Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 031, 1-7 April 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Aboriginal & indigenous issues

The Aboriginal man who used his life story to sue for compensation for his loss as a member of the stolen generation was remembered yesterday. Aust 6 Apr 05

John Howard has flagged sweeping changes to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, declaring that all indigenous people should be able to “share in the bounty of this country” and own their own homes. Aust 7 Apr 05 *

Abortion

The Roman Catholic Church plans to establish its first religious society devoted exclusively to fighting euthanasia and abortion, church leaders said this week. Los Angeles Times 31 Mar 05

Britain’s largest provider of abortions outside the National Health Service has changed its policy to back a lowering of the legal limit at which pregnancies may be terminated for non-medical reasons. Sunday Times (UK) 3 Apr 05

Aid & development

Christian Aid says it is ‘appalled’ that Paul Wolfowitz has been nominated by the United States to become the new president of the World Bank. More.

Bioethics – embryo

A leading Australian researcher has welcomed the lifting of a moratorium on the use of new human embryos in research. ABC News Online 31 Mar 05

Allowing scientists to use their leftover IVF embryos for research seemed the most logical choice for Liz and Peter Schumacher, once their family was complete. Aust 6 Apr 05

Bioethics – withdrawal of treatment

Sydney Catholic Bishop Anthony Fisher has said the tragic slow death of Terri Schiavo in Florida after the removal of a feeding tube may be morally akin to active euthanasia. CathNews 31 Mar 05

The Queensland Attorney-General has launched a review of the legislation governing withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining measures. More. * [large file]

Conservative Christian Florida judge George Greer received death threats and was vilified by evangelical Christians, right-wing radio talk show hosts and senior Republican politicians for his rulings on the Schiavo case. SMH 2 Apr 05

Terri Schiavo, the severely brain damaged woman at the centre of a right-to-die controversy in the US, died last night in a Florida hospice almost two weeks after her feeding tube was cut off, a spokesman for her parents said. Aust 1 Apr 05

Censorship

Channel Seven and SBS have refused to air an ad campaign condemning the Prime Minister, John Howard, for “stealing” billions of dollars of East Timorese oil and gas revenues, a stance that may trigger court action and highlights the thorny issue of freedom of expression. SMH 7 Apr 05 *

Death & dying

Dr. Robert White understood how Pope John Paul II would face death, more than two decades ago. More.

Ecumenism

The Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, has called on the ecumenical movement to maintain its character of supplying the ferment of change. More.

Environment

This week experts on climate change descend on Australia for three international conferences. The Kyoto Protocol is moribund. All focus on the one question: What climate change strategies should we adopt in the future? Two options have emerged. Aust 6 Apr 05 *

In his Action for Air report, NSW Auditor-General Bob Sendt found that NSW would not meet two out of six national air quality goals by the 2008 deadline, and thought NSW had little chance of achieving them in the future. SMH 7 Apr 05 *

A climate-change levy, national energy-efficiency standards for buildings and an ambitious greenhouse gas reduction target should be adopted by the Labor Party to strengthen its existing climate change policies, MP Peter Garrett said last night. SMH 7 Apr 05 *

Ethics – business

Billionaire businessman Richard Pratt last night stood down one of the top executives at Visy packaging company in his first external response to the cartel allegations sweeping the $1.8 billion box industry. Aust 1 Apr 05

Rodney Adler should face full-time jail for his crimes as an HIH director because his behaviour involved dishonesty and a “gross breach of trust”, the Crown prosecutor argued yesterday. Aust 1 Apr 05

The rush of new blood into the nation’s boardroom gene pool in 2002 and 2003 has abated, raising fears that board appointments are too heavily influenced by corporate governance “box-ticking” rather than performance. Aust 6 Apr 05

Ethics – medical

A Hobart woman who was angry after being refused drugs flicked blood into a doctor’s face and told him she had hepatitis. Mercury 5 Apr 05

A women’s campaigner has questioned the ethics of doctors who refuse to examine rape victims, following the case of a three-year-old suspected sexual assault victim being refused an examination at Wagga Wagga Base Hospital. ABC News Online 4 Apr 05

When is a woman simply too old to become a mother? The Boston Globe 5 Apr 05 *

Ethics – political

Peter Lewis, the speaker of South Australia’s parliament, has reduced his reputation and besmirched the standing of all the state’s politicians. But the decision to introduce legislation preventing Lewis speaking out under parliamentary privilege is unacceptable, argues The Australian’s leader. Aust 6 Apr 05

Euthanasia

A UK law allowing doctors and relatives to assist terminally ill people to end their lives moved a step closer after the publication today of a Lords report. The Guardian 4 Apr 05

Family

The family-friendly workplace is good for business but Australia’s bosses are not convinced, says Don Edgar. SMH 1 Apr 05

Foreign policy

It’s taken him four terms in office, but John Howard is finally on the cusp of Asia, writes Peter Hartcher. SMH 1 Apr 05

Better ties with Asia go hand-in-hand with a good relationship with the US, writes Gerard Henderson. SMH 5 Apr 05

Australia has offered to send specialists to Indonesia to reform its judicial system and streamline government to provide a more amenable climate for foreign investment. Securing Indonesia’s economic prosperity is viewed in Canberra as a precondition for the country’s political stability and an important tool in countering Islamic extremism.

SMH 6 Apr 05 *

Freedom of speech

In defence of free speech, religious leaders will tell Victorian Premier Steve Bracks it is time to change a controversial religious vilification law. The Age 31 Mar 05

Gender

Professional women struggle to understand the “unspoken rules of business” because it isn’t an easy fit with the way they run their personal and business lives, veteran executive Elizabeth Bryan says.

Aust 4 Apr 05

Health policy

The Howard Government is considering bypassing the states to directly fund regional health bodies in the most revolutionary overhaul of health funding since the introduction of Medicare 21 years ago. Aust 6 Apr 05

Homosexuality & faith

Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders in Jerusalem have condemned plans for an international gay festival in the city in August. “Such an event would constitute a severe affront to the hearts and souls of adherents of all religions,” a statement reported. Aust 1 Apr 05

Illness – mental

The disappearance of the ill Cornelia Rau has exposed failings not just in mental health care, but in prisons and immigration detention, writes her sister Christine Rau. SMH 4 Apr 05

Internet

A survey suggests the number of emails being sent is increasing by more than 80 per cent each year. SMH 5 Apr 05

A car company that sent text messages to people after copying their mobile phone numbers from classified advertisements has been fined under the Spam Act, which came into effect last year. SMH 6 Apr 05

Computer virus incidents grew 50 per cent in 2004 even in the absence of a major new attack, a US security survey claims.

SMH 7 Apr 05

Judiciary

Judges could be forced to undergo mandatory health checks in NSW under a new plan to clear the bench of those who are unfit for office. Aust 6 Apr 05

Politics & faith – US

Terri Schiavo, the severely brain damaged woman at the centre of a family feud, is now more than ever a cause celebre for the US Religious Right. Aust 3 Apr 05

Public policy

The prosperity of the 1960s ended in the chaos of the Whitlam government and the high inflation and high unemployment of the ’70s, and without strong economic management and continuing reform, this expansion too could end badly, argues Peter Costello. Aust 3 Apr 05

Roman Catholic Church

Pope John Paul II was a great religious and political leader who reached out to “Christians, but also to people of other faiths and indeed to people of no faith,” John Howard said today. Aust 3 Apr 05

Pope John Paul II will be recalled as one of the most influential religious leaders in history, writes Sydney’s Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell. Sun-Herald 3 Apr 05

The new pope will have to make a leap of faith or the church will be left behind, writes Morris West. SMH 4 Apr 05

Statistics relating to the papacy of Pope John Paul II. SMH 3 Apr 05

Pope John Paul II has been a great figure of the 20th century, an authentic giant of history who will be remembered as long as human beings value liberty or care about religion, The Australian’s leader says. Aust 4 Apr 05 *

The pontificate of John Paul II was undeniably marked by an unassailable personal integrity, a single-minded devotion to duty and evident holiness of life. Yet his pontificate was also assailed by an expanding accumulation of woes, writes John Cornwall. Aust 4 Apr 05 *

While it is premature to call the late pontiff “John Paul the Great,” he was an extraordinarily gifted Christian man and an extraordinary gift to the church of Jesus Christ at a critical moment in its existence, Rod Benson argues. More. *

After the death of the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, Vatican insiders are asking whether the moment has come for a Third World pope – or even the first black pope since the fifth century. Aust 5 Apr 05 *

Pope John Paul II had protected the Catholic Church from radical change and his successor should do the same, Australia’s most senior Catholic, Sydney Archbishop George Pell, said yesterday. Cardinal Pell said a reformist was unlikely to be elected pope. Aust 5 Apr 05 *

Supporters of Pope John Paul II have been accused of exaggerating his place in Catholic history in an effort to tie the hands of future popes and make it impossible for successors to move away from his tough position on issues such as contraception, women priests and married clergy. Aust 6 Apr 05 *

The Queen intervened to ensure that the Prince of Wales postponed his wedding out of respect to the Pope. Aust 6 Apr 05

Torture

A female photographer who died in Iranian custody after taking pictures of a demonstration outside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison was beaten, tortured and raped, an Iranian doctor who fled to Canada has claimed. Aust 3 Apr 05

Truth

John Howard is a master of the fine print and the qualifying clause that allow him to explain his way out of pretty well anything, suggests Michael Costello.

Aust 3 Apr 05

An untrustworthy real estate agent might be better at selling your house than you would be. A corrupt schoolteacher might still be better at teaching students than would their own parents. But it pays to check up on experts, writes Peter Martin. SMH 6 Apr 05

War

Former US secretary of state Colin Powell claims he is “furious and angry” about being misinformed over Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Aust 1 Apr 05

US spy agencies were “dead wrong” in their assessment of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, an independent presidential commission report has found. Aust 3 Apr 05

Water

Water might be pouring from the skies and cascading down our streets but we still have to maintain a drought mentality, writes Miranda Devine. Sun-Herald 3 Apr 05

Workplace relations

The nation’s industrial relations system has been fundamentally flawed for 100 years because it has been wrongly used as a tool to try to achieve fairness, Michael Chaney said yesterday. Aust 1 Apr 05

Other items of interest

Is the story of Jesus mainly about his death and a life that leads to it, or is the story of Jesus mainly about his life and a death that flows from it? More.

Agnieszka Tennant, an associate editor of Christianity Today, recalls growing up Catholic in John Paul II’s Poland. More.

Protestants laud the pope for his ecumenical and social justice stands. More.

What happened to John Paul II’s social justice message? asks Bruce Duncan. More.

Theologian Thomas Oden reviews Pope John Paul II’s impact on evangelicals in an interview with senior associate news editor Stan Guthrie. More.

The fast-growing Catholic population has turned Asia, Africa, and Latin America into the church’s new centre of power. More.

All churches should be multiracial, US authors argue. More.

Four working pastors-Noel Castellanos, Bill Hybels, Soong-Chan Rah, and Rank Reid-respond to the bracing multiracial thesis of United by Faith. More.

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

Melissa Kang argues that societal norms about sexuality represent only a snapshot of the way sexuality is constructed at that particular moment. More.

Anne Mitchell writes frankly about young people, sex and sex education. More.

Rose Cooper discusses the ‘Big Question’ of the age of consent. More.

Answers in Genesis is a Christian apologetics ministry seeking to uphold the authority of the Bible and creationism. 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.