Religious Freedom and land-clearing

“A religious group has claimed that “religious freedom rights” allow it to ignore Australian laws governing land-clearing and other provisions regulating land development. The claim is clearly wrong. It is important to spell out why, so this false claim does not affect other, justifiable, arguments that can be made about appropriate protection of religious freedom. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster points of that Religious Freedom does not give a license to ignore the law.

Middle-aged white men can tell the Truth

“Maybe we never realised it, but John 1:1 changes the way we understand everything.

It means that we believe in objective truth. That is to say, truth is real, it sits above us all, and all things ought to be conformed to it.

Truth is not merely ‘my truth’ or ‘true for me.’ Truth is true for everyone. …

But truth is dying in the West. …

This is why identity politics has caught on so quickly. It teaches us that we are no longer to measure things by what is said (ie whether it’s true), but rather who said it.

There are those who have no right to speak about things because of who they are. Because their group identity makes them ‘privileged’ they cannot speak about issues affecting other groups who are ‘victims.’

Examples abound. Only yesterday…”

– Here’s a thoughtful piece from Martyn Iles at The Australian Christian Lobby.

We can’t talk about unethical transgender medicine involving children?

“Here we go again.

Now the University of Western Australia has caved in following protests by the LGBTI lobbyists and cancelled a talk by Quentin Van Meter, an American paediatric endocrinologist who has been visiting Australia this week, speaking out about unethical transgender medicine being practised on children.

Dr Van Meter is a clinical associate professor at both Emory and Morehouse Schools of Medicine and he trained at John Hopkins, which did much of the early work on transgender.

The Perth talk was to have been the last in a week-long tour sponsored by the Australian Family Association. …”

– This opinion-piece in The Spectator Australia includes an hour-long ‘must-watch’ video of Dr Van Meter’s Sydney talk.

Related:

Findings from the New Atlantis Report on Sexuality and Gender, October 8 2016.

There’s no need for an epic moment every Sunday

“If you measured church life only from the tweets of some pastors, you’d assume church services are awesome for every other congregation but your own. Phrases like, ‘Killer praise band,’ ’Home run sermon,‘ and ‘Amazing stage design’ fill Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram feeds on Sunday afternoons.

Meanwhile, at your church, the lapel mic stopped working halfway through the sermon, the Scripture verses on the screen were in the wrong version, and the date for the church picnic was incorrect in the bulletin. …”

– Maybe your church isn’t an epic church. Here are three reasons it doesn’t need to be. (Link via Gary Ware.)

Australian Church Leaders, Prepare your People for Persecution

“Mr Ruddock will soon hand down his recommendations – which are expected to include certain legislative protections for so-called ‘religious people’ (doesn’t  everyone have a world-view?).

Laws will likely be made to guarantee certain rights to worship, to publicly communicate one’s religious beliefs, and to work and educate our children according to one’s religious convictions.  I expect that many in the church will raise a cheer when such legal protections are made.

Here, however, is my prognostication, which I extrapolate from parallel events in France some four centuries ago. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Campbell Markham has some important observations for Australian Christians.

Keep Silent….or Speak Out?

“I can see as clear as day what is coming down the tracks. And I don’t want to have on my conscience the Lord’s people in a few years time saying ‘we didn’t see that one coming!’. Some of us did. And we have to speak out before it’s too late.

Whether people will listen or not – that’s not our concern. We have to speak the Word of the Lord.…”

– At The Wee Flea, David Robertson explains why he believes he must speak out.

When the church lets you down

“In the C S Lewis classic (Screwtape Letters), senior devil whispers to his apprentice: ‘one of our greatest allies at present is the church itself’.

Screwtape is aghast that Wormwood’s patient has become a Christian, but he encourages his junior devil by saying that the church is in such a mess that ‘it matters very little … your patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous’.

I feel sad today, and ask: Is one of the devil’s greatest allies at present the church itself?

It’s one thing to have Australian society approve of same-sex marriage, but when a church approves – it’s disturbing … and confusing.

To be sure, not our church, but nevertheless a branch of the Christian church in Australia. …”

– Presbyterian Moderator-General John P Wilson responds to the Uniting Church of Australia’s decision about marriage last week.

Leviticus in The New York Times: What’s the Real Story Here?

“Even in this secular age, the conscience of Western civilization continues to be haunted and shaped by the Bible. The inherited moral tradition of the West was explicitly formed by the Bible – both the Old and New Testaments – and the moral power of the Bible continues as the main source of the principles, intuitions, impulses, and vocabulary of modern times.

But if European and American cultures have been morally shaped by the Bible, these same cultures are now haunted by the Bible. The Bible haunts all the modern efforts to push a vast revolution in morality – specifically sexual morality. …”

– Albert Mohler looks at one attempt to make the Bible say the exact opposite of what it says.

The Soft and Hard Intimidation of the Church

“It’s been an intense but revealing 24 hours. I have learned to an even greater extent just how deep the rot is in the contemporary church, and just how easy it is for us to be intimidated and bullied into silence.

Let me set the background, then explain what happened yesterday, and then offer some analysis of what precisely is going on.

Vicky Beeching brought out her book Undivided a couple of months ago and has been touring the TV studios and doing newspaper interviews ever since, telling everyone how bad and wicked the evangelical church is. I wrote an honest review of that book trying to empathise with her, whilst not agreeing with her theology. …”

– David Robertson at The Wee Flea shares something of the intimidation he has been experiencing after writing his open letter to Vicky Beeching.

Wanted: A party to stand up for parents

“The row at Heavers Farm Primary School in Croydon, south London, caused by the head teacher’s plan to parade pupils as young as four on a homosexual pride march, illustrates a terrible truth: British state education has now become an engine for imposing anti-Christian cultural Marxism to the spiritual and moral harm of children…”

– Julian Mann in South Yorkshire wonders which British politicians will stand against the tide.

Further background in this earlier article by Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes.

(Photo: Julian Mann with Archbishop Ben Kwashi.)

Whatever happened to that same-sex marriage boom?

“Now that all the glitter has settled after last year’s non-binding voluntary postal survey – remember, we couldn’t be trusted to have a plebiscite, let alone a fair dinkum referendum – just exactly how many of the LGBTIQ community have tied the knot?

Well, rather than being the over-whelming flood, it has turned out to be nothing more than a trickle. In short, we were conned.…”

– At The Spectator Australia, Mark Powell asks the question.

That’s me, 34th from the right

“I am a 2008er. That is, I was probably one of the first Australians to know about the Global Anglican Future Conference and one of the first to register in 2008.

I went to the London leadership conference in 2012, GAFCON II in Nairobi in 2013 and I have just returned from GAFCON III in Jerusalem. As a member of the media team at all three GAFCONS, I have been privileged to see things up close.

I have never been prouder to be an Aussie – given the way my brothers and sisters from Anglican churches across Australia got stuck in to help in Jerusalem. …”

– Russell Powell (who is only 4th from the right in the photo above) shares his reflections on GAFCON 2018 at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Photo: GAFCON Media.

“Letter to the Churches” encapsulates authentic Christianity with clarity, firmness and grace

“The Conference in Jerusalem which has just ended was an extraordinarily rich experience. Not just the dynamic worship, outstanding teaching, and cross-cultural fellowship in small groups and one to one.

A huge amount of information has been presented formally from up front and informally in the form of interviews and blogs. Much of this will be lost in time; the life-changing experience of delegates may fade, but what remains is the Conference Statement. …”

– At Anglican Mainstream, the Rev. Andrew Symes provides some initial reflections on GAFCON’s ‘Letter to the Churches’.

Undivided – An Open Letter to Vicky Beeching

“Vicky Beeching is a relatively well-known Christian singer songwriter who is now better known for being gay and an advocate of the LGBT agenda within the church.

When she came out as gay she knew that her career on the American Christian music scene was over, but she now has a new career as a darling of the regressive establishment, as they continue their ‘redefinition’ of the Christian faith.

Her new career has resulted in numerous media appearances, an award from the Archbishop of Canterbury and a new book. ‘Undivided’ has just been published to a mixed reception. This is my review in the form of an open letter.”

– At his blog, The Wee Flea, David Robertson has published a very thoughtful open letter. Do take the time to read.

Letter to GAFCON Primates from Anglican Consultative Council Secretary General

George Conger at Anglican Ink has published the letter from Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council, to the GAFCON Primates – dated 13th June 2018.

“I am persuaded to write to you all, as members of the Primates’ Meeting and therefore and one of the four instruments that make up the smooth running of our Communion of Churches, about this month’s letter from the Chairman of GAFCON. …”

– The full letter may be read here (PDF), courtesy of Anglican Ink.

Related:

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