Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 037, 13-19 May 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Abortion

Having an abortion can increase the risk of premature birth in subsequent pregnancies by as much as 70 per cent. SMH 16 May 05

Abuse – sexual

Counsellor’s notes on sexual assault victims should be protected from disclosure.
SMH 13 May 05

Aid & development

Australia’s six biggest aid agencies have spent less than a quarter of the $304 million raised during the nation’s emotional response to the Dec 26 disaster. Aust 14 May 05

Beauty

Australia’s girls are suffering a crisis of self-esteem, with many admitting they would change every aspect of their appearance if they could. SMH 15 May 05

Bioethics – IVF

Health Minister Tony Abbott has blasted the Victorian Law Reform Commission’s call for single women and lesbians to be given access to IVF, saying it casts doubt on the wisdom of “expert” committees. The Age 13 May 05

Up to 20 Victorian couples with violent criminal records or poor parenting skills have been rejected by IVF clinics. Herald-Sun 14 May 05

Teenagers are undergoing in-vitro fertilisation treatment in Queensland.
The Sunday Mail 15 May 05

Bioethics – stem cells

A UK report discourages the transplantation of animal embryonic stem cells into human embryos. More.

Censorship

Michael Winterbottom’s graphic new film, 9 Songs, claims to explore the ‘real’ nature of sexuality, but Sandra Hall is not so sure. SMH 15 May 05

Criminal justice

Let us imagine a young Indonesian woman is on trial in an Australian court. If guilty, she will be sentenced to life in prison. Her case touches the fears of many Indonesians about Australia, its attitudes and court practices. Will she get a fair trial? SMH 17 May 05

Disability

Terry Fry is 39 and for the past few months has been helpless in Bowral Hospital, with a set of mental and physical disabilities that began with a tumour in the head years ago. He needs to move on, but the question is where. SMH 14 May 05
Drugs

Caffeine tablets are used by most of the NSW Waratahs during games because, like Wallabies captain George Gregan, they believe the legal stimulant enhances their performances. SMH 18 May 05

Education – school

The Uniting Church has called for an end to secular education in Victoria, saying the exclusion of religion from schools could lead to intolerance and disrespect in the community. The Age 16 May 05

Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of teaching religion in Government schools, although but the trend is down.
CathNews 19 May 05

Curtailing religious education programs in Victorian schools could undermine civic values and wellbeing. More.

Education – tertiary

Thousands of sole parents and people with disabilities will find it harder to study at university or TAFE under the Federal Government’s welfare-to-work changes. SMH 19 May 05

Employment

UnitingCare Australia today expressed grave concerns that it will become harder to place Australia’s long-term jobseekers in work under new arrangements proposed in the Budget in which Job Network provider reports trigger instant suspension of income support payments from Centrelink. More.

Environment

John Howard will unveil an ambitious restructuring of his forestry policy to lock away vast tracks of Tasmania’s old-growth reserves without job losses. Aust 13 May 05

Environmental green lights will no longer be needed before the NSW State Government approves critical projects such as the proposed desalination plant, the expansion of the Port Botany container terminal, light rail, roads and railways. SMH 13 May 05

Tasmanian senator Bob Brown and the green movement will never be happy with a forestry protection package that does not deliver everything Brown and his troops demand. Aust 16 May 05

Our reckless leaders are ignoring critical signs on the daily weather maps, writes Paul Sheehan. “It may seem impossible to imagine that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing.” SMH 16 May 05

Food prices and ultimately interest rates will rise if more farmers do not get government help immediately to stop them leaving the land, a drought summit has been told.
SMH 18 May 05

Ethical investment

The US Episcopal Church, considering a review of investments in companies that do business with Israel, has said a fact-finding team came back deeply disturbed after visiting the West Bank and nearby areas. SMH 14 May 05

Ethics – business

The NSW Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed an appeal by a man who was stabbed after being refused sanctuary in a fast-food restaurant. “The moral commandment to love one’s neighbour is not enforceable by law,” Justice Ken Handley said. SMH 19 May 05

Ethics – journalism

Newsweek magazine has apologised for its claim that Guantanamo Bay interrogators desecrated the Koran and flushed it down a toilet. The report caused riots in Afghanistan in which 16 people died and more than 100 were injured. SMH 17 May 05

Ethics – resources

The Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference has appealed to the Australian Government to be generous in its negotiations with East Timor, following the resumption in Brisbane of talks between East Timor and Australia on the development of oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. CathNews 13 May 05

Euthanasia

No amount of legislation can prevent a person who wants to die from devising the ways and means to take their own life, writes Fiona Stewart. The Age 16 May 05

Feminism

Feminism might not answer all the aspirations of women, but you can’t blame it for everything that’s wrong in the world, writes Moira Rayner. The Age 16 May 05

Gender

Girls do better than boys. The gender divide influences learning and academic competency, social and emotional skills and physical performance. Aust 17 May 05

Genocide

The indigenous Christian Papuans in Eastern Indonesia are facing genocide, a researcher for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission stated. More.

HIV/AIDS

A Melbourne scientist has volunteered to use his own money for human trials into whether lemon juice protects women from HIV. Herald Sun 16 May 05

James Wolfensohn has used his final appearance as head of the World Bank to rebuke his organisation and world leaders for their failure to confront the AIDS crisis. Aust 19 May 05

Homosexuality & faith

The Anglican Church has chosen former Archbishop of Perth Peter Carnley from an international field as its peacemaker in a bitter dispute about bishops crossing diocesan boundaries, with special focus on the debate about gay clergy and same-sex marriages. The West Australian 13 May 05

A Catholic bishop has given support to ACT Chief Minister John Stanhope’s move to formally recognise same sex relationships in the ACT, but has rejected the notion of gay and lesbian marriage. More.

Human rights

Human rights campaigners estimate up to 500 people died in a military crackdown in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon. Witnesses reported that troops mowed protesters down “like rabbits”. SMH 16 May 05

Illness – mental

Mentally ill patients are being kept in solitary confinement within maximum security NSW prisons as punishment, against the most basic principles of human rights law. SMH 16 May 05

Immigration

The Uniting Church today expressed frustration and disappointment with visa regulations which give the Minister for Immigration absolute power and offer no rights of appeal. More.

Peace

The promotion of inter-cultural and inter-confessional dialogue for the purpose of removing the development of terrorism can contribute to peace and security, according to a statement adopted by the 53rd Liberal International Congress. More.

Politics – Australia

Transcript of Kim Beazley’s budget reply speech, “Building a fairer Australia,” in reply to Peter Costello’s Budget, with commentary by Margo Kingston. SMH 13 May 05

Kim Beazley has rushed out his own $24 billion tax plan, which would deliver bigger rewards to lower-income workers, as he seeks to regain momentum after Labor’s surprise decision to block Peter Costello’s cuts. Aust 13 May 05

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer accused Labor leaders from John Curtin and Gough Whitlam to Mark Latham of appeasement of Nazi Germany, communist Russia and Saddam Hussein, and gave a philosophical justification for invading Iraq and helping to free East Timor. Aust 18 May 05

The national president of the Young Liberals has argued that the NSW Liberal Party is indecisive, lacks a “clear ideological cut-out” and is in need of new talent. Alex Hawke, 27, said the party should adopt tougher stands on social issues such as drugs and abortion. SMH 18 May 05
Politics – US

It is with good reason the US cultivates democracy around the world, writes Gerard Henderson. SMH 17 May 05

Politics & faith – Australia

The Australian Financial Review today publishes a feature in which two of its political writers analyse the influence on the nations politicians of Sydney’s Cardinal George Pell, whom they call “Australia’s most powerful churchman”. CathNews 17 May 05

Religious liberty

When Yasamin Alttahir started wearing her mantoo to school, fellow Muslims congratulated her on the strength of her faith. But the body-length religious tunic has since landed the high achiever in trouble with her principal at Auburn Girls High School, Sharon Ford. SMH 14 May 05

A principal who disciplined a Muslim teenager for wearing a religious garment has backed down following the student’s allegation, reported in the Herald, that she was a target of discrimination. SMH 16 May 05

Roman Catholic Church

Thomas Reese, editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine America was forced to resign last week – reportedly as a result of complaints about the way he handled controversial issues within the Church. More.

Sex

Chastity is a spiritual discipline for the whole church, writes Lauren F. Winner. More.

Smoking

The nation’s two top-selling tobacco companies have agreed to remove words such as “light” and “mild” from their products. Aust 13 May 05

An experimental vaccine to help smokers kick nicotine addiction has shown promising results. SMH 16 May 05

Taxation

While last week’s budget rewarded the wealthy, the poor got more stick, writes Ross Gittins. SMH 18 Mar 05

Terrorism

New York property tycoon Donald Trump argued that erecting two new, even taller twin towers at Ground Zero was the only valid response to the terrorists.
SMH 19 May 05

Torture

A Sydney man has been held as a terrorism suspect in Kuwait for three months and the Australian Government is investigating claims he has been tortured. SMH 18 May 05

A Melbourne professor has defended his support of torture in some cases, saying it is used as an interrogation technique. SMH 18 May 05 Also.

Margo Kingston ponders the possible legalisation of torture. SMH 18 May 05
Trade

The hardline policies of trade liberalisation and privatisation backed by Western governments have led to a suicide “epidemic” among Indian farmers and inflicted terrible social costs in other developing countries. Aust 17 May 05

Transport

The push against big 4WDs in the wrong hands is gathering speed, writes Miranda Devine. SMH 19 May 05

Vilification – religious

The newly re-elected British Labour government once again committed itself to introducing a bill banning incitement to religious hatred. Media release 18 May 05

War

The Bush administration’s lies about its rationales for attacking Iraq fit a pattern of deceit that has dragged America into at least three other unjust and catastrophic wars, writes Harvey Wasserman. More.

Women – ministry of

Women bishops are once again on the agenda of Australia’s Anglican Church. The Age 16 May 05

Other items of interest

In his book, Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies, author Roy M. Anker writes about finding meaning and morality in the Star Wars intergalactic saga. Part 1 of 4.
Part 2. Part 3.

George Lucas’s Star Wars stories may have more in common with Hinduism than Christianity, but it’s still True Myth. More.

September 11, 2006 is the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It is also the anniversary of the Johannesburg declaration of nonviolence by Mahatma Ghandi. More.

Division between Catholics and Anglicans over the place of the Virgin Mary have ended potentially in a historic agreement that she was a model for all Christians but not a saviour. The Age 17 May 05 Also.

For Australians, the best image for the Holy Spirit is of an uncontrollable bushfire, writes Peta Sherlock. More.

The i-Pod may be one of society’s most fashionable technological advances, but it has become the latest tool for churchgoers to listen to sermons. More.

Is not nationalism – that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder – one of the great evils of our time? 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. To view the original article or transcript, click on the blue underlined text at the end of the summary. Abbreviations: AFR=The Australian Financial Review; Aust=The Australian; SMH=The Sydney Morning Herald. For a free copy of READ by email each week, email and type “subscribe to READ” in the subject line.