Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 035, 29 April – 5 May 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Abortion

Australia’s latest abortion figures are “a national disgrace” according to Sydney Catholic auxiliary Bishop Anthony Fisher, who added that Australia needs to promote “real alternatives” to abortion for pregnant women. CathNews 29 Apr 05

More than 70 per cent of Australians oppose Medicare funding for abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy. Aust 30 Apr 05 *

The longstanding consensus in support of abortion on demand is collapsing, writes Christopher Pearson. Aust 30 Apr 05 *

A pregnant 13-year-old has been blocked from having an abortion after state authorities in Florida won an emergency injunction, arguing she was too immature to make such a decision. SMH 2 May 05 *

Australians’ attitudes to abortion are more complex than simply pro-choice or pro-life, new research shows. Although 62 per cent of people support abortion on demand, 87 per cent would like to see the abortion rate reduced, but without limiting access to pregnancy terminations. SMH 3 May 05 * Also. *

Abuse – sexual

Sheik Faiz Mohamad, 34, has defended comments he made last week, saying if a woman “wears any kind of alluring clothes or adorning [sic] clothes or clothes that beautify her beauty, she is eligible for rape.” SMH 1 May 05

Within two months of commencing work, 16-year-old apprentice Jake Gabryelczyk quit his job, no longer able to withstand what a tribunal found yesterday amounted to sexual harassment by his boss. SMH 4 May 05

Aid & development

Hundreds of containers of clothing, food, medical supplies and toys donated to victims of the Boxing Day tsunami are sitting unused on a wharf in Sri Lanka as local authorities demand that aid groups pay thousands of dollars in extra charges for the goods to be released. Aust 3 May 2005

Animal rights

Toby the rabbit will be murdered and eaten by his owners unless the public coughs up a total of $US50,000 through donations or merchandise purchases. SMH 27 Apr 05

Pit bulls and similar dogs in NSW will have to be desexed. “We want to breed these dogs out of existence,” Bob Carr, said yesterday. SMH 4 May 05 *

Atheism

Atheism doesn’t have to be anti-religious or to see science as the only answer, writes Dylan Evans. SMH 3 May 05
Bioethics – embryo

The House of Lords ruled today that the creation of ‘designer babies’ to treat siblings with genetic disorders was lawful.
The Guardian 28 Apr 05 *

Bioethics – IVF

Behind the debate about IVF treatment for infertile couples is the expectation that governments keep economic policy out of people’s emotions. Aust 29 Apr 05 *

The IVF success rate the Howard Government is using to support its case for a clampdown on subsidised IVF treatment is wrong, according to Australia’s most experienced IVF specialists. The Age 29 Apr 05 *

A couple were given the go-ahead by the British House of Lords yesterday to produce a so-called “designer baby,” possibly through IVF, to treat a sibling with a genetic disorder. The Times 29 Apr 05

Restrictions on the number of Medicare-funded IVF cycles a woman may undergo are likely to be approved. SMH 2 May 05

The Treasurer, Peter Costello, has signalled a rethink on planned budget cuts to assisted fertility treatment for women. SMH 5 May 05

The IVF debate has divided the Liberal Party and angered doctors. Aust 5 May 05

Bioethics – stem cells

American stem cell scientists now have guidelines which will allow them to handle, destroy and clone human embryos ethically. BioEdge 157 *

Bioethics – withdrawal of treatment

A husband accused of the attempted murder of his wife has argued that turning off her life support would go against her religious beliefs. SMH 29 Apr 05 *

A decision on turning off Maria Korp’s life support was taken out of her family’s hands yesterday when guardianship of her medical future was handed to the Office of the Public Advocate. Herald Sun 29 Apr 05

Capital punishment

Before we morally condemn Indonesia’s legal system, we should look at our own, writes Paul Sheehan. SMH 2 May 05 *

Church growth

The Assemblies of God churches are on a mission to increase the number of AOG churches nationwide by one third to 1500, appoint 2000 more ministers and erect 100 church buildings in the “short term to medium term”. SMH 4 May 05

Corporate regulation

The market power of the nation’s big grocery retailers is continuing to create concern among opinion leaders, with almost 70 per cent of respondents to a recent survey agreeing that the competition regulator should consider ways of breaking the dominance. Aust 2 May 05

Death & dying

Many of us are tongue-tied in the company of someone with a terminal illness, instinctively clutching at hope and the straws of survival. Just as individuals react differently to the grim prognosis of death, friends and family are better or less able to deal with its advance, writes Kate Legge. Aust 30 Apr 05

Education policy

NSW has no official policy to tackle the underachievement of boys, and has even mothballed one of the few attempts to address the problem. SMH 5 May 05 *

Employment

Long-term jobless people will be forced to spend more time working for the dole and face immediate loss of welfare payments for failing to show up for job interviews. Aust 29 Apr 05

Energy

President George Bush has called for the construction of new nuclear power plants and new oil refineries on old military bases to cut America’s growing dependence on foreign energy sources. SMH 29 Apr 05

Nuclear power is a cheap, clean and safe source of energy that we can’t afford to ignore. The Age 28 Apr 05

There are better and safer energy options to slow global warming, writes Peter Garrett. The Age 28 Apr 05

Environment

Bob Hunter, the Canadian who co-founded the environmental powerhouse Greenpeace, has died. SMH 4 May 05

Ethics – medical

Dangerous doctors will be named publicly to protect Victorians from practices that endanger lives and safety, under proposed laws. Herald Sun 29 Apr 05

A NSW Supreme Court judge authorised Westmead Children’s Hospital to begin a life-saving blood transfusion for a 16-year-old Jehovah’s Witness cancer patient who had indicated that he did not wish to receive a transfusion. SMH 4 May 05 * More. *

Ethics – resources

BP has a legal right to get a licence from Indonesia to extract gas in West Papua. Its moral case is less clearcut. The Guardian 3 May 05

Euthanasia

Is the best society can offer our elderly and sick the choice between a life of misery and killing themselves? More. *
Euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke is considering moving to New Zealand because laws before Australian parliament will make it practically impossible for him to continue working there. More.

Gambling

Aristocrat has forecast a record interim net profit of $90 million to $100 million – an improvement of at least 45 per cent on the $63.3 million reported a year earlier – as the poker machine maker continues its strong overseas growth. SMH 4 May 05

Gender

Thousands of copies of a boys’ education book have been sealed in boxes for three years and their distribution to schools banned by the NSW Education Department, which has decided that boys can’t do anything if it means disadvantaging girls. SMH 3 May 05

Homelessness

Neither state nor federal governments are doing enough for the homeless, writes Philip Lynch. The Age 3 May 05

Human rights

Zimbabwe has been re-elected to the UN Human Rights Commission, a controversial body that Secretary-General Kofi Annan wants to abolish. “Zimbabwe maintains repressive controls on political assembly and the media, harasses civil society groups and continues to encourage a climate where the opposition fears for its safety,” said US diplomat William Brencick. Aust 29 Apr 05 *

Parenting

Jo Frost, the star of the top-rating Super Nanny series, admits she has done no academic study on early childhood, or read any books on child rearing. SMH 2 May 05

Parents take better care of pretty children than they do of ugly ones. SMH 4 May 05

Plagiarism

The UK Plagiarism Advisory Service recently reported that one in four British students admits to copying and pasting material from the internet then presenting it as their own. In the USA, internet plagiarism is even more rampant. Spiked Online 28 Apr 05 *

Politics & faith – US

The debate over religion and politics in the public square has recently grown more intense as a result of stepped-up efforts by conservatives to eliminate the judicial filibuster. More.

Poverty

Centacare Melbourne and Jesuit Social Services have issued statements welcoming the Bracks Government’s promise to spend an extra $788 million over the next four years on the poor. CathNews 29 Apr 05

Privacy

Employers will face criminal charges if they illegally spy on workers’ emails under legislation introduced in NSW parliament yesterday. NSW is the first state to move on “tech snooping”, with Victoria and South Australia understood to be considering similar legislation. Aust 5 May 05

Refugees

Thirty years after the fall of Saigon, the children of Vietnam’s refugees embrace Australia as their own. SMH 30 Apr 05 *

Christine Rau travelled to Baxter detention centre for the first time yesterday to join authors Tom Keneally and Rosie Scott and launch an anthology of stories from behind the gates. SMH 1 May 05

The Government has admitted it deported an Australian detainee four years ago, and that the woman is still missing. SMH 2 May 05

Shopping

Australian consumers have found new confidence in online shopping, splurging $617 million in March alone. David Binning reports on why remote retail therapy is catching on. SMH 30 Apr 05

Sport & faith

If rugby union is the game they play in heaven, God has not forsaken rugby league, with ever more players drawing inspiration from their faith. SMH 30 Apr 05

Taxation

I suspect most of us believe we pay all this tax but get back next to nothing. This may explain why it’s so common to hear people say “I’ve paid taxes all my life” immediately before they demand that the government give them money or provide some free service, writes Ross Gittins. SMH 4 May 05 *

Terrorism

John Howard said yesterday that he felt “total responsibility” for any harm that might befall Australian hostage Douglas Wood as a result of the Government’s policies on Iraq. SMH 3 May 05 Also. *

Trade

At least 1000 workers may be jobless within months as two Sydney car-part manufacturers plan to close, or move to Asia, as Australia moves towards a free trade agreement with China. SMH 3 May 05

Transport

Registration fees will be reduced for cars with small engines and increased for those with large ones, if the State Government adopts recommendations to reduce greenhouse gases. SMH 4 May 05

Vilification – religious

Convicted sex offender Robin Fletcher has brought a religious vilification complaint against the Salvation Army, the distributors of the course material, and against Victoria’s Justice Department. More.

War

The war that ended 30 years ago today cost the lives of 4 million Vietnamese and nearly 60,000 Americans. For us in Australia, it added 504 names to the roll of honour we saluted on Anzac Day this week. But almost as tragic is the fact that since 1975 the Vietnamese people have been forced to live under communism. Aust 30 Apr 05

The Australian army is seeking $2 billion to boost firepower and recruit 1600 additional troops to fight the war on terror. Aust 2 May 05

Weapons

The Uniting Church in Australia today urged the Federal Government to continue to oppose the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons and put pressure on countries who threaten the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Media release 29 Apr 05

Workplace relations

Thousands of workers flocked to May Day rallies across Australia yesterday to protest against the Federal Government’s planned industrial relations changes. SMH 2 May 05

Other items of interest

Why should church buildings get so much of the financial, physical, and social attention that is rightly due to those in need? More.

Editorial cartoonist and animator Mark Fiore comments on the horror of Darfur. More.

Doctors Farr Curlin and Daniel Hall examine some of the reasons that the moral hegemony conventional medicine once enjoyed now appears to be disintegrating. More.

Peter Rosengren critiques Frank Brennan’s assessment of Pope Benedict XVI. More.

Eric Claus writes on the legacy of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and hopes for more nuanced warnings in the 21st century. More.

Two leading scientific journals have come under fire from researchers for refusing to publish papers which challenge fashionable wisdom over global warming. More.

David Neff argues that moral values are fostered by shared community values. More.

As the review conference of the Nonproliferation Treaty convenes in New York, the indifference of the US and the other nuclear powers is appalling, writes Jimmy Carter. More.

Some people work to attain enough for themselves and their families, and then stop. Others, as Max Weber saw, just keep working and earning and working and earning. 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.