‘Win for parents as Safe Schools is scrapped in NSW’
Here’s a media release from the Australian Christian Lobby –
Parents will no longer need to be worried that their child is being taught radical gender theory after the NSW Government announced the scrapping of the controversial Safe Schools program.
This is a positive step for NSW and the government is to be congratulated, says Australian Christian Lobby. Read more
The Rainbow Ringwraiths
“Totalitarians and fascists have always sought to demonise their opponents, in part by marking them out from the ‘normal’ majority. They are clearly identified one way or another as recalcitrants, and treated accordingly. Simply consider how Jews fared as the Nazi regime occupied various European countries: being forced to wear a yellow badge in the form of a Star of David.
Millions of our young men gave their lives to fight these totalist regimes and to preserve our cherished freedoms. But a new totalitarianism is descending upon the West, and it comes in the form of the militant and totalitarian rainbow activists. …”
– Bill Muehlenberg at CultureWatch has more on the ‘voluntary’ wearing of rings to promote same-sex marriage.
‘A ring to bind them to their master’s will’
“Bosses at big companies like Qantas and Google have ‘suggested’ their employees wear black rings with a gap to show they support same-sex marriage. Or show that they have a future at their company, perhaps, because it’s not quite clear how this push for ‘tolerance’ quite works now. …”
– Andrew Bolt reports on a concerning move — Herald Sun.
More:
Firms ring in campaign for marriage equality — The Australian.
“Qantas staff and cabin crew would wear them, he said, while Google Australia has also provided rings for its 1300 staff to wear. ‘Our goal is to build momentum around the issue of marriage equality and spark those conversations about acceptance,’ Mr McDonagh said.
The move is likely to fire up the debate about the role of corporations as lobbyists for contentious social causes, which has attracted criticism from some conservative politicians and religious leaders in light of the recent public hounding of brewer Coopers into pledging support for Australian Marriage Equality.”
Airbnb calls for marriage equality — AdNews.
“Launched with support from some of Australia’s biggest brands including Qantas, Google, ANZ bank and eBay, and in collaboration with The Equality Campaign, ‘Until We All Belong’ marks the most public corporate declaration for marriage equality in Australia to date.”
Image: AdNews.
Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies slams same-sex marriage activists
“The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney has branded radical same-sex marriage campaigners as a ‘barge of bullies’ who are swamping the public debate with an ‘introspective, authoritarian denial of free speech’.
Writing in The Australian today, Glenn Davies says the corporate world in Australia has been ‘press-ganged’ into supporting marriage equality and backing diversity by gay activists. ‘What kind of diversity is so monochrome that it does not allow differing expressions of opinion in the debate?’ he says. ‘This narrow-minded, freedom-restricting carping is what the same-sex marriage campaign has come to.’…”
– Story from The Australian.
Here is an excerpt from Archbishop Davies’ piece –
“There is only one upside from the recent attacks and unprecedented abuse directed at an academic and the directors of Christian organisations: people are beginning to wake up and take notice. They are starting to understand that the campaign for same-sex marriage is not sailing on a raft of rainbows but on a barge of bullies.
Last week there was the IBM executive whose position was questioned because he was a director of the Lachlan Macquarie Institute. He was the subject of attack in his previous employment as well.
Then there was the Christian academic who had not even entered the same-sex marriage debate, whose university was pressured over his employment which, it was claimed, conflicted with its membership in the so-called Pride in Diversity campaign. What kind of diversity is so monochrome that it does not allow differing expressions of opinion in the debate?
Not only has this minority view tried to swamp the public debate with its introspective, authoritarian denial of free speech, it has struck at the heart of Australian democracy and the freedoms that we all cherish. …”
– Read the full article – on page 14 of the print edition of today’s Australian – or in their digital edition (paywalled).
Calls for Macquarie University to distance themselves from Christian Academic
“In the latest case in a growing line of stories, Dr Steve Chavura, a Senior Research Associate at Macquarie University, has been the subject of calls for his dismissal from the university. …
It should be noted that Dr Chavura is not the first LMI board member to receive attention in recent days, indeed these stories a fast becoming common place around the country. For example: …”
– Murray Campbell looks at the latest ‘take no captives’ approach in the culture wars.
(Interestingly, Dr. Chavura’s “research interests include … philosophical issues relating to freedom of speech”.)
Christian leaders slam ‘appalling and unAustralian’ gay activists
“The nation’s most senior Christian leaders have described as ‘appalling’ and ‘unAustralian’ attacks from gay activists that have driven two Christian charities to request board secrecy.
And the Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has slammed the multinational corporates who surrender to those attacks as ‘weak-kneed’.”
– Story from The Australian. (paywalled). File photo of Abp Davies: Moore College.
Related: Another Christian persecuted by Gay Left – Herald Sun.
Encountering contemporary liberal theology – in its own words
“Conservative evangelicals are often accused of not ‘listening’ to other points of view. We’re told that we only engage with each other; we only read or listen to ‘approved’ versions of our faith; we caricature the arguments of revisionists without really hearing them.
So I was delighted to receive a press release from Modern Church, summarising the keynote address from the recent annual meeting of their Council, and giving a link to the substantial 12 page text of the talk itself, by Dr Lorraine Cavanagh, which can be found here. [Updated link]
‘Reclaiming the soul of Modern Church’ reads like a manifesto for mission for liberal Christians, and it’s worth reading with genuine enquiry, to ask whether this revisionist version of Christian faith offers a coherent and compelling vision that threatens orthodox biblical faith in any way. …”
– Andrew Symes at Anglican Mainstream provides a very interesting look at liberal theology’s rolling redefinition of Christianity.
Safety fears at Christian charities force board security
“Two Christian charities have been granted official permission to keep their board members’ names secret on the grounds of ‘public safety’, after abuse and threats from gay activists forced an IBM executive to sever his links with a Christian education group.
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission yesterday agreed to keep the boards of the Lachlan Macquarie Institute and the Australian Christian Lobby off the public record because publication ‘could endanger public safety’. …”
– from The Australian. File photo: Lyle Shelton, Australian Christian Lobby.
Abortion, Obscenity and Free Speech
“Sometimes a powerful visual image is what is needed to shock us into action. But can an image be so powerful and horrifying that it becomes “obscene” and hence unlawful to use in public?
That, it seems, is now the view being taken in Victoria of a particular type of image: pictures of unborn babies who have been killed. While the decision of a Victorian court, it may be followed elsewhere in Australia. …”
– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster (Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle) discusses the decision in Victoria, and implications for free speech.
Image: Australian Christian Lobby.
Why Princeton’s snub of Tim Keller should outrage progressives
“If you’re a conservative evangelical Christian who feels called to ministry, you’re welcome to attend Princeton Theological Seminary. But you’re not worthy of honor there. That’s the message sent by PTS’ president, Craig Barnes, today. …
If Christians like Tim Keller are unworthy of honor and deserve to be marginalized, American Christianity is in serious trouble. …”
– Jonathan Merritt writes at Religion News Service.
Related: What Hath Amsterdam to do with Princeton? – Reformation21.
“In 1898 B.B. Warfield invited the Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper to deliver six lectures at Princeton Seminary for the inaugural Stone Lectures. These lectures were eventually bound and printed as Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. In these lectures, Kuyper discussed what he believed to be the manner by which a Calvinist and Reformed worldview ought to be applied to quite a number of spheres of life.
The inaugural Stone Lectures forever linked the theology of Dr. Kuyper with Princeton Seminary. This connection was further solidified in the creation of the Kuyper Prize, awarded by the Kuyper Center for Public Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary.”
The history and theology behind Princeton’s decision not to honour Tim Keller
Albert Mohler unpacks Princeton’s decision not to award the Kuyper Prize if it means giving it to Tim Keller.
How showing a picture of a dead foetus has become a crime
“Showing a picture of a dead foetus in public is now a crime following a ruling in the Supreme Court of Victoria on Tuesday which will strengthen the hand of the abortion industry lobby across Australia, warns the Australian Christian Lobby.’…”
– from The Australian Christian Lobby.
‘Gay rights activists target IBM executive’
“Marriage equality advocate IBM Australia is being targeted by militant gay rights activists who have condemned the company over a senior executive’s links to a Christian organisation. …
The social media campaign comes after the same activists shamed Adelaide brewer Coopers into pledging allegiance to Australian Marriage Equality after its ties with the Bible Society were exposed.”
– Report from The Australian. (paywalled)
Beer, Bibles and free speech in Australia
“The Bible Society of Australia has recently celebrated its 200th birthday – a significant milestone in a country whose European settlement only took place about 230 years ago. It decided to celebrate the event by way of connecting with popular Australian culture – and in a fairly secular country, a key aspect of that culture is beer!
So in a creative move, the Society formed a partnership with Coopers, a long-established but slightly “niche” brewery, to arrange the release of cans of “Coopers Light”, a low-alcohol beer, with Bible verses on the cans. (The link was all the more appropriate because the motto of the Society was “Live Light”. Coopers also claims to be “Australia’s longest living family brewery”, having been established in 1862.)
So far, so good …”
– At MercatorNet, Neil Foster recounts the disturbing tale of the “Keeping it Light” video.
Coopers outrage ‘over the top’, Liberal MPs say
“The two Liberal MPs involved in a video which sparked outrage over Coopers Brewery’s links with The Bible Society have hit back, calling the public response ‘over the top’ and the brewer’s backdown ‘spineless’. …”
– ABC News report. Image: ABC.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…