Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 048, 2-8 Sep 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Abortion

A seemingly inoffensive debate on women’s reproductive health has blown up into a full-scale fight over abortion in the Senate. “We have at first blush seen that this could be dealing with abortion-on-demand and as such, it crosses a fundamental moral principle that I hold,” National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce said. Age 8 Sep 05

Aid & development

It has been reported that only $7 million of the $1 billion promised by the Howard Government and jointly overseen by Peter Costello and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has been spent. But despite this, such criticism is ill informed, writes Tim Costello. Aust 5 Sep 05

Animal rights

The increase in numbers of great white sharks, fed by an eight-year hunting ban, has led to calls for a cull in order to prevent further fatal attacks. Aust 8 Sep 05

Bioethics – cloning

Other countries allow therapeutic cloning. Why don’t we, asks Elizabeth Finkel.
Age 7 Sep 05

Bioethics – stem cells

Australia needs a national stem cell bank to help usher in a paradigm shift in medicine, a leading scientist says. Professor Peter Rathjen says such a bank would aid creating a new generation of Australians who had high quality lives until they died. SMH 1 Sep 05

One of Australia’s most prominent microbiologists says federal legislation on research involving human embryos is limiting advances in stem-cell technology and thwarting a potential $100billion industry. Aust 2 Sep 05

Science and faith are set to collide during a review of stem cell legislation, writes Leigh Dayton. Aust 2 Sep 05

“Legislation Review of Australia’s Prohibition of Human Cloning Act and Research Involving Human Embryos Act: a Christian perspective” provides information to assist in making a submission to the review of stem cell legislation. More…

Bioethics – surrogacy

Doctors are urging the Victorian Government to overturn fertility laws that allow only infertile women to become surrogate mothers. Age 7 Sep 05

City

On New Orleans: Cities are man’s greatest creation, at least measured in physical extent, so it is that much more awful to witness their destruction. Slate 2 Sep 05
Criminal justice

Martin Wright reviews Rethinking Sentencing: A Contribution to the Debate, edited by Peter Sedgwick, a collection of essays discussing the reality of imprisonment as punishment, restorative justice, and the role of the Church in criminal justice reform. More…

Disaster

Hurricane Katrina was a horrific natural disaster. To America’s Angry Left it was yet another occasion to score political points against President George W. Bush. A measure of the anti-Bush Left’s derangement is that it blames him for bad weather.
Aust 6 Sep 05

“They say that this is God’s retribution for New Orleans being a sinful city,” said Jason Smith, a chaplain with the inter-denominational Victim Relief organisation, many of whose members have been deployed to the New Orleans area. “I don’t go along with that.” Guardian 6 Sep 05

A prominent Israeli rabbi says Hurricane Katrina is God’s punishment for US President George W Bush’s role in forcing Israelis to leave the Gaza Strip. Age 8 Sep 05

Drugs

Rebecca is 24. She started drinking alcohol at 12 by sneaking drinks from her mum and dad’s drinks cabinet. She started smoking cigarettes at 14 and by 15 she was a regular cannabis user. By 17 she couldn’t live without it. OnlineOpinion 2 Sep 05

Chinese drug syndicates are targeting Australia as a growing market for crystal methamphetamine – a cheap, addictive and highly dangerous drug that police and doctors warn is the new heroin on Australian streets. Aust 5 Sep 05

Ecology & faith

An Australian church initiative, spearheaded by Adelaide Lutheran academic Norman Habel, is weaving environmental concerns into everyday worship with a new liturgical Season of Creation. More… [scroll down]

Economics

Gross domestic product calculations put too much spin on society’s progress, writes Ross Gittins. SMH 7 Sep 05

Energy

Australia had a responsibility to supply uranium to other countries, the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said, because it was the holder of the world’s largest reserves and nuclear energy was clean. In a speech talking up the environmentally friendly merits of nuclear energy, Mr Downer said safety concerns about nuclear power were “inaccurate perceptions of risk that are not backed up by fact”. SMH 2 Sep 05

Nuclear energy is inevitable for Australia if we are to ensure that our energy remains both freely available and affordable, writes Dennis Jensen. AFR 7 sep 05

Ethics – professional

Doctors and psychologists – their professional bodies have very clear prohibitions on sex with clients. But when it comes to lawyers… More…

Executive salaries

More than 50 per cent of directors believe chief executives are paid too much but less than one in ten would want shareholders to approve executive remuneration.
AFR 8 Sep 05

Euthanasia

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has issued a warning that a permissive approach to voluntarily ending life in Britain could undermine fundamental commitments to the needs of the elderly. More…

Genetic modification

The anti-GM food debate is based on pre-enlightenment thinking, writes Mike Moore. AFR 8 Sep 05

Homosexual rights

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will veto a bill seeking to allow gay marriages in California. SMH 8 Sep 05

Human rights

How effective has the United Nations human rights system been in promoting human rights observance by Australian governments? More… Also…

Multiculturalism

The recent debate over Islamic headscarves in schools has divided the Right. Conservatives believe the virulent isolationism of Islamic minorities justifies a more coercive nationalism. Libertarians contend the correct medication for Islamist medievalism is the bracing air of free expression, not the opiate of state control. OnlineOpinion 5 Sep 05

Parenting

Two Sydney women who had a long-term relationship have started a custody battle for a three-year-old boy conceived through donor insemination. The non-biological mother claims she has been the psychological and emotional parent since the boy was born, and that he has spent more time with her in the years since the couple separated. The looming Family Court battle highlights a dilemma in lesbian relationships where both women may agree to have a child, and raise it together, but only one can give birth. In NSW the non-biological parent has no legal rights as a parent. SMH 7 Sep 05
Piracy

The big record companies have won a victory against one file-swapping software company, but are no closer to winning their war against illegal swapping, writes John Davidson.
AFR 6 Sep 05

The Kazaa file-sharing service, used by millions of people to swap songs online every day, has been ordered to stop the flow of illegal music on its system within two months. SMH 6 Sep 05

Politics & faith – Australia

Alex Hawke, 27, the national president of the Young Liberals, touched on the influence of religion when he recently told The Monthly magazine: “The two greatest forces for good in human history are capitalism and Christianity and when they’re blended it’s a very powerful duo.” Hawke believes John Brogden was too liberal on issues such as republicanism, abortion, heroin injecting rooms and homosexuality, and had called for “renewal” in the party. Age 4 Sep 05

Recent events in NSW state politics have ignited a national debate over Christians in politics, and the alleged presence of a “religious right” faction that’s out to establish its influence by fair means or foul. More…

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott has told ABC TV’s Insiders program that politicians who go to church on Sundays should not be branded extremists. ABC Insiders 4 Sep 05

The leader of the nation’s first Muslim political party says all Australians should be living under Islamic law dictated by the Koran. The Best Party of Allah in Australia applied for registration in the ACT yesterday, claiming to provide a political voice for Muslims. Aust 6 Sep 05

Politics & faith – New Zealand

Costly anti-Government leaflet drops throughout New Zealand have been identified as the work of a conservative offshoot of the Brethren faith. The revelation is a surprise, as the Exclusive Brethren supposedly divorce themselves from worldly matters and do not normally vote. NZ Herald 7 Sep 05

Politics & faith – US

The Church has a unique role to play in our politicized culture, writes Darrel Bock.
CT 7 Sep 05

Public relations

When a story that can make you or your company look bad breaks, you might call in someone like Sam Elam, Director of Media Manoeuvres. More… Also…

Racism

What is the evidence that race itself—as opposed to such determinants as poverty, bad luck, geography, bureaucratic incompetence, and daunting logistics—deepened the misery of African-Americans in New Orleans? Slate 7 Sep 05 Also…

The poor initial response to Hurricane Katrina had to do with bureaucracy, not race or Iraq, argues Greg Sheridan. Aust 8 Sep 05

Refugees & asylum seekers

Two men in Villawood detention centre have not eaten for 14 days and say they will continue the hunger strike until they die. SMH 5 Sep 05

Detainees at Villawood detention centre are being paid in cigarettes and phone cards to do chores such as cleaning, gardening and food preparation by the centre’s private operators, GSL, a detainee has claimed.
SMH 8 Sep 05

Roman Catholic Church – Australia

Arriving with little fanfare, The Catholic Community in Australia by Robert E. Dixon is one of the definitive books about Catholicism in Australia. More…

Sex education

There’s one safe place young people can go for information on sex, writes Michael Carr-Gregg. Age 8 Sep 05

Social change

A major study of social trends has found that Australians are more content with their lot now than a decade ago, and are far less conservative in their social views on issues such as immigration, abortion and same-sex marriage. Daily Telegraph 6 Sep 05

Terrorism

The answer to terrorism in Australia is the secular liberalism of Australian republicanism. Maximum liberty, tempered by individual rights and bound by inclusive and responsive minimal government is the best means to defeat terrorism and the environment that breeds and amplifies extremism, argues Cameron Riley. OnlineOpinion 2 Sep 05

Vilification – religious

An artwork that shows Star Wars characters nailed to crosses has sparked controversy before its public debut. Church leaders and Christian groups have condemned the exhibit as ridiculing and trivialising their beliefs.
They said it was only a matter of time before Christians started to use Victoria’s religious vilification laws to defend their faith.
Herald Sun 2 Sep 05

Vilification laws are a genuine threat to freedom of speech. They effectively clamp down on the discussion of important religious, theological, social and ethical issues. The answer to bad speech is not shutting speech down. It is rebutting it with good speech, argues Bill Muehlenberg. OnlineOpinion 7 Sep 05

Vocation

His theology and reverence-for-life ethic were too spacious for some, especially many of his fellow Lutherans. But for his work for humanity and indeed all of life, Albert Schweitzer was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize more than a decade before his death. He deserves to be remembered as an exemplar of the vocation of service to others for our day. More…

Whistleblowers

“I will never do a case of scientific fraud ever again … And the reason for that is just the failure of institutional responses. If the University of NSW can get away with something like this – what is the point?” asks journalist Dr Norman Swan. More…

Workplace relations

The Social Justice Network of the National Council of Churches in Australia has produced a briefing paper on Workplace Relations Policy. More…

Federal cabinet will consider softening the harsh rules on the unemployed at the heart of its welfare crackdown after sustained pressure from church-based welfare groups. Catholic Welfare Australia, Uniting Care, Anglicare and the Salvation Army, who together hold 20per cent of Job Network services, formed an alliance after the budget to oppose the changes. Aust 5 Sep 05

The proposed workplace changes pose a threat to the legal existence of a once powerful institution, writes Paul Gollan.
SMH 8 Sep 05

Other items of interest

Christian history is full of attempts to lead a more radical faith, writes David Neff.
CT 2 Sep 05

Would a Protestant form of monasticism help liberate evangelicalism from its cultural captivity? CT 2 Sep 05 Also…

America’s early history – its political divisions, economics, and moral crusades – is closely linked with evangelical religion, writes Jennifer Snead in a review of David Hempton’s Methodism: Empire of the Spirit More…

A certain European entrepreneur working in the IT sector made his fortune selling an instant transcription service over the internet. Claiming he was using state of the art voice recognition software, he advertised the real-time transcription of verbal texts. In an Indian sweatshop, people typed away … what was that about the New Economy? More…

And for something completely different: Each week film geeks Ben Davey and Joanna Cohen focus on five film fossils caught fresh from the murky shelves in your local video library (20 lists). SMH archive…

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.