-the-other

Sex

Zoe Strimpel writes: Despite its apparent ubiquity — on porn, social media and dating apps — numerous studies show that young people are having less of it and seem to be enjoying it less than ever before.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/why-are-the-young-falling-out-of-love-with-sex/

Sexuality

John Sandeman writes: A Victorian inquiry into “conversion practices” is examining options for new legislation to ban attempts to change people’s sexual orientation.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/praying-for-gay-celibacy-could-be-banned

In her newly published memoir Metanoia, Anna McGahan describes her struggles with self-worth, body image, relationships, and spiritual hunger, and how they led her to an unexpected place.

https://www.publicchristianity.org/memoir-of-a-body/

Slavery

Kylie Beach writes: New South Wales’ modern slavery laws may never actually become law, despite being passed by the Upper and Lower Houses in June, 2018, and receiving royal assent last December.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/anti-slavery-laws-get-buried-by-nsw-government/

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/susan-neiman-reparations-and-working-off-the-past/11760928

Social media

Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen ask: How do you disagree online without being aggressive? Is it OK for Christians to block or unfriend people? And how can Christians enter into social discussions without making Christianity look mean or dumb?

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/podcasts/social-media-etiquette-101

https://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=20614&page=0

A. Trevor Sutton writes: The spiritual discipline of fasting might have something new to teach those concerned about the increasing numbness produced in our tech-saturated world.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/dopamine-fasting-silicon-valleys-not-so-new-trend

Technology

A. Trevor Sutton writes: The spiritual discipline of fasting might have something new to teach those concerned about the increasing numbness produced in our tech-saturated world.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/articles/dopamine-fasting-silicon-valleys-not-so-new-trend

Trust and distrust

Karen Jones writes: Philosophers need to take a lesson from politicians and activists if they are to understand the ways in which climates of distrust can be manufactured, manipulated and resisted.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/understanding-emotions-and-breaking-the-cycle-of-distrust/11704032

US politics

Mark Galli writes: It’s time to say what we said 20 years ago when a president’s character was revealed for what it was.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html

Jane Coaston writes: Christianity Today's call for Trump’s isn't likely to change the minds of his evangelical supporters, especially because they think Democratic alternatives to Trump would be more unfavorable to them.

https://www.vox.com/2019/12/20/21031568/christianity-today-trump-evangelicals-editorial-removal

Melissa Barnhart writes: In a letter to Timothy Dalrymple, the president of Christianity Today, nearly 200 evangelical faith leaders condemned both its editorial calling for the removal of President Donald Trump from office and its editor-in-chief, Mark Galli, for dismissing evangelicals who oppose his views on the matter as being “far right”.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/nearly-200-evangelical-leaders-slam-christianity-today-for-questioning-their-christian-witness.html

Carl R. Trueman writes: Galli’s claim that the removal of Trump “is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments” is an astounding claim to make, for it involves him accusing every Trump voter of heinous sin, however reluctant or conflicted he may be.

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/12/evangelical-elites-are-out-of-touch

Timothy Dalrymple writes: We hold fast to our view that the wholehearted evangelical embrace of Trump has been enormously costly — but we are committed to irenic conversation with men and women of good faith who believe otherwise.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-evangelicals-editorial-christianity-today-president.html

Greg Sargent writes: In an unwittingly self-revealing moment, Trump responded to Christianity Today’s indictment of his profound moral failings with an argument that is thoroughly transactional and megalomaniacal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/20/trumps-rage-christianity-today-gives-away-his-scam/

Polly MacKenzie writes: There's a reason books such as Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train have been so popular this decade.

https://unherd.com/2019/12/how-liars-become-leaders/

Mike Bird writes: Grudem’s Trumpology presents a God with partisan mercy, who expects men and women to ignore their moral compasses, to call the wicked good and the good wicked, in order to keep themselves positioned in the court of earthly power.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2019/12/trump-grudem-and-hermeneutics/

Work & Retirement

Rebecca Abbott writes: Q4 – Rethinking Retirement”, an initiative by Christian Ministry Advancement, helps Christians make good use of their retirement for the kingdom of God.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/rethinking-retirement/

Ed West writes: The working environment allows kids to interact with adults, adopt their social norms and learn skills.

https://unherd.com/2019/11/why-child-labour-beats-school/

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/hazelwood-mine-operator-guilty-over-fire-20191120-p53cfi.html

As a lawyer, Senator, then priest, Father Michael Tate has thought long and deeply about vocation. He talks with CPX's Natasha Moore about several transitions in his life.

https://www.publicchristianity.org/the-poems-you-could-have-written/

Eric Quan writes: It is not that Faith and Work has not happened before or that there are no examples of success, but it feels like the beginning stages of a global movement, not just isolated pockets of activity. So where to from here?

https://www.lausanne.org/content/lga/2014-09/the-death-of-faith-and-work

Youth

The Worldviews of Australia's Generation Z study provides a powerful insight into how teenagers are making sense of the world around them.

www.faithvictoria.org.au/images/stories/events/generation-z-report.pdf

https://unherd.com/2019/11/why-are-the-young-falling-out-of-love-with-sex/

Zionism

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2017/06/the-new-christian-zionism