Religion & Ethics Australia Digest

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

No. 053, 7-13 Oct 2005  ² edited by Rod Benson

News & opinion

Aboriginal & indigenous issues

The Howard Government plans to allow individuals to privately own what is now communal property in remote Aboriginal communities. SMH 6 Oct 05

Aboriginal body parts that scientists and explorers took to Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries can be returned to Australia, after the enactment of a new British law.
SMH 7 Oct 05

Abortion

A Journal of the American Medical Association article from late August claimed that an unborn child is unlikely to perceive pain until the 29th week in the womb. But two of the study’s five authors apparently had ties to the abortion industry. CT 12 Oct 05

Information about the implications of screening unborn babies for abnormalities should form part of ante-natal classes, a researcher believes. SMH 12 Oct 05

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott and his parliamentary secretary Christopher Pyne, both outspoken pro-life MPs, are coming under pressure from colleagues to overturn a federal Government ban on the controversial abortion pill RU-486. Aust 13 Oct 05

Victorian women who want a late-term abortion for reasons other than a foetal abnormality will have to first see a counsellor and go through a mandatory 48-hour cooling-off period.
Age 13 Oct 05

Ageism

The Queensland Anti-Discrimination Tribunal yesterday ruled that the carrier directly discriminated against the women, former Ansett workers aged between 36 and 56, on the basis of their age during job interviews where applicants were required to dance and sing and were assessed for “Virgin flair”. SMH 11 Oct 05

Alcohol

Thank God for the Salvos, writes Ross Fitzgerald. In treating alcoholics and other addicts, the Salvation Army still aims for complete abstinence rather than so-called “controlled” drinking. Aust 13 Oct 05

Animal rights

Elle (The Body) McPherson is now the target of a fatwa by animal rights activists, writes Natasha Cica. Age 8 Oct 05

Bioethics – cloning

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to rule that milk from cloned animals and meat from their offspring are safe to eat, raising the question of whether Americans are ready to welcome one of modern biology’s most controversial achievements to the dinner table. SMH 7 Oct 05

Bioethics – stem cells

Bill Frist, Christian, physician, pro-lifer and esteemed Majority Leader of the US Senate has publicly supported the federally funded killing of “spare” embryos. CT 11 Oct 05

Citizenship

Despite legislation in its name and despite the Federal Government’s more recent rhetoric that citizenship is the common bond at the heart of a unified and inclusive Australia, it remains ill-defined and elusive, Alison Holland says. ABC Perspective 6 Oct 05

Conscientious objection

Peacemaking is an essential dimension of any Christian vocation, writes Jim Forrest. More…

Divorce & remarriage

The reality of a national divorce and separation rate of at least one in three has prompted one of Australia’s largest churches to offer blessings for couples whose marriages are drawing to an end. SMH 8 Oct 05

Environment

Rising sea levels, desertification and shrinking freshwater supplies will create up to 50 million environmental refugees by the end of the decade, experts warn today. Janos Bogardi, director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University in Bonn, said creeping environmental deterioration already displaced up to 10 million people a year, and the situation would get worse. Common Dreams 12 Oct 05

Ethics – ministerial

Sunday school teachers, youth leaders and church wardens guilty of moral lapses including habitual drunkenness, adultery and financial impropriety could face the sack under proposals by Sydney Anglicans to widen church laws dealing with cases of sexual misconduct.
SMH 12 Oct 05

Euthanasia

Should the law allow doctors to help terminally ill patients to hasten their deaths? That question is provoking heated discussion on both sides of the Atlantic. Guardian 10 Oct 05

The notion of “dying with dignity” has metastasized into a turf war and a religious war, into a moral argument and a discussion on the role that politics should have in individual lives. Revealer 11 Oct 05

Genocide

Bob Faw explores the growing backlash over Germany’s public contrition for the Holocaust. Religion & Ethics Newsletter 7 Oct 05

Globalisation

However wrong, the populist view of globalisation persists, writes Miranda Devine. SMH 13 Oct 05

Homosexuality & faith

Powerbrokers in Sydney’s Anglican diocese want to change the church’s constitution to enable a split from the Church of England in England if its attitude to the ordination of gay clergy and same-sex unions remains unresolved.
Aust 13 Oct 05

Human rights

Australia’s reputation as a human rights champion had been so tarnished in recent years that it could be called a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the retiring High Court justice Michael McHugh said yesterday. SMH 13 Oct 05

Illness – mental

A Howard Government parliamentary secretary has called for a return to institutions for the mentally ill in a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister. Age 13 Oct 05

Immigration

The Federal Government plans to change the Immigration Department’s Orwellian culture by establishing a college of immigration, border security and compliance for its officials to attend. SMH 7 Oct 05

Islam – Australia

In a bid to tackle Islamic extremism, the Federal government has called for Australia’s imams to be formally trained and accredited. But questions over who will do the training, and who will oversee the process, are exposing deep rifts between Muslim organisations.
ABC Religion Report 12 Oct 05

Politics – Australia

Australia is experiencing a historic shift in power to executive government that threatens to undermine the vibrancy and effectiveness of the parliamentary process, argues Steve Lewis. Aust 12 Oct 05

Politics – US

Five years after his election, only Republican apparatchiks now praise George W. Bush. He is more partisan, less competent and far less mature than his predecessor, argues Doug Bandow. Aust 12 Oct 05

Politics & faith – Australia

“I would encourage young people grounded in the truth with strong moral ethics to be active in politics and centres of power where decisions are made,” former Tasmanian senator Brian Harradine said. Catholic Weekly 9 Oct 05

Politics & faith – US

US President George W. Bush has been criticised for “making a mockery of Christianity” after it was revealed last night that he directly claimed he was on a ‘mission from God’ when he launched the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Ekklesia 7 Oct 05

Poverty

Africans are getting poorer, not richer. They are living shorter, hungrier lives. The decline of an entire continent confounds our preconceptions about human advancement, writes Andrew Rice. The Nation 24 Oct 05

Privacy

From today, employers may secretly monitor staff by using tracking devices in work vehicles, installing video cameras or reading emails, as long as they give two weeks’ notice or get a magistrate’s approval. SMH 7 Oct 05

Sexism

One in three women has been battered or sexually abused, according to a UN report that urges governments to meet promises for gender equality for its own sake and to combat poverty. Aust 13 Oct 05

Sexuality

They’re here, they’re mostly bare and they don’t care who’s looking. Richard Jinman charts the rise of raunch culture among young women. SMH 8 Oct 05

A commercialised version of female sexuality doesn’t equal empowerment, writes Ariel Levy. SMH 8 Oct 05

Taxation

Australia is, supposedly, a nation of small businesses. As a tax lawyer for nearly 20 years, my perception is we are a nation of small tax avoiders, writes Louise McBride. Aust 10 Oct 05

Terrorism

Australia is working with Indonesia to fight the terrorist plague, writes Alexander Downer.
Age 7 Oct 05

Any move to detain people who are regarded as a threat to security must be subject to judicial review, the former chief justice of Australia, Anthony Mason, has said. SMH 8 Oct 05

The Federal and NSW governments are battling backbench concerns about the details of legislation being drawn up to combat terrorism. SMH 11 Oct 05

No amount of anti-terrorist legislation will by itself actually prevent terrorists from carrying out their despicable acts. What it does is provide a semblance of protection, while eroding civil liberties and tilting us a little more toward totalitarian rule, writes Rod Benson. EthicsDaily 12 Oct 05

Virtue

Until recently, children were brought up to acquire virtues such as thrift, temperance, cleanliness and politeness. Today, this is regarded by many as almost humorous. James Franklin talks about the history of restraint in Australia. ABC Counterpoint 3 Oct 05

War

On Iraq, John Howard has an official mantra: to stay militarily committed to Iraq “until the job is done”. We need to begin to signal a new phase in our debate with the Government on Iraq, argues Kevin Rudd. Aust 8 Oct 05

There’s a risk the entire Middle East region could implode, possibly delivering to al-Qaeda or one of its satellites a state-based operation – in Iraq or maybe even in Saudi Arabia. It can’t be allowed to happen, writes Paul McGeough. SMH 13 Oct 05

Water

Proposals for a $2 billion desalination plant on Sydney’s Kurnell Peninsula could be stalled or even stopped as the Federal Government sets in train a process to overrule the state’s planning authority. SMH 8 Oct 05

Weapons

The determination of Middle Eastern and Asian countries to develop nuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction is revealed by a secret British intelligence document.
SMH 10 Oct 05

Workplace relations

How long will we get to peruse workplace legislation before it is pushed through, asks David Marr. SMH 7 Oct 05

The most vulnerable sections of the workforce would be further disadvantaged by the Howard Government’s planned industrial reforms, the Victorian branch of Anglicare says.
Aust 10 Oct 05

The Howard Government will have extraordinary powers to ban strike action as part of a concerted assault on union power to be introduced under a new wave of industrial reforms. Aust 10 Oct 05

In the light of yesterday’s Government announcement on the detail of its industrial relations reforms, the political and public relations battle from here is really about who owns the high moral ground. The Government says it is promoting individual rights under employment contracts. The unions claim they have to protect workers from being screwed by bosses. Aust 10 Oct 05

The Federal Government is facing a growing backlash from church leaders who have strongly protested against the limited safeguards given to vulnerable workers in the proposed industrial relations changes. SMH 11 Oct 05

Church leaders have strongly attacked the Federal Government’s new workplace plans, with Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop warning that changes affecting the sanctity of Sundays risked turning workers into robots. SMH 11 Oct 05

The Federal Government’s detailed outline of its proposed new system of workplace relations did not appear to address fundamental concerns about fairness and balance, says the Catholic Church’s employment relations body. More…

The Catholic Church is wide of the mark with its criticism of plans for the workplace, writes Gerard Henderson. SMH 11 Oct 05

Church groups should read the Government’s workplace legislation before making comment, according to Queensland Nationals senator Ron Boswell, after religious leaders voiced doubts about the reforms. Age 11 Oct 05

John Howard’s changes spell a return to the law of the jungle in industrial relations, writes Carla Lipsig-Mumme. Age 11 Oct 05

Key Queensland Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce said his door was always open to church groups concerned by the Government’s proposed industrial relations changes. news.com.au 11 Oct 05

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an employers organisation, offers the most cool-headed appraisal of the Government’s package. As it says, it is not a new workplace relations system but a further welcome step from arbitration to agreement making, argues Alan Wood. Aust 12 Oct 05

State public servants on federal industrial agreements – including teachers, nurses and bus drivers – are shifting to state awards to sidestep the Howard Government’s planned workplace reforms. Aust 12 Oct 05

Howard says more flexible hours and arrangements promoted by the new order will give people the best chance to organise the conflicting demands of family and work responsibilities. But Labor, the ACTU, Family First’s senator Steve Fielding and some church leaders are talking up the danger of eroding families’ time together, writes Michelle Grattan. Age 12 Oct 05

Howard’s industrial relations changes: What will they mean for the future of family life, and the balance of bargaining power? Ross Gittins has his say. Age 12 Oct 05

The director of Catholic Welfare Australia has told an interchurch welfare symposium that the Catholic Church has always deplored the treatment of employment as nothing more than a form of commercial contract, which he suggested is the basis of the Howard Government’s industrial relations reforms. CathNews 12 Oct 05

John Howard says workers have had strong real wage increases under his Government. What he does not tell people is that people got these increases from Labor’s industrial relations system and not John Howard’s, observes Paul Keating. Age 13 Oct 05

The new workplace regime will retard, not boost the economy, warns Kenneth Davidson. Age 13 Oct 05

Other items of interest

Fifty years ago this week, five unknown poets stood among 150 friends in a small art gallery in San Francisco and declared war on America. Sojourners 6 Oct 05

Should intelligent design be taught in Australian schools? Brian Edgar explores the issue. More…

Religion & Ethics Australia Digest is published by the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College, 120 Herring Rd, Eastwood 2122 AUSTRALIA. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Centre for Christian Ethics, Morling College or the Baptist Churches of NSW & ACT. To view the full article, click the blue underlined text at the foot of the summary. Abbreviations: AFR=The Australian Financial Review; Aust=The Australian; C-M=The Courier-Mail; CT=Christianity Today; SMH=The Sydney Morning Herald. For back issues click here. For a free copy by email each week, email and type “subscribe to READ” in the subject line.