Religion & Ethics Australia Daily

A twice-weekly public affairs review from the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College

No. 020, 21-23 December 2004  ² edited by Rod Benson

News reports

Aboriginal issues

The Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) has agreed to auspice the newly formed National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee (NIDAC). ANCD Chairman, Major Brian Watters, stated, “NIDAC would be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Complementary National Drug Strategy for Indigenous People and recommending funding for new and innovative programs.” Media release 22 Dec 04

In a backlash against the federal government hand-picking its own indigenous advisors, three national Aboriginal bodies representing hundreds of community-controlled organisations are setting up a rival council.
SMH 23-25 Dec 04

Abortion

The Taskforce on Pastoral Responses to Abortion, established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, held its inaugural meeting in Sydney yesterday. The taskforce members will review the measures and programs currently in place within the Church and her agencies to respond to the needs of women contemplating abortion. Media release 23 Dec 04

Alcohol

Commenting on alcohol warning labels, the Chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs, Major Brian Watters, stated “Alcohol consumption in Australia is seen as a socially acceptable practice, especially at this time of year when people celebrate the Christmas season. However what is often overlooked is the significant range of short and long term harms that alcohol has on individuals and the community. Given that alcohol kills more than 3,200 people and is responsible for over 43,000 hospital admissions each year it not only seems sensible but responsible to introduce warning labels on alcoholic beverages. Media release 22 Dec 04

Anti-discrimination

Commenting on responses to Justice Higgins’ ruling in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that Catch the Fire Ministries and Pastors Daniel Nalliah and Daniel Scot had vilified Muslims, the Australian Evangelical Alliance noted that “While it is important to address the effects of the Religious and Racial Tolerance Act on the conduct of religious debate in Victoria, we need to keep the big picture in sharp focus – the effect on mission of the way we engage with and speak about those of other faiths. Apart from being a matter of courtesy, it is a matter of good missiology – both local and global. This should be our primary concern.” At the same time, “EA has always questioned the introduction of the Act on a number of grounds, and continues to believe that there is at least a need for significant amendments in order to safeguard a proper and open discussion of religious faiths. We will collaborate with others with a view to at least gaining improvements to the Act, if not its repeal.” Media release 22 Dec 04

Christmas

Jesus Christ once explained why he came into the world by likening himself to a doctor. A doctor only calls on the sick, he pointed out. He made his house call to earth to heal the sick in soul . Why do I call Jesus a doctor of the soul? This year, one of our leading adolescent psychologists referred to our teenagers as ‘spiritual anorexics.’ We are all worried about the environment and possible climate change. But we should also be worried about the cultural climate, and the damage that it is doing to our young people. It seems that parents are finding it very hard to pass on some vital elements of the healthy life, especially a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose and a capacity for relationships. This is what I mean by a sickness of the soul. Jesus came into the world to heal such diseases of the soul. When we trust Jesus, and put him in charge of our lives, he gives us meaning, he gives us purpose, he gives us community. Christmas continues to be celebrated by gift-giving because Jesus is the supreme gift to the world. From Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Christmas message 2004

December 25, originally a pagan feast day, belongs to the non-believers, writes Christopher Henning. “If the fundamentalists try, using blandishments or guilt, to lure you or your children into their churches this southern midsummer, remember: just say no,” he said.
SMH 22 Dec 04 *

More than a decade ago some evangelical and fundamentalist Christians asserted that no Santa-generated ho! ho! ho! would punctuate an angelic song proclaiming the birth of Jesus; that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was not numbered among the animals purportedly surrounding the manger in which the newly born Jesus was cradled; and that Santa, cunningly disguised, was not one of the wise men who followed a mysteriously wandering star to a stable in Bethlehem. More recently, “politically correct” municipal councillors and governmental bureaucrats have, perhaps unknowingly, agreed with evangelical and fundamentalist Christians that Christmas is a uniquely Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus. But, given multicultural Australia, they argue that Christmas, Santa Claus et al must go. Nativity scenes, the singing of traditional carols and appearances by Santa Claus at government schools are out of bounds. Happy Holidays is OK; Merry Christmas is not. Christians and well-meaning “politically correct” secularists who assert that Christmas is a uniquely Christian festival are victims of what one might call “the dogma in the manger.” The Age 23 Dec 04

Consumerism

Retail stores have strategies to convince shoppers that they are satisfying basic needs, writes Alex May. “We are beyond satisfying basic demands and we have moved to a tertiary level where consumption becomes leisure,” director of a think tank called the Centre for Customer Strategy, Ross Honeywell, said. SMH 22 Dec 04 *

Environment

The federal government is considering carbon “currencies” and has sought other innovative measures to build climate change policies beyond the Kyoto protocol. Environment Minister Ian Campbell said a conference in Australia in April would discuss new, flexible systems that were the antithesis of Kyoto’s “centralised, top-down system of capped targets and taxes.” SMH 21 Dec 04

Unclear data about the causes of global warming is becoming sharper and scarier, writes Ben Sandilands. AFR 23-28 Dec 04 *

Bob Beale and Mike Archer write on the economics of conservation. AFR 23-28 Dec 04 *

Ethics – business – Australia

James Hardie has struck a $1.5 billion deal to compensate people injured by its asbestos products. AFR 22 Dec 04

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has forced 22 directors and senior employees from 17 West Australian airconditioning contracting firms into the Federal Court to answer allegations they took turns ripping off clients such as the ABC and the CSIRO. Aust 22 Dec 04

Freedom of information

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal judge has ruled that government ministers are entitled to keep some documents secret because interference in the smooth running of government was against the public interest. Aust 22 Dec 04

Population

Victoria has stepped up its push to attract more immigrants, targeting skilled overseas workers and young people moving from interstate. The state plans to increase its current population of 5 million to 6 million by 2025. AFR 22 Dec 04

Prostitution

The Queensland government has been urged to relax restrictions on brothels in residential areas after being told 90 per cent of the state’s sex workers were acting illegally. A recent report stated that although prostitution was legalized in Queensland in 1999, the state’s 14 legal brothels covered just 10 per cent of the state’s sex industry. Sex workers were reluctant to move into licensed brothels as there was more work available in the escort business. Aust 22 Dec 04

Refugees

Eight men who escaped from Woomera detention centre two years ago and wandered barefoot in the desert after being abandoned by people protesting against their detention had been given an “inadequate” sentence for the breakout and should face a harsher penalty, according to an appeal launched in the South Australian Supreme Court by the commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. Aust 21 Dec 04

The Howard government was arranging to deport the eight Bakhtiyari asylum-seekers while a High Court appeal was still being heard. But they would not be deported before Christmas. Aust 22 Dec 04

Sex

Research into the sexual practices of American college students has identified a new phenomenon known as “hooking up.” This involves the usual gamut of sexual activity, but among participants who typically know little about each other and want to know even less. Hooking up is the norm for some young people and is replacing traditional dating and the old boyfriend/girlfriend coupling. The result could be more failed marriages, unstable families and unhappy lives. SMH 22 Dec 04 *

Social justice

Australian chief executives are discovering that helping the less fortunate and being environmentally responsible is not only good for the soul and staff morale, it can also benefit the bottom line. AFR 23-28 Dec 04 *

Suicide

In 2003 teenage suicide was at its lowest rate in a decade and fewer young males (15-19 years) committed suicide than in any other age group. Suicide accounted for 19.9 per cent of total male deaths and 13.1 per cent of total female deaths registered in this age group, in 2003, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics report Suicide: Recent Trends, Australia. The Report also revealed that there were 2213 deaths from suicide registered in 2003 – a slight decrease from 2320 registered in the previous year.
Wesley Mission media release 21 Dec 04

Trade

Trade-distorting protectionism comes in many forms. Alan Moran and Mark Thirlwell write on anti-dumping and export penalties. AFR 22 Dec 04

War

It is increasingly clear that the Iraq war has been lost – too bad Washington’s leaders won’t admit it, argues David Day. Aust 22 Dec 04

Other items of interest

Swiss-born Catholic theologian Hans K ¼ng recently published the first volume of his memoirs, My Struggle for Freedom. He speaks to Stephen Crittenden about his life, key figures such as Pius XII, theologians Karl Barth and Yves Congar, and former colleague turned foe, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. And he takes the blowtorch to the pontificate of John Paul II which he describes as “a medieval papacy” and “a church of the fa §ade.” http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1260280.htm

The joint initiative of the Australian and Indonesian foreign ministers, this week’s International Dialogue on Interfaith Co-operation in Jogjakarta brought together 124 religious leaders and community representatives from the South East Asian region. In response to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s call for religious leaders to denounce terrorism from their pulpits, the leader of one of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisations accused Australia of backing “state sponsored” US terrorism in Iraq. How successful has this venture been? And what role does the state have in hosting interreligious dialogue anyway? http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/relrpt/stories/s1260273.htm

Former President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a prominent advocate of women in ministry, Roy Honeycutt, has died aged 78. http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=5139

Kevin Yuill discusses ten myths about assisted suicide. http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA82B.htm

Sure, it’s not to be admired. But busy professors need to find ways to “conserve energy.” Thomas Bartlett and Scott Smallwood discuss academic plagiarism. http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i17/17a00802.htm

The murder of Theo van Gogh 911 days after the assassination of Pim Fortuyn has had the same effect on Holland as the attack on the World Trade Center on the US. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=5059&R=A1061131

READ is published by the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, 120 Herring Rd, Eastwood NSW 2122 AUSTRALIA. Telephone (02) 9878 0201. The content and views expressed in articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College or the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT. Subscription is free. To subscribe, email with the words “subscribe to READ” in the subject line. You may use the same email address to request more information. Abbreviations: AFR=The Australian Financial Review; Aust=The Australian; SMH=The Sydney Morning Herald.