The outrage mob is out to get Folau

Posted on April 12, 2019 
Filed under Australia, Culture wars Comments Off on The outrage mob is out to get Folau

“The outrage mob is out in force following rugby star Israel Folau’s latest social media comments.

The mob wants to more than disagree with Folau’s opinion, as is our right in a free society. It wants to ban him from expressing it, which is totalitarian. …”

– Morgan Begg,a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, writes in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Related:

Israel Folau to be sacked by Rugby Australia over homophobic comments – ABC News.

What the hell, Australia? – David Ould.

See also earlier posts – mainly from April 2018, including a media statement, at the time, from Archbishop Glenn Davies:

“The way Israel Folau is treated will be a test of Australian Rugby’s ‘inclusion’ policy.

Israel Folau should be free to hold and express traditional, Biblical views on marriage and sexuality without being penalized – just as other players have spoken out with their differing views. …”

The Bible is a wilderness, not a garden: Lessons from Donald Robinson

Posted on April 11, 2019 
Filed under People, Sydney Diocese Comments Off on The Bible is a wilderness, not a garden: Lessons from Donald Robinson

“In 2001, a young West Australian skipped Hebrew class to listen to a slight elderly man dressed in bishop’s purple and a clerical collar teach on the Epistle of James.

The class stood as he entered the room and remained standing while he prayed. They addressed him neither by his name (Donald) nor by the title of his most recent posting (Archbishop), but by the clerical order he occupied through the laying on of hands: ‘Bishop Robinson’.

The whole spectacle struck the young West Australian as otherworldly and exotic, though not inauthentic. Its effect was to lull students into a false sense of security – a security quickly removed as this unassuming figure treated the class to an exegetical tour de force, with original and daring insights thrown at the unsuspecting class with a velocity for which none were prepared. …”

– Rory Shiner writes at GoThereFor.com.

(1982 photo via Ramon Williams.)

The 2019 Federal Election and Religious Freedom issues

Posted on April 11, 2019 
Filed under Australia, Resources Comments Off on The 2019 Federal Election and Religious Freedom issues

Freedom for Faith Executive Director Michael Kellahan writes,

“The long awaited election has been called for 18 May. …

All the parties voice a commitment to religious freedom. What we need to know though is how this stated commitment will find expression at law. We have written to the parties asking a series of specific questions which will help you understand their positions heading into the election. We will publish a table of their responses.”

This article from Freedom for Faith board member Professor Patrick Parkinson discusses the key religious freedom issues. “Religious Freedom after Ruddock”:

“With the federal election campaign just around the corner, it would be understandable if people of faith were confused about the stance the major political parties take on religious issues, particularly given the differing responses of these parties to the Ruddock Report on religious freedom, which was completed in May 2018.”

High Court upholds abortion buffer zone laws

Posted on April 10, 2019 
Filed under Australia Comments Off on High Court upholds abortion buffer zone laws

“In an important decision on free speech issues, the High Court of Australia, in its decision in Clubb v Edwards; Preston v Avery [2019] HCA 11 (10 April 2019), has upheld the validity of laws in Victoria and Tasmania prohibiting communication about abortion within 150m of an abortion clinic.

The decision may have serious implications for free speech about other issues on which religious believers have deep-seated convictions contrary to the general orthodoxy of modern Australian society. …”

– Associate Professor Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.

See also:

Kathy Clubb’s story – Australian Christian Lobby.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – David Ould.

Departing from orthodoxy: what it was like to split from the Church of Scotland

Posted on April 10, 2019 
Filed under Scotland Comments Off on Departing from orthodoxy: what it was like to split from the Church of Scotland

At The Australian Church Record, Matt Baines speaks with Peter Dickson, Scotland Team Leader of the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship, about his 2011 decision to leave the Church of Scotland.

“Leaving the Church of Scotland was a prolonged process. … there were three years of negotiations, discussions, church courts, decisions meetings and correspondence which led to our leaving, finally, in 2011. …

It was a transition of immense upheaval but one in which people’s ultimate allegiances and beliefs came to the fore.”

You can read the full conversation here – and please do remember to pray for the salvation of many in Scotland.

Mark Short installed as Canberra/Goulburn Bishop

Posted on April 7, 2019 
Filed under Australian dioceses Comments Off on Mark Short installed as Canberra/Goulburn Bishop

Religious Free Speech after Ruddock

Posted on April 6, 2019 
Filed under Resources Comments Off on Religious Free Speech after Ruddock

Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia writes:

“I am presenting a paper at the ‘Religious Freedom After Ruddock’ conference being held at the University of Queensland on Saturday April 6.

The paper is “‘Religious Free Speech After Ruddock: Implications for Blasphemy and Religious Vilification Laws’.”

A copy is available here.

The Puzzle of Secularism

Posted on April 4, 2019 
Filed under Culture wars, Opinion Comments Off on The Puzzle of Secularism

“…the funny thing is that I, and all my generation, could have sworn that puritanism was a church disease. With the decline of church influence, then the old stiff and bossy rectitude would collapse. And, indeed, it has, if we are talking about Christian concerns about alcohol, gambling, pornography, promiscuity and the like.

But the tolerant society we were promised by secularists has not emerged – far from it. It is just that a new set of commandments, inspired by autonomy and an optimistic individualistic anthropology, has arrived with a vengeance.”

– Church Society has published on its website an excerpt from Archbishop Peter Jensen’s editorial in the latest issue of Churchman. (Peter is now the Editor of Churchman.)

Standing with the Suffering

Posted on April 4, 2019 
Filed under GAFCON Comments Off on Standing with the Suffering

“At the end of February, Gafcon held a conference hosted by Bishop Michael Nazir Ali and Bishop Azad Marshall of Pakistan which, though much smaller than last year’s Jerusalem Conference, will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on all those who attended and the wider Anglican Communion.

From 25th February to 1st March, 138 delegates, including four Primates and 31 bishops and archbishops, gathered in Dubai for ‘G19’. The conference was designed for those who had been unable to attend Gafcon 2018 in Jerusalem for political reasons and many came from contexts where there are severe restrictions on Christian witness.

In his opening address, Gafcon Chairman Archbishop Okoh of Nigeria set the tone of the conference…”

– GAFCON’s Membership Development Secretary, Canon Charles Raven, wrote this article for Evangelicals Now.

In defence of Lent

Posted on April 2, 2019 
Filed under Resources Comments Off on In defence of Lent

“It was Ash Wednesday when I first preached at our church’s Wednesday service. And truth be told, I’d never given Lent much thought before.

So what were my options? Should I ignore it? Call them all popish fiends? Or should I try to articulate a Reformed, Anglican understanding of the season?

Well, I aimed to do the latter, and here is how I tried. …”

– ACL Council member Dan McKinlay writes at The Australian Church Record.

(Image from the 1552 Prayer Book.)

New Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn to be consecrated on Saturday (6th April)

Posted on April 2, 2019 
Filed under Australian dioceses Comments Off on New Bishop of Canberra & Goulburn to be consecrated on Saturday (6th April)

Dr. Mark Short, elected last November as Bishop of the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, will be consecrated and installed at St. Saviour’s Cathedral in Goulburn on Saturday 6th April.

Please do pray for Mark and the continued progress of the gospel in that area.

Related:

Dr Mark Short to be installed as Canberra/Goulburn Bishop – Goulburn Post.

“Dr Short said he was surprised to be approached to consider the role. But in many ways it was a ‘coming home’ to the diocese and the cathedral in which he was ordained a priest and a minister.

Born in Sydney, he lived in the Riverina until age five before his family moved to Sydney’s western suburbs. He attended Saint Andrew’s Anglican School where several teachers inspired him to follow Jesus. …”

Good Friday – not just good, but glorious

Posted on April 1, 2019 
Filed under Other denominations, Theology Comments Off on Good Friday – not just good, but glorious

“Childhood impressions linger, don’t they? I’m so grateful for (most of) them. My earliest memory of 1950s church life is full of happy thoughts, good people and full Sundays. Sunday mornings, afternoons and evenings – there was always something engaging and purposeful to do (yes, Sunday afternoons: Christian Endeavour).

As helpful as all that was, there are someone boyhood memories that need tweaking or straightening out later.

Each year, our evangelical Baptist church gave huge attention to Palm Sunday, followed five days later by a much more sombre Friday morning service. Even without specific instruction, this pattern taught me to celebrate the joy of Palm Sunday but to tone it down on Good Friday. This was the order of things, from glory to gloom: after the glory of the triumphal march into Jerusalem we must move to the gloom of the Cross. Which prompted, of course, that perennial childhood question: “Dad, why is Good Friday good? Isn’t it bad, what they did to Jesus?”

Reflecting on this glory to gloom transition, I now wonder if it needs correction. …”

– Presbyterian Moderator-General, John P Wilson, reflects on why Good Friday is glorious.

Love for a full life

Posted on April 1, 2019 
Filed under Opinion Comments Off on Love for a full life

“Life in three words doesn’t sound like much of a life unless the words are faith, hope and love. Big words for a full life.

Woodstock was in 1969 and I was 11 and still sent to Sunday School by parents who prided themselves on being good rather than being thankful for being forgiven. It was one year off the 70’s and one year off my teenage rampages which were tame by comparison to those of teens today. It was the era of music and for so many of us, love.

Of course Woodstock was more than a concert on a farm hill. It proved to be a revolution for a world bent in on itself. …”

– Bishop of Armidale Rick Lewers writes about love.

Prayer for the election of a Bishop of Bathurst

Posted on March 31, 2019 
Filed under Australian dioceses Comments Off on Prayer for the election of a Bishop of Bathurst

According to the timeline published in the December 2018 edition of Anglican eNews, the steps to elect a new Bishop of the Diocese of Bathurst include:

“Synod Members to be invited to propose names of prospective nominees: late February.

Nominations Open: 1 March.

Nominations Close: 31 March.

Interviews, Due-Dilligence and Discernment: April.

Election and Announcement: May.”

Doubtless, all in the diocese would be glad of your continued prayers during this time.

Related:

Sydney helps Bathurst – SydneyAnglicans.net

Bishop Ian Palmer’s farewell address to Bathurst Synod.

Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand calls for Nominations for their first Bishop

Posted on March 30, 2019 
Filed under GAFCON, New Zealand Comments Off on Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand calls for Nominations for their first Bishop

“The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand is a new Diocese in New Zealand.

Because of the rejection of the authority of Scripture by the Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia at the 2018 General Synod, a number of parishes and individuals have chosen to disaffiliate from ACANZP and gather together in 12 parishes to form a new expression of Anglicanism.

As a Christ-centred church in the historic Anglican faith and order, we are calling for nominations for our first Bishop. We are seeking a person who has a desire to serve as our Bishop…”

– News from The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa/New Zealand.

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