Link Highlights | September 2019

Monday, 7 October 2019 | Ethos editor

Link highlights – September 2019

Below is a selection of links to online news and opinion pieces from September 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.

Abortion

Helen Thomas reflects on the pain and peace of a shocking diagnosis.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/a-time-to-be-born/

A mother writes: 'It was the hardest decision my husband and I ever had to make, a decision you would wish on no one. Yet here it was, suddenly served up to us, with precious little time to choose. Would it be life or death for our unborn child?'

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/current/a-tale-of-late-term-abortion/

Elizabeth Shi and Ariella Gordon write: Doctors who won't perform abortions on religious grounds may have stronger legal protection and may not be compelled to refer women to an alternative provider. Here's why that's bad news for women.

https://theconversation.com/women-may-find-it-tougher-to-get-an-abortion-if-the-religious-discrimination-bill-becomes-law-123089

Kylie Beach and John Sandeman write: Niall Blair (Nationals) introduced an amendment that would stipulate babies born alive through abortions be given appropriate medical care and treatment except in cases where it is considered futile.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/mps-debate-medical-care-for-babies-born-from-abortions/

The NSW Legislative Council is debating conscientious objection to abortion for doctors and other medical workers. John Sandeman writes.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/doctors-rights-to-object-to-abortion-the-focus-of-debate/

As the NSW Parliament considers whether or not abortion should be legalised, Megan Powell du Toit and Michael Jensen discuss the broader issues raised by the abortion debate.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/podcasts/ep-24-abortion-law-christians-and-the-handmaids-tale

Whatever our differences with Catholic social teaching, we should echo Pope Francis' opposition to “throwaway culture", writes Daniel Darling in his review of 'Resisting Throwaway Culture' by Charles C. Camosy.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/september-web-only/charles-camosy-resisting-throwaway-culture-pope-francis.html

Elizabeth Oldfield writes: While we doubtless can’t do anything to resolve this deep rift, we can at least change the terms of the debate so that is kinder to all those concerned, not least the many women for whom this is a live issue.

https://unherd.com/2019/10/why-cant-we-talk-about-abortion/

Animals and Animal Rights

David Brooks writes: Writing about the animal is always fraught territory. Even the term “animal” itself can be seen as objectionable, a blanket term used to keep “them” at a distance and preserve the myth of our — that is, humanity’s — essential difference.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/david-brooks-learning-to-listen-to-charlie/11547950

Art and Culture

Rod Pattenden writes: The story of the Good Samaritan is a familiar one, but in its original context it was a story that was utterly shocking to its first hearers. Artist and priest Bob Booth explores its potential to upset allegiances and to re-examine values and ethical actions in the contemporary world.

https://artandtheology.net/2019/09/21/neighbours-enemies-friends/

Body and Body Image

Elisabeth Carter writes about why Christian women need to reframe the battle over weight loss.

https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/columns/this-life/13276-this-life-battling-our-bodies

Child sexual abuse

Farrah Tomazin, Chris Vedelago and Debbie Cuthbertson write: Corpus Christi was where sexually repressed men could “act out” with each other, living double lives, then transfer their attentions to the most innocent in their flocks.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-a-melbourne-seminary-became-the-breeding-ground-for-paedophile-rings-20190917-p52s1n.html

Farrah Tomazin, Chris Vedelago and Debbie Cuthbertson write: Australia’s Catholic Church is considering scrapping the centuries-old system of training priests in seminaries, which helped create some of the country’s worst paedophiles.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-catholic-church-rethinks-seminary-training-after-its-child-abuse-scandal-20190924-p52uhv.html

It’s make-or-break time for the Catholic Church in Australia. Reform won’t be easy and will require the involvement of Catholic men and women at all levels of the church. Geraldine Doogue examines the tensions and struggles for change.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/watch/compass/what-now-for-catholics/11537940

Childcare

Fiona Mueller writes: Despite the massive investment in childcare, at least half the parents eligible for the new Child Care Subsidy see the system as inflexible and unaffordable.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/we-could-do-better-on-child-care/

Cities and population

What began as an earnest desire to impact the city of New York is now a passion to see the gospel brought to the cities of the world, writes Sara Kyoungah White.

https://www.lausanne.org/about/blog/two-breakfasts-cape-town-led-movement-worlds-cities

Civil disobedience

The political forces in the region also pose an existential threat to the church. The people of Hong Kong have protested for greater freedoms for years, but the latest demonstrations represent a historic outcry.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/september/prophetic-voice-of-hong-kongs-protesters.html

Civil society and discourse

William Schweiker writes: The main threat nowadays to democratic governance is not from, say, an “external” invasion, but the internal corrosion of institutions meant to stave off tyrannous forces.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/sharpiegate-or-origins-and-ends-democracy

Lanie Anderson writes: If we are called to love our enemies, how much more should we love people with whom we have strong disagreements?

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/september-web-only/guilt-by-association-love-enemies.html

Consumerism

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/september-web-only/charles-camosy-resisting-throwaway-culture-pope-francis.html

Death and Dying

When an incurable condition gets its claws into your brain and you can’t look after yourself, remember what day it is, or recognise your loved ones, what should society do? Radio National talks to Margaret Somerville and Peter Singer.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/the-people-vs/the-people-vs-death/11511282

Dementia

Who are you if you don't remember those you love? And if you're religious, what does it mean to forget God? John Swinton and Robyn Wrigley-Carr discuss dementia.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/godforbid/ageing-well-with-dementia/11503128

Economics, finance and inequality

Dana McCauley writes: Senator Walsh, who spent five years in the United States, said in an interview that Australians living in regional areas were as fed up as those in unemployment-plagued American towns who swept President Donald Trump to power in 2016.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secure-jobs-needed-to-avoid-a-descent-into-trump-style-populism-new-labor-senator-says-20190910-p52ptp.html

Euan Black writes: Decades of booming property prices and stagnant wages mean assets now determine a person’s class more than their job and pay-cheque – and it’s making life much harder for Australians born to asset-poor parents.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/property/2019/09/13/australia-class-system-assets/

Simon Cowan writes: As the government repeatedly says, the best form of welfare is a job, but when it comes to getting people off welfare and into employment there is a key distinction between short term and long term unemployment.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/jobs-the-best-welfare/

Education

Anna Halafoff and Gary Bouma write: If we genuinely care about countering prejudices against and negative stereotypes of religions, whether minorities or majorities, the most effective way is to include more teaching about diverse religions in all schools taught by qualified and trained teachers, and to have this meaningfully incorporated into the Australian curriculum.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/replace-religious-instruction-with-worldviews-education-in-aust/11549050

Environment and Nature

How do churchgoers view issues related to the environment? What actions do they take? 2016 NCLS results show strong convictions about caring for the earth. Some 93% of churchgoers felt that they had a Christian responsibility to care for the environment.

http://ncls.org.au/news/views-on-the-environment

Jacinta Bowler writes: Whole industries have sprung up dedicated to help alleviate climate stress. Tote bags, metal straws and more. All of this looks great, but it doesn't help the underlying issue: We are still buying way too much stuff.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/green-consumerism-is-part-of-the-problem

Fiona Charlson writes: When we think about the health impacts of climate change, the effects of rising temperatures on physical health are often front of mind. But climate change affects people's mental health, too.

https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-eco-anxiety-climate-change-affects-our-mental-health-too-123002

A group of Christian students tell Eternity what motivated them to join the School Strike for Climate and speak up on the need for urgent action on climate change.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/eternity-marks-the-roll-the-kids-at-the-climate-strike

Roger Crisp writes: The challenges of climate can seem overwhelming. But individual choices can be guided by ancient wisdom.

https://theconversation.com/be-excellent-how-ancient-virtues-can-guide-our-responses-to-the-climate-crisis-123854

Bronwyn Lay writes: These strikes aren't solely sites of protestation but rather a chance to step out of the individual grey loneliness to come together for our collective future in intergenerational solidarity. There is something powerful and visceral about putting your body on the street, in the public forum, with other bodies and being vulnerable and exposed together.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/after-the-climate-strike

Writing for 10 daily on the eve of the Global Climate Strike, Tim Costello offers three reasons why Christians should care about climate change.

https://10daily.com.au/views/a190918siejz/tim-costello-striking-for-our-climate-is-the-christian-thing-to-do-20190919

Nicole Rogers writes: The phrase “climate emergency” became part of the political lexicon this year. But what has this meant in practical terms?

https://theconversation.com/activists-are-using-the-climate-emergency-as-a-new-legal-defence-to-justify-law-breaking-122949

Plato and Aristotle were acute observers and analysts of the world around them, but they never had to deal with climate change. Can the ancients show us how to recover the essential aspects of social harmony - trust, virtue and reason? Roger Crisp talks to Radio National.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/ethics-and-the-climate/11532046

Ed West writes: it’s possible to agree with Greta and yet feel uncomfortable with children leading political movements. My instinct is the same as it would be in any perilous situation – that we should tell them it’s going to be fine.

https://unherd.com/thepost/greta-may-be-right-but-the-spectacle-is-wrong/

Jennifer O'Connell writes: In an age when democracy is under assault, Greta Thunberg hints at the emergence of a new kind of power, a convergence of youth, popular protest and irrefutable science.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/why-is-greta-thunberg-so-triggering-for-certain-men-1.4002264

Tom Chivers writes: We seem to be going through a global mass extinction event, caused by humans. But we need to keep it in the correct context.

https://unherd.com/2019/09/why-climate-change-isnt-the-end-of-the-world/

Mark Brandon writes: While the document makes some striking statements, it is actually relatively conservative with its conclusions – perhaps because it had to be approved by the 195 nations that ratify the IPCC’s reports.

https://theconversation.com/ipcc-report-paints-catastrophic-picture-of-melting-ice-and-rising-sea-levels-and-reality-may-be-even-worse-124193

Camilla Nelson and Meg Vertigan write: Greta Thunberg's critics say the climate activist is unstable, hysterical and mentally ill. That's because she challenges the view that the world is theirs to conquer.

https://theconversation.com/misogyny-male-rage-and-the-words-men-use-to-describe-greta-thunberg-124347

Scott Higgins writes: Australians who identify with Christianity are less likely to believe in anthropogenically induced climate change. However, this does not appear to be the case for church-attending Christians.

https://scottjhiggins.com/christianity-climate-change/

John Sandeman writes: As a Christian, I take the Bible as my final arbiter of what I believe and do. So does that rule out action on Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) – human induced climate change? For some Christians, it seems it does.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/climate-change-versus-the-bible/

Film reviews

Marcus Cheong writes: The Goldfinch explores the paradox of life that is both random and serendipitous, where there is both cruelty and love.

https://www.sightmagazine.com.au/reviews/on-the-screen/13449-on-the-screen-the-goldfinch-a-profound-allegory-of-tragedy-serendipity-and-ultimately-freedom

Freedom

It is hard to recognize in her fiction any distinctly Catholic elements, yet Morrison’s novels are deeply religious, writes Amy Frykholm. Faith, in Morrison’s novels, is about improvising a way toward freedom.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/holiness-toni-morrison-s-fictional-worlds

Gambling

Cait Kelly writes: Tim Costello has warned that gambling advertisers are ‘grooming our children’ before some of the country’s biggest sporting events, including the AFL grand final and the spring racing carnival.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2019/09/24/gambling-children-advertising/

Hate speech

Monica Wilkie writes: The Australian Human Rights Commission’s recommendations for discrimination law reform would put the onus of proof on the innocent. This unacceptable infringement on the presumption of innocence. The aim of discrimination law should not be to make it easier to make complaints.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/onus-of-proof-seemingly-old-fashioned/

Hell

David Bentley Hart writes: Revelation is, for the most part, an extravagantly allegorical prophecy not about the end of history as such but about the inauguration of a new historical epoch. It is about the end of history in a final judgment and then the end of judgment in a final reconciliation.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/final-judgment-really-final

Homelessness and housing

https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/property/2019/09/13/australia-class-system-assets/

Law, human rights and free speech

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/onus-of-proof-seemingly-old-fashioned/

Monica Wilkie writes: Flawed ‘hate speech’ laws are a threat to free speech. The best way to protect minorities – while also properly protecting free speech – is to ensure the criminal laws prohibiting incitements and threats of violence are effective. Inciting and threatening violence has long been against the law.

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/dont-kill-free-speech-to-kill-hate-speech/

Literature

Faith, in Morrison’s novels, is about improvising a way toward freedom, writes Amy Frykholm.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/holiness-toni-morrison-s-fictional-worlds

Katherine Ladd writes: At their centre, Atwood’s novels are really about power: power that corrupts the heart and uses religion as an instrument of oppression.

https://www.licc.org.uk/resources/god-in-gilead/

Mental health

https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-eco-anxiety-climate-change-affects-our-mental-health-too-123002

Mission

What began as an earnest desire to impact the city of New York is now a passion to see the gospel brought to the cities of the world, writes Sara Kyoungah White.

https://www.lausanne.org/about/blog/two-breakfasts-cape-town-led-movement-worlds-cities

Money and possessions

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/green-consumerism-is-part-of-the-problem

Moral philosophy

Immanuel Kant held that moral education is hydraulic: shame squashes down our vices, making space for virtue to rise up, writes Louise Chapman.

https://aeon.co/essays/on-immanuel-kants-hydraulic-model-of-moral-education

Susan Neiman writes: The Enlightenment thinkers mounted an argument, not about the truth or probability of religion, but something far more striking: that traditional religion is immoral. So why did these same thinkers insist on maintaining ties to religion after all?

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/susan-neiman-why-reason-needs-reverence-moral-clarity-from-the/11505232

Persecution

https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2019/september/prophetic-voice-of-hong-kongs-protesters.html

Politics, society and ideology

The promise of liberal democracy was that it could be a just and fair political order irrespective of the moral character of those that comprise it. But, asks Adrian Pabst, if these democracies are now ailing, maybe even failing, what might a recovery of a politics of virtue look like?

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/theminefield/has-virtue-become-irrelevant-to-democratic-politics/11457242

Roger Scruton writes: Douglas Murray’s The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity explores the ways in which the spirit of the mob has entered the language of public debate. The attempt to derive a positive philosophy from this assemblage of negatives leads to absurdity and contradiction at every turn.

https://unherd.com/2019/09/how-identity-politics-drove-the-world-mad/

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/sharpiegate-or-origins-and-ends-democracy

John Gray writes: Christianity is dismissed as a fairy tale but its assumptions underpin the modern secular world.

https://www.newstatesman.com/dominion-making-western-mind-tom-holland-review

John Falzon writes: We're taught to think that aspiration means what you do alone, what sets you apart. As such it is a concept that is both lauded and loaded. Aspiration, neoliberal style, is a secular version of the gospel of prosperity so loved by the prime minister. God, or the Market, smiles on those who aspire to greater things.

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/reframing-aspiration-as-a-collective-force

Mary Harrington writes: In seeking to push back against narratives that could be used to encourage bigotry, the Left has blinded itself to the biggest contemporary inequality story of all: the emergence of a new cognitive elite.

https://unherd.com/2019/09/social-mobility-wont-bring-social-justice/

Prosperity Theology

https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article/reframing-aspiration-as-a-collective-force

Religion in Society

Rory Shiner asks: If, some years from now, the last Christian in Australia is buried by children who no longer share their parent’s faith, what will that moment mean? Will it matter if Australia loses God – the God of Christian faith?

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/what-happens-after-the-last-christian-australia-secularisation-and-god/

Philip Jenkins writes: The Danish TV series Herrens veje depicts the inner battles of flawed and sinful individuals who are nevertheless determined to fulfill their clerical and Christian role to the best of their abilities.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/notes-global-church/herrens-veje-church-leaders-have-justify-their-existence

Giles Fraser writes: The term ‘evangelical’ has been so distorted by American politics that is meaning is now a million miles away from its historical formulation – so laments Thomas Kidd in a bracing new book Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis.

https://unherd.com/thepost/the-strange-phenomenon-of-maga-evangelicals/

https://artandtheology.net/2019/09/21/neighbours-enemies-friends/

Katherine Ladd writes: At their centre, Atwood’s novels are really about power: power that corrupts the heart and uses religion as an instrument of oppression.

https://www.licc.org.uk/resources/god-in-gilead/

The faith of the Church transformed the West — and the entire world, says Tom Holland, author of Dominion, in an interview with Andrew Brown.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/27-september/features/features/tom-holland-interview-we-swim-in-christian-waters

Derek Thompson writes: “Not religious” has become a specific American identity — one that distinguishes secular, liberal whites from the conservative, evangelical right.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/atheism-fastest-growing-religion-us/598843/

Thomas Swan and Jamin Halberstadt write: Superheroes may be able to regenerate and fly through walls, but their supernatural qualities differ from those of spiritual beings that attract religious devotion.

https://theconversation.com/what-fictional-superheroes-can-tell-us-about-devotion-and-why-we-believe-in-gods-123860

Religious Freedom

Eternity's John Sandeman explains the Religious Discrimination Bill.

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/a-simple-guide-to-the-religious-discrimination-bill/

Scott Buchanan writes: The alleged equation between Israel Folau’s firing and the hiring policies of religious schools – issues that have intensified the confused debate concerning religious liberty in Australia – is superficially compelling. But the similarities are outweighed by key differences.

https://scottlbuchanan.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/rugby-stars-religious-schools-and-the-charge-of-hypocrisy/

Paul Karp writes: The flaws in the Coalition’s religious discrimination bill are “so serious” it cannot be supported in its current form, the Sydney Anglican diocese has warned. And Freedom for Faith warns of possible ‘bizarre and profoundly damaging’ consequences.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/01/religious-discrimination-bill-so-flawed-it-cannot-be-supported-anglicans-say

Tom Stayner writes: The Australian Human Rights Commission has laid out a series of perceived flaws in the Morrison government’s draft Religious Discrimination Bill.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/human-rights-commission-targets-overly-broad-religious-discrimination-bill

Spirituality

Ron Malzer writes: The film 'Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese' provides a glimpse into one creative artist’s attempt to tame his inner demons.

https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/bob-dylan’s-troubled-quest-release

Elizabeth Oldfield writes: Economists have been trying to put a monetary value on prayer by testing how willing people are to pay for it.

https://unherd.com/thepost/how-much-is-a-prayer-worth/

Suicide

On World Suicide Prevention Day, Stephen McAlpine wrote: 'We think we’re going to make it. We think that the elastic band won’t snap until it does. And when it does we wonder why we never eased off the tension when the signs were there. But we never do.’

https://stephenmcalpine.com/depressed/

Transgender

From the archives: Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the former psychiatrist-in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital and its current Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry, said that transgender surgery is not the solution for people who suffer a “disorder of ‘assumption’”.

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/johns-hopkins-psychiatrist-transgender-mental-disorder-sex-change

US politics

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/secure-jobs-needed-to-avoid-a-descent-into-trump-style-populism-new-labor-senator-says-20190910-p52ptp.html

Western civilisation

Warwick Anderson writes: “Western civilisation" continues to cause considerable agitation, despite only taking root in the past 25 years. The notion has rapidly replaced the more delicate and complex idea of an "Australian civilisation", which is almost extinct.

https://www.abc.net.au/religion/whatever-happened-to-australian-civilisation/11543430

Women

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/holiness-toni-morrison-s-fictional-worlds

Work

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/jobs-the-best-welfare/

David Spencer writes: Not only could less work pay for itself by boosting productivity, it's necessary for human and planetary well-being.

http://theconversation.com/four-day-work-week-is-a-necessary-part-of-human-progress-heres-a-plan-to-make-it-happen-124104