Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 028, 11-17 March 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News reports

Aboriginal issues

The ANU’s Alison Booth looks at the factors contributing to the poor health of indigenous Australians. AFR 14 Mar 05 *

Bioethics – cloning

The Catholic Church has welcomed the non-binding United Nations vote against therapeutic cloning, especially in view of a local law review that is due to start in weeks. More. Also.

Church & state

Church ministers are required to uphold all of what the institution stands for, writes Steve Waldon. “The church is not the sanctifier of the state. It does not bless the flag of any one nation, but is supposed to minister to people of all nations. The central symbol for the church is the cross, not the Australian flag,” he said. The Age 14 Mar 05

Corporate regulation

The chairwoman of James Hardie, Meredith Hellicar, has called for an extension of corporate law to include a broad duty of fairness to all stakeholders, saying it could protect company directors from shareholder lawsuits. AFR 17 Mar 05

Counselling

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is changing the way it will train ministers to deal with the needs of hurting parishioners. The “biblical counseling movement,” a popular evangelical approach to counseling, promotes resolving personal problems through a strict Bible-based foundation, while rejecting psychology, and especially psychotherapy, as a “pseudoscience” that is incompatible with biblical truth. More.

Debt

Significant new commitments were made by several governments, in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to dramatically combat poverty’s persistent violation of so many people in the world’s low income countries. Sadly, the Australian government’s response to these developments is painful evidence of the critical need for the Micah Challenge campaign. More. *

Employment

As our population ages and the workforce shrinks, we can only maintain growth and sustain prosperity by increasing workforce participation and improving the productivity of the workers we have. Australia’s low official unemployment rate conceals an employment rate that is barely average among OECD countries. Aust 16 Mar 05

Almost 1.2 million jobless people want to work but are not recorded in official unemployment figures, while Australian businesses say they can’t find enough workers. SMH 12 Mar 05

Australians are deeply divided over whether the Government should import foreign workers to fill looming labour shortages, despite the Prime Minister’s declaration that Australia is “running out of workers”. SMH 16 Mar 05 *

Environment

A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years will be used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world’s biggest polluters meet on Tuesday. More.
Ethics – media

P.P. McGuinness rants against the various alleged sins of fellow print journalist Alan Ramsey. Aust 12 Mar 05

A US judge ordered three independent online reporters to divulge confidential sources in a lawsuit brought by Apple Computer Inc because they published trade secrets.
SMH 14 Mar 05

The Project for Excellence in Journalism, a Washington think tank affiliated with Columbia University’s school of journalism, looked at more than 2000 stories in newspapers and on television and websites. SMH 15 Mar 05

The golden rule of journalism is not to see the world through some ideological prism, argues David Flint. Rather it is that while comment is free, facts are sacred. Aust 16 Mar 05 *

Evangelism

American evangelist Franklin Graham will be invited to return to Tasmania after more than 10,000 people flocked to hear his message over the weekend. Hobart Mercury 14 Mar 05

Feminism

Radical feminists who hit below the belt should know the consequences by now, writes Miranda Devine. SMH 17 Mar 05

Holiness

A group of Catholic and evangelical scholars has issued a new statement condemning spiritual sloth. More.

Homosexuality & faith

Leading liberals have launched a fierce attack on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for his support of the Anglican Communion’s traditional stance on homosexuality. Church of England Newspaper 11 Mar 05

On July 21-24 the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada will vote on a three-part resolution that would allow local congregations to decide if they will authorize the blessing of same-sex relationships. ACC web news 15 Mar 05

Housing

Bulldozing decaying and strife-torn public housing estates and shifting the disadvantaged next to private owners and renters just moves the problem, writes Kate Legge. Aust 17 Mar 05

Immigration

Bruderhof community members near Inverell will meet with Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone next week to determine whether they must leave the region. More.

Intellectuals

Sport and showbiz elites hog the limelight while our great minds struggle for recognition. In a Herald survey, Michael Visontay seeks out the nation’s guard of leading thinkers. SMH 12 Mar 05 *

Nationalism

The term “un-Australian” has become so widely used that the Macquarie Dictionary is revising its definition. SMH 15 Mar 05 *

Parenting

Children who receive harsh and erratic discipline at home are more likely to be violent at school and bully others in the playground. Aust 15 Mar 05 *
Policing

Policing misconduct needs back-up from a good corporate culture, and Westminster could be the model. AFR 17 Mar 05 *

Politics – Australia

Pragmatic political leaders suit an essentially practical nation such as Australia. Any criticism of an essential pragmatic society needs to be empirically based if it is to make much resonance. Yet from time to time, even normally sensible types – working not in the academy but in the professions – tend to go over the top. Sydney-based social researcher Hugh Mackay and Melbourne barrister Julian Burnside are recent examples of this. SMH 15 Mar 05 *

Politics & faith – USA

A bill before the North Carolina legislature, allegedly aimed at “restoring” free speech to churches and a preacher’s right to educate congregants about political issues, seeks to allow churches to endorse political candidates, which is currently unlawful. More.

Popular culture

Axed and ridiculed in its first year, Neighbours has gone on to become a national institution. Michael Idato celebrates its 20th birthday. SMH 14 Mar 05

Pornography

Johann Hari writes on why the sudden ubiquity of pornography on the internet has barely been discussed in public. AFR 11 Mar 05 *

Privacy

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has canvassed plans to remove the veil of personal anonymity from the 2006 census by linking records to individual names and addresses, as well as to future surveys. Until now a person’s confidentiality has been protected by the destruction of all census forms after the information has been entered into ABS records. AFR 17 Mar 05

Refugees

The Federal Government is looking at overhauling its much criticised immigration and detention system in an effort to solve the pressing skills shortage. The changes could result in a softening of the system and have asylum seekers filling the gaps in the skilled and unskilled workforce.
SMH 17 Mar 05

Religious liberty

Some 3,000 Christians in the UK are in danger because they have chosen to convert from Islam. Some are actively harassed and persecuted, but many church leaders seem more interested in defending their attackers than in standing up for the rights of the converts. Barnabas Fund media release 11 Mar 05

Robotics

Japanese society is embracing the new generation of robots to make people’s lives easier at home and at work, writes Anthony Faiola. SMH 14 Mar 05

Taxation

To get to the truth about how much we’re taxed, remember that income tax accounts for only a bit more than a third of all the tax we pay. SMH 16 Mar 05 *

Transport

A high-speed tunnel train that could sprint from the city to Parramatta in 11 minutes and would be built without government funds is crucial to Sydney’s future, the state’s top sustainability expert has warned. SMH 15 Mar 05
Unions

As student unions, academics and university chiefs condemned the plan to ban a universal student services fee as a threat to campus facilities and the multi-million-dollar international student market, the Education Minister said it was time students were free to choose to join a union. Aust 17 Mar 05

Student unionism has been conflated by some commentators with political activism, unbridled excesses and nefarious student goings-on. Janice Reid argues the case for continued student representation. Aust 17 Mar 05

Whistleblowers

Companies are rushing to set up anonymous hotlines to root out fraud and other wrongdoing. AFR 11 Mar 05

Work

The working day could be redrawn so all vital business happens between 10am and 3pm to reflect workers’ demanding lifestyles, according to Access Economics in a paper released today. SMH 15 Mar 05 *

Other items of interest

Outstanding Baptist theologian and prolific author Stanley J. Grenz passed away on 12 March after suffering a brain hemorrhage at the untimely age of 55. More.

Opposition to immigration is putting at risk Sweden’s longstanding reputation as a “moral superpower.” More.

Attempts to explain anti-Western feelings among Muslims have centered on weaknesses in Islamic societies and opposition to US foreign policy. Church historian Meic Pearse bucks the trend by focusing on cultural differences-and makes some prickly points about Western ways. More.

Can I forgive those who have betrayed me if they are not repentant? More.

The author of Unspeakable: Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror talks about “life’s greatest dilemma.” More.

Pentecostals and ‘mainliners’ generally glide around each other like icebergs passing in the night. Grant Wacker argues that the standoff should cease so that each church tradition can be more true to itself. More.

There are conflicting reports on just how bad is the state of the world’s food. Is there really a shortage of food? More.

J.I. Packer reviews The Lion and the Lamb: Evangelicals and Catholics in America by William M. Shea. More.

J. Daryl Charles reviews Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World by Jean Bethke Elshtain. More.

Alan Nichols reviews God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics by Marion Maddox. More.

How serious are the US Democrats? Making abortion rare will take more than words. More.

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. 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.