Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 024, 11-17 February 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News reports

Aboriginal issues

Dancing the Christian message according to their own culture is bringing a new generation of Aborigines to church and helping heal many wounds, according to Melbourne Anglican minister Wayne Connolly. The Age 14 Feb 05

The West Australian coalition will ask the federal government to overhaul the Native Title Act to reduce the ability of indigenous groups with unproven land claims to negotiate compensation from mining and pastoral companies. AFR 16 Feb 05

The Uniting Aboriginal Islander Christian Congress has staged a prayer meeting at the old roundhouse site, to oppose the arrival of STAR Force officers in Port Augusta, Western Australia. Members of the congress church believe that heavy handed tactics may be used by the STAR Force in dealing with social problems and feel that itinerant people consuming alcohol will be the most commonly targeted. Transcontinental 16 Feb 05

THE Howard Government’s new National Indigenous Council will meet today to discuss a plan to give Aboriginal families private ownership and economic opportunities using communal land. Aust 17 Feb 05

Abortion

The president of the national assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia believes there is no need to reopen the abortion debate, saying current laws allow women the space they need for an appropriate decision. Rev Dean Drayton, said respect for the sacredness of human life meant “advocating for the needs of women as well as the unborn child.” SMH 12 Feb 05

Anti-abortion campaigners have been urged to join the branches of mainstream political parties to push for a ban on abortion. Describing abortion as the blackest of crimes, the conservative upper house member and Liberal powerbroker David Clarke told abortion opponents at State Parliament yesterday that they should maximise their influence at grassroots preselection ballots. Speaking at an abortion forum chaired by the Christian Democrats leader, Fred Nile, Mr Clarke said an ideological shift from left to right in the Young Liberal movement pointed to a growing conservative political mood.
SMH 17 Feb 05

Adoption

More than four years after the NSW government changed the laws to make adoption of foster children easier, the number of children being placed in permanent care has reached a record low. Fewer than 12 children in state care were adopted in 2003-04. SMH 16 Feb 05

Alcohol

Australia’s largest alcohol distillers and distributors will sponsor a “responsible drinking committee” that aims to change the country’s drinking culture. The move comes as community concerns increase over the effects of alcohol advertising and the misuse of alcohol, especially by the young. AFR 11 Feb 05

Animal rights

The American founder of powerful animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, will ask the Federal Court in Sydney to throw out a landmark damages claim that aims to stop an international campaign against the Australian wool industry. AFR 11 Feb 05
Bioethics – cloning

Australian scientists today revealed they have cloned the world’s first cow produced using a technique known as serial nuclear transfer. SMH 17 Feb 05

Bioethics – embryo

Sydney’s Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, has opened a new front in the moral debate over the sanctity of embryonic life, saying the church would renew its push for a ban on the use of leftover embryos created during fertility treatment. SMH 11 Feb 05 *

Debt

Last weekend’s agreement in principle by the G-7, the group of seven countries to write off up to 100 percent of debts owed by dozens of poor countries kick-started the British-inspired “Marshall Plan” for the developing world. Debt-relief campaigners have for years argued that the heavy burden of repayments was stunting growth and exacerbating health, education and development problems in poor countries. But Western governments want to know that the money they are releasing will go toward poverty relief and not be spent on presidential palaces and fighter planes. They also need to know that their domestic public is prepared to pay.
Christian Science Monitor 9 Feb 05 *

Disability

Catholic Welfare Australia, Catholic Health Australia, and the St Vincent de Paul Society are part of a new alliance of disability and welfare organisations that is promoting a positive program of reform to improve payments and employment services for people with disabilities. CathNews 16 Feb 05

Energy

Leading businessman Leon Davis has called for a national public debate on the use of nuclear energy to counter the threat of global warming from atmospheric greenhouse gases. AFR 14 Feb 05

Nuclear power is a sensible option for Australia to embrace, maintains Leslie Kemeny, Australian member of the International Nuclear Energy Academy. AFR 14 Feb 05 *

The federal government’s $500 million Low Emissions Technology Fund, announced last year ahead of the federal election to promote clean coal technology, has not yet issued its guidelines and will still take months to be established, energy experts warn. AFR 16 Feb 05

Environment

We are missing out on huge opportunities by not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, laments Labor’s environment spokesman Anthony Albanese. Aust 14 Feb 05 *

In an effort to refute what they call a “false gospel” and to change destructive attitudes and actions concerning the environment, a group of theologians, convened by the National Council of Churches USA, today released an open letter calling on Christians to repent of “our social and ecological sins” and to reject teachings that suggest humans are “called” to exploit the Earth without care for how our behavior impacts the rest of God’s creation. The statement, God’s Earth is Sacred: An Open Letter to Church and Society in the United States, points out that there is both an environmental and a theological crisis that must be addressed. NCC News Service 14 Feb 05

First step or fundamentally flawed – Bryson bates, director of CSIRO Climate, and Warwick McKibbin, professorial fellow at the Lowy Institute, offer opposing views on the Kyoto Protocol. AFR 16 Feb 05 *

Kyoto is a poor solution to a difficult problem and the real issue is what to do when Kyoto expires in 2012, argues the AFR leader. AFR 16 Feb 05 *

The Kyoto Protocol’s targets and timetables for emissions is economically flawed, argues Alan Wood. Aust 16 Feb 05 *

Brisbane’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission marked yesterday’s coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol with an education and information initiative aimed at householders. In a statement, the Commission acknowledged the coming into force of the Protocol, but stopped short of criticising Prime Minister John Howard for following the US lead in refusing to ratify the Protocol. CathNews 17 Feb 05

Evangelism

Leigh Brown, Executive Director of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association – Australia, announced the four-day, BGEA International School of Evangelism will be held at the Merroo Conference Centre in Richmond NSW, 5-8 September 2005. The training session is the third phase of the Billy Graham “Recreating Australia” initiative that began with a national event in May 2004. Phase 2 occurred in October and November last year. Media release 11 Feb 05

Gambling

Australians gambled more than $1.6 billion in pubs and clubs in the December 2004 quarter, and gambling proceeds constituted 3.3 per cent of total retail trade. These ABS figures do not include losses in casinos or over the phone. AFR 12-13 Feb 05

Marriage

Unhappy couples who stay together for the sake of their children are not doing them a favour, a 14-year Australian sociological study undertaken by the University of Queensland has found. Children raised in two-parent families with a lot of conflict or violence had the same risk of mental health and behavioural problems as children in single- parent or step families. SMH 11 Feb 05

Open marriages and strict monogamy are equally unrealistic goals, writes The Guardian’s Stuart Jeffries. SMH 11 Feb 05 *

Persecution

Much persecution of Christians in China today has its roots in 19th Century history that left the Chinese suspicious and fearful of foreign influence. Chinese Christians are still paying the price. Any Christianity that is not controlled by China’s Communist government is banned as seditious. Pastor Gong Shengliang, senior pastor of the 50,000-strong South China Church (house-church network), is serving a life sentence and has already come close to death. Also imprisoned is well-known house-church patriarch Pastor Zhang Rongliang, leader of the 10 million-strong China for Christ house-church network. Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin 16 Feb 05

Privacy

The difficulties of dealing with new technology have contributed to a six-month delay in drafting legislation to outlaw spyware. The Australian Democrats are drafting the Spyware Control Bill, which would ban the use of software that covertly gathers information on internet users, often for advertising purposes. AFR 14 Feb 05

Social justice

InterVarsity (USA) held a conference on the theme “Jesus, Justice and Poverty” in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district from 11-13 February. “We want to see non-Christian students who are already passionate about justice issues discover the Jesus who walks among the poor,” InterVarsity Global Projects Director Scott Bessenecker said. “And we want to see Christian students who are ignorant or na ¯ve about justice issues discover that Jesus is passionate about confronting evil and bringing deliverance to the oppressed,” he said. Ethnic reconciliation and justice are part of InterVarsity’s core commitments. http://www.intervarsity.org/news/news.php?item_id=1526

Terrorism

Freed terror suspect Mamdouh Habib owed Australia’s Muslim community an explanation about what he was doing in Pakistan and Afghanistan before his capture, Lebanese Muslim Association president Keysar Trad said yesterday. Aust 16 Feb 05

Workplace relations

Workers’ compensation must form part of industrial relations reform, argues IR solicitor John Pesutto. AFR 16 Feb 05

Australia needs a single national workplace regulation system, and a system of simplified incorporation to bring more small firms into the national scheme under the corporations power. AFR leader 16 Feb 05

Increased deregulation of industrial relations means greater prosperity, argues Michael Chaney, chief executive of Westfarmers and chairman of the Business Council of Australia’s employment and participation taskforce. Aust 16 Feb 05 *

Other items of interest

In Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazareth, theologian Michael J. McClymond questions the Jesus of modern scholars. Reviewed by Jeremy Lott. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/002/35.89.html

Keith Suter argues for the abolition of the “Nobel” Economics Prize (financed by the Bank of Sweden and promoting US economists of the Chicago School) since its purpose is contrary to Alfred Nobel’s goal of improving the human condition. http://www.wesleymission.org.au/ministry/suter/050211.asp

There are few novelists who can write about faith in a real and evocative way. Depending upon the writer’s experiences, depictions of Chris ­tian people and their faith tend either towards bitterness or tri ­umphalism. Tim Winton is one exception. http://www.media.anglican.com.au/tma/2005/timwinton.html

“In the past few years the identity of the religious right has crystallized around the issues of abortion and homosexual marriage. On a smaller scale, the religious left has championed issues relating to peace and justice . As Christians and citizens, we have every right to hold and express opinions. We also have the right to try to persuade folks that we are right and invite them to join us in our cause. Trouble develops when persuasion gives way to legislative activism.” http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=5375

Baylor University’s 10-year plan, Baylor 2012, calls for “a robust integration of Christian faith and the intellectual life” in traditional disciplines such as religion, literature, and philosophy and also in music, art, history, and the social and physical sciences. Baylor President Robert Sloan, champion of the plan, says no corner of his Baptist university can escape the “all-inclusive claims of the lordship of Jesus Christ.” http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/003/10.72.html

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. An asterisc (*) following an entry indicates that the article contains significant new information or comment.