The wages of spin: death of truth?
“Revisionist leaders talk a lot about their desire for unity in the Church. But more often than not, the only unity they are interested in is with the world, joining with the briefings of the secular culture against orthodox Christianity.
Here is what happened on Thursday, on the BBC Radio 4 ‘Today’ programme, where the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, and myself were in separate studios to discuss Justin Welby’s recent invitation to the Primates of the Anglican Communion to attend a meeting in January…”
– Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes writes of his experience last week on BBC Radio – and looks at lesson we can learn. (Image: Christian Concern.)
Free to live by one’s beliefs
“Many Australians are uncomfortable talking about religion or God. Sometimes we are surprised when one of our sporting heroes, like Jarryd Hayne, comes straight out and says: ‘All the glory goes to God, because without him none of this is possible.’ Some commentators are quick to criticise.
But there are many Australians who are very serious about religious belief. …”
– Associate Professor Neil Foster (who runs the Law and Religion Australia blog) has this opinion piece in today’s Newcastle Herald, ahead of a conference at the University of Newcastle on Friday September 25th. (Conference programme.)
‘The Anglican Communion is already divorced’
“Is the Anglican Communion about to split over different views of sexual ethics?
You might think so after reading headlines about the archbishop of Canterbury’s proposal to “loosen” the structures of the Communion — a way of retaining his relationship to the liberal wing of the Western churches as well as the traditional Anglicans of the Global South.
But to interpret the archbishop’s recent announcement as a split over sexuality is to miss the bigger picture. First, the impending dissolution of Anglicanism as it currently exists institutionally is over much more than sex. Second, the divorce has already taken place, just not formally…”
– At Religion News Service, Trevin Wax gives the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call for a Primates’ meeting some context.
‘Allow me to die!’ — SBS Dateline
On 2CH in Sydney last night, Dominic Steele interviewed SBS journalist Brett Mason and Moore College’s Lionel Windsor, about the SBS TV Dateline programme “Allow me to die!”.
The Dateline programme follows two people who have decided to end their lives.
Related:
The hardest story I’ve told – Brett Mason, SBS.
Dr Megan Best’s speech on euthanasia at Sydney Synod in 2010.
Give Me Liberty and Give Me Death: Belgium’s Brave New Euthanasia Regime – Public Discourse.
What brings us together
“Early this week Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, announced that he was inviting the leaders of the Anglican Communion to gather, reflect and pray over the Communion’s future. We later learned through his ‘aides’ that he was open to the Communion moving to a looser federation-like structure. Ruth Gledhill, a long-time reporter on Anglican events, gave a hearty endorsement of this possibility …
While I like Ruth Gledhill’s writing, I don’t share her enthusiasm for the Archbishop’s ‘vision.’ Why can’t I get on board with it and just ‘let go and let God?’ Because that would mean I ‘let go’ of the truth. …
What brings us together as Anglicans isn’t shared mission or endless indaba.”
– At the American Anglican Council, Canon Phil Ashley sees problems with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s hope of holding the Anglican Communion togther.
Archbishop Davies on the Syrian Crisis
“The Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Glenn Davies, has called for each church in Sydney to adopt and love one of the refugee families that are to come from Syria to Australia.
But how might this be done?
Last Sunday night on 2CH, Dr Davies, joined me in the studio to take talkback callers about how his plan might be rolled out…”
– Dominic Steele has been filling in for Kel Richards on 2CH on Sunday nights. Last Sunday night, Archbishop Glenn Davies joined him to speak about the Syrian refugee crisis.
Update: video of the conversation has been added.
Loyalty
“Of the two qualities largely lacking in our political leaders, one is a fruit of the Holy Spirit and the other is the fruit of our Christian hope. …
Our earthly leaders let us down and leave us no example to follow, but the perfect God/man, the Lord Jesus, set his face steadfastly to Jerusalem to suffer and die for undeserving rebels.”
– Presbyterian Moderator General David Cook lifts our eyes above the events in Canberra.
Things fall apart: Yeats’ sphinx and the need for spiritual warfare
“It is impossible to understand evil without a worldview which includes the reality of the spiritual. ‘Spiritual’ refers to unseen entities separate from human psychology, and ‘evil’ involves more than human sin…”
– Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream argues that Christians need a biblical worldview to understand what’s going on in the world.
Related resources:
Living with the Underworld – Matthias Media, Peter Bolt.
Spells, Sorcerers and Spirits – Latimer Trust, Kirsty Birkett.
Assisting people to die would dehumanise our society for ever — Archbishop Welby
“The archbishop of Canterbury and other faith leaders are urging [British] MPs to oppose a change in the law as they fear it would mean crossing an ethical Rubicon…”
– The Guardian. (Image: BBC.)
Syrian crisis ‘too great to be ignored’ — Archbishop Davies
“Sydney’s Anglican Archbishop Dr Glenn Davies has called on the Federal Government to develop a comprehensive response to the Syrian refugee crisis.
‘One of the most significant characteristics of a civilised society is the way it treats those who are the most vulnerable…”
– Read the full story at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Jail time for Kentucky County Clerk
“The internet is full of reports and comments about Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has been sentenced to jail for contempt of court in refusing to issue marriage licenses. …
Questions raised by this incident are similar to those being raised all over the Western world in countries where same sex marriage has been recognised. To what extent should the religious freedom of those called on to celebrate or support such marriage ceremonies be recognised? This blog won’t be able to answer all those questions, but I would like to set out some considerations that I think policy and law makers should take into account, and to comment briefly on this decision.”
– Neil Foster’s latest post at Law and Religion Australia shows important freedom of religion questions need to be considered if same sex marriage is to be recognised in Australia.
‘In this world you will have trouble’
“The Commonwealth of Kentucky is now the setting for a dramatic display of judicial arrogance, even as the larger story points to the sweeping moral change that is transforming the nation’s landscape. Today, U.S. District Judge David Bunning ordered Kim Davis, County Clerk of Rowan County, to go to jail for refusing to obey an order of his court requiring Mrs. Davis to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples…
What are government officials now to do? This story centers on a County Clerk in Kentucky, but the questions will eventually extend to any office holder, anyone wearing the uniform of the United States military, and virtually any government employee. The same pressures will come on anyone teaching on a secular college campus and anyone working for a Fortune 500 corporation.”
– Albert Mohler writes about the latest fallout from the US Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage.
My Bishop, a liar and a schemer
“The latest biography of the late B.A. Santamaria, by Gerard Henderson, records an interesting incident.
Santamaria had cooperated with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, to see the successful establishment of the Democratic Labor Party in Victoria, but had less success with the church’s Sydney hierarchy…”
– Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook on the foundation of the Christian faith.
Schools, same sex politics and religion in NSW
“So there is no doubt the film is ‘political’, as dealing with a matter of highly charged debate in the Federal Parliament and in the public sphere. Yet the school was proposing to cancel classes and direct all students to attend, while also encouraging (if not directing) all of them to wear the colour purple as a mark of support for homosexuality…”
– at Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor in Law, Neil Foster looks at the controversy over the planned screening of a film at Burwood Girls’ High.
Related:
Gayby Baby imbroglio – Denials, fear and a lack of tolerance – Miranda Devine, The Telegraph, 28 August 2015.
“A department spokesperson was quoted in The Guardian on Wednesday, saying: ‘The school has not received any complaints from Burwood High School parents.’
That just wasn’t true…”
Ashley Madison and the Death of Monogamy
“I wrote an essay on Ashley Madison as ‘Adultery Incorporated’ back in 2011, after Bloomberg Businessweek published a cover story on the business. Back then, it was clear that many people saw Ashley Madison as a joke. No one is laughing now…
Given the numbers involved, the exposures are likely to hit nearly every community, millions of families, countless churches, and just about every major corporation and institution…”
– Albert Mohler on the sobering story of Ashley Madison.
And Village Church in Annandale is offering hope to locals:
“Annandale has 455 Ashley Madison accounts according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which the newspaper describes as being 6.27% of the postcode …
If you are struggling, either you have hurt someone or been hurt, and you would like to see if it’s possible to fix things with God and your spouse then it’s possible we can help.”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…