Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 033, 15-21 April 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Aboriginal & indigenous issues

Warren Mundine’s call for greater private ownership within communally held lands, and John Howard’s support in response to similar calls from the Wadeye community, have generated a debate conflating two different issues. Aust 19 Apr 05

Abortion

Meet the economist who figured out that legal abortion was behind dropping crime rates, controlling crime before the crims even reached the cradle. More. *

WA’s Catholic hospitals say doctors should not offer early prenatal screening to pregnant women they believe would abort an abnormal foetus. The West Australian 15 Apr 05

Betty Rollin talks with two US Presbyterian families about the choice of whether to have a child whom they know will be born with severe medical problems. More.

The abortion debate is set to flare in parliament after Nationals senator Ron Boswell announced he would introduce a private member’s bill. Aust 20 Apr 05 *

About 91,000 pregnancies a year – nearly one in five – end in abortion according to Federal Government findings set to rekindle the debate over measures to reduce terminations in Australia. SMH 20 Apr 05 *

ANZAC Day

To gauge the interest in the Anzac tradition, 90 years after that first landing, you need only survey the many Anzac sites out there. SMH 19 Apr 05

There were good reasons Australians gave their lives at Gallipoli, writes Gerard Henderson. SMH 19 Apr 05

Art

A German artist has invited 30 people to attend the birth of his and his wife’s first child in an art gallery in Berlin as part of an exhibition entitled Birth. SMH 18 Apr 05

Bioethics – IVF

Offers to donate sperm flooded into IVF Tasmania yesterday in response to a report on a severe supply shortage. The Mercury 15 Apr 05

Infertile couples face higher medical bills under a Government clampdown on Medicare payouts for IVF treatment, after costs jumped almost 60 per cent.
The Age 21 Apr 05

Bioethics – stem cells

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, a strong proponent of stem cell research, is expected to propose that the state establish a new ethics panel to oversee New Jersey’s stem cell research project, to be headed by Harold T. Shapiro, the president emeritus of Princeton. New York Times 15 Apr 05

In 2000, a woman donated the blood from her newborn daughter’s umbilical cord so scientists could pull stem cells from it and freeze them. Two years later, those donated cells saved Kathy Conway’s son from leukemia. New York Times 15 Apr 05

Bioethics – surrogacy

In the early months of Teresa Anderson’s pregnancy late last year, it seemed every other trip to the doctor brought another burst of life-altering news. She eventually found she was carrying not one or two but five babies. The Age 15 Apr 05

Bioethics – withdrawal of treatment

Leading bioethicist Gilbert Meilaender discusses the problems of withdrawing Terri Schiavo’s lifeline. More. *

French legislators approved a law on Wednesday that would permit terminally ill patients to refuse treatment in favor of death, but stopped short of legalizing euthanasia. New York Times 14 Apr 05 *

Barbara is a 25-year-old mother of two who, following a catastrophic brain injury, has been diagnosed as being in a permanent vegetative state. She could be kept alive for many years with the provision of assisted nutrition and hydration. The Scotsman 18 Apr 05

Capital punishment

Researchers have called for a halt to lethal injection, the most common method of capital punishment in the US, because it is not always a humane and painless way to die. SMH 15 Apr 05 *

Censorship

Actors realise a range of human activity on film, so why not sex? That’s one of the questions asked by British director Michael Winterbottom, in discussing his latest film, 9 Songs, which features sex. SMH 15 Apr 05

China

Closer trading ties with China may well give us a more realistic perspective on the Middle Kingdom. It’s long overdue, writes Christopher Pearson. Aust 16 Apr 05 *

Crime

Murder in NSW has fallen to its lowest rate in more than 20 years, while a heroin drought and increased employment have led to a continued drop in property crimes. SMH 19 Apr 05

A drop in criminal offences has a lot to do with heroin, and a little to do with heroes, writes Ross Gittins. SMH 20 Apr 05

Drugs

The alleged leader of a group of nine Australians arrested for attempting to smuggle nearly 11 kilograms of heroin to Sydney proclaimed his innocence yesterday as he was taken to his police cell in Bali. SMH 19 Apr 05 Also Aust 19 Apr 05

There’s pity for the Bali Nine, but there’s also a need to combat drugs, writes Miranda Devine. SMH 21 Apr 05

The argument for banning narcotics is basically the same as St Augustine’s objection to sex, writes Michael Warby. Aust 21 Apr 05

Environment

The health of red gum and black box forests along the Murray River is deteriorating, with 75per cent of trees either dead, dying or stressed. Aust 15 Apr 05

Early last week Environment Minister Ian Campbell announced that in the future government grants to environmental lobby groups would be capped at $10,000, rather than the previous $80,000. Aust 18 Apr 05

Ethics – business

Former HIH boss Ray Williams cost the community millions and the only path was jail, says NSW Supreme Court Justice James Wood. Williams will serve a minimum of 1004 days behind bars. SMH 16 Apr 05 The full judgment.

Ethics – medical

Queensland’s health scandal has snowballed, with claims that hundreds of Government-sanctioned overseas-trained doctors are risking lives. Sun-Herald 17 Apr 05

The man dubbed Dr Death was used by the University of Queensland to train medical students in an intensive eight-week surgery training program. Courier-Mail 19 Apr 05

Evangelicalism

Diane Knippers, an intellectual heavyweight who rallied opposition to the liberal drift of mainline churches, has died. More.

Gambling

Singapore has scrapped a four-decade ban on casinos to boost tourism, clearing the way for Australia’s Tabcorp and PBL to compete for the right to build an entertainment complex in the city.
SMH 19 Apr 05 Also Aust 19 Apr 05

Gender

More girls around the world are going to school, though the gender gap in many regions remains wide, according to a report by the UN children’s fund, UNICEF. Of the 180 countries for which information is available, 125 are expected to have gender parity this year. Aust 19 Apr 05 *

Health policy

Australians who can afford private health insurance should be allowed – or even obliged – to opt out of the public health system, the Productivity Commission has suggested. SMH 15 Apr 05 Also Aust 15 Apr 05

HIV/AIDS

A man infected with HIV has lost a bid for compensation from a tattooist who refused to work on him. Herald-Sun 16 Apr 05

Immigration

Foreign full-fee paying apprentices and tradesmen will be lured to regional Australia in a record skilled migration intake unveiled by the Howard Government yesterday. Aust 15 Apr 05

Journalism

Rupert Murdoch urged newspaper editors today to embrace the internet, saying print news executives “sat by and watched” as a generation of digital consumers turned away from newspapers. SMH 15 Apr 05

Parenting

The family nanny was once the domain of the super-rich but record numbers of middle-class Australian families are now seeking extra help raising their children, resulting in long waiting lists and soaring salaries. Aust 16 Apr 05

Pharmaceuticals

Australia has no early warning system to detect the harm that drugs such as Vioxx could do to an unsuspecting public, say experts. SMH 16 Apr 05

Privacy

Australian pedophiles have been free to prey on children overseas because federal police have been hindered from warning their international counterparts by privacy restrictions. Aust 20 Apr 05

Refugees

Michael Gordon meets the last 54 asylum seekers held in Nauru and finds despair, depression, a sense of injustice, and the triumph of the human spirit. SMH 16 Apr 05

Roman Catholic Church

Greg Bookallil puts a human face on Opus Dei, the right-wing Catholic organisation that features in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Aust 19 Apr 05

The Roman Catholic Church elected Germany’s Joseph Ratzinger as its first new pope of the third millennium on Tuesday. The 78-year-old cardinal, will take the name Benedict XVI, the Vatican announced. SMH 20 Apr 05 Also Aust 20 Apr 05 *

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the strict defender of Catholic orthodoxy for the past 23 years, was elected Pope on Tuesday. SMH 20 Apr 05 *

Pope Benedict XVI reached out to all Christians and critics within the Catholic Church last night in a surprisingly conciliatory start to his papacy.
Aust 21 Apr 05

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia welcomed the election of Pope Benedict XVI, saying, “We look forward to the way that he will continue dialogues with other world religions, further ecumenical relationships and provide a voice for those who suffer injustice in the world.” More.

While appreciating the conservative moral views of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, various US Baptist leaders reiterated their disagreement with Catholicism’s papacy from a biblical standpoint. More. *

Pope Benedict XVI is seen as one of the more conservative Roman Catholic cardinals. On issues from abortion to homosexuality to female priests, he is seen as a staunch conservative. Pro-life Catholic groups applauded his election. More. *

Conservative evangelicals are cheering the choice of a pontiff who seems to speak the same moral language they do. More. *

Sex

For those who identify themselves as asexual, there’s nothing quite as dull as the pleasures of the flesh, writes Deborah Smith. SMH 18 Apr 05

Singles

Megan Gressor writes on the six stages of singledom. SMH 18 Apr 05

Terrorism

An Australian port could be attacked or a ferry hijacked by terrorists to transport weapons of mass destruction, because of gaps in the maritime border security net.. Aust 20 Apr 05

Trade

Australia and China have agreed to open negotiations for a free trade agreement, a breakthrough John Howard has described as historic. SMH 19 Apr 05

Australia will consider changes to foreign investment guidelines to give China preferential treatment in buying into Australian resource projects under a free trade deal. Aust 20 Apr 05

John Howard should proceed cautiously with any free trade deal, advises Stuart Harris. Aust 20 Apr 05

Transport

Woolworths executives were washing their hands of road accidents caused by exhausted truck drivers hauling the company’s freight, in the same way Nazis had claimed ignorance of concentration camps, a NSW parliamentary committee heard yesterday. Aust 19 Apr 05

The retail giant Woolworths has been accused of washing its hands of responsibility for truck safety issues, including driver fatigue and drug taking by long-distance hauliers. SMH 19 Apr 05

War crimes

Iraq’s new rulers have split over whether to execute Saddam Hussein if convicted of war crimes, with President Jalal Talabani facing calls to resign if he does not sign a death warrant. SMH 20 Apr 05

Weapons

Contradictory US and British nuclear proliferation policies will lead other states to conclude that nuclear weapons earn respect and deter attack, writes Richard Norton-Taylor. The Guardian 13 Apr 05

Other items of interest

When Pope John Paul II stepped out on the Vatican balcony on October 16, 1978, the person preaching for him in his home pulpit back in Krakow, Poland, was US evangelist Billy Graham. More.

Richard John Neuhaus reviews Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1998 Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium. More.

If you believe in Armageddon, you don’t need to save the planet. That’s a concern if you also influence the White House and US foreign policy, writes Terry Lane. More.

They say that there are two things you never want to see produced-laws and sausages. But there’s at least one more: Bible translations. More.

Lauren Winner’s new book, Real Sex, aims to rehabilitate the virtue of chastity in the Christian life. More.

In the context of a review of Christopher and Rachel McCluskey’s When Two Become One, Bethany Torode discusses the need for Christian sex manuals. More.

Jennifer Roback Morse argues that society can and must discriminate among various arrangements, including marriage, for childbearing and sexual activity. More.

Ted Olsen discusses the tension between rights and duties. More.

An Australian Christian, a New York Jew, and an Iranian Muslim collaborated on one work of art. More.

Sociologist Nahid Kabir argues that international events have made life more difficult for Australian Muslims. More.

How has it happened that the political Left has ended up in favour of supporting the traditional conservative agenda of stability, sovereignty and the status quo? More.

Religion & Ethics Australia Digest is published by the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, 120 Herring Rd, Eastwood NSW 2122 AUSTRALIA. Telephone (02) 9878 0201. Back issues are available at http://www.baptistsocialissues.org.au/review.htm. 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. 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. To receive a free copy of READ by email each week, email and type “subscribe to READ” in the subject line.