High Court upholds rejection of inter-state vilification orders
Posted on April 18, 2018
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“In a Federation like Australia, different jurisdictions (States and Territories) may have different rules on what amounts to ‘discrimination’ or ‘vilification’, and how those things interact with religious freedom. One of the pressing issues here in recent years has been whether there will be a ‘race to the bottom’ in freedom of speech on religious issues, with one jurisdiction in particular, Tasmania, raising deep concerns with a very broad prohibition on causing ‘offence’ related to matters such as sexual orientation.
Today the High Court of Australia, on appeal from NSW, has affirmed the decision of the NSW Court of Appeal that State and Territory ‘tribunals’ (non-judicial panels usually used in discrimination issues) have no jurisdiction to impose penalties on residents of other Australian jurisdictions under their own local laws. …”
– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Professor Neil Foster looks at today’s decision.
The Folau case is a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia
Posted on April 18, 2018
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“What has happened to Israel Folau indicates that the inclusion and diversity programs run by Qantas and Rugby Australia seem to be, to coin a Trumpsim, ‘fake’ initiatives.
Moreover, the exposure of the attempts to gag Israel Folau has created a public relations disaster for Qantas and Rugby Australia. …”
– Commentary by Spiro Zavos at The Roar. (Link via SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Related: Israel Folau – Heretic or Hero? – David Robertson.
A tribute to David Wheaton — former Principal of Oak Hill
Posted on April 18, 2018
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At Church Society’s website, Gerald Bray pays tribute to David Wheaton, former principal of Oak Hill College and sometime vice-president of Church Society.
Tim Challies on history, evangelism, technology, culture and more
Posted on April 17, 2018
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“Tim Challies is known throughout the Christian world as a prolific and insightful blogger and author. More recently, he has turned his hand to documentary film-making, with a new project in the works looking at the history of Christianity through significant objects.
While in Sydney to look at some of our Christian treasures (like the First Fleet Bible), Tim dropped into the CCL studio for a wide-ranging and fascinating chat about history, technology, evangelism, Billy Graham, Western culture and more.”
– Tony Payne chatted with Tim Challies for the Centre for Christian Living Podcast from Moore College. Listen (or read the transcript) here.
I’m a Sinner too
Posted on April 17, 2018
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“People’s lives are not for me to judge. Only God can do that.
I have sinned many times in my life. I take responsibility for those sins and ask for forgiveness through repentance daily.
I understand a lot of people won’t agree with some of the things I’m about to write.
That’s absolutely fine. In life, you are allowed to agree to disagree.
But I would like to explain to you what I believe in, how I arrived at these beliefs and why I will not compromise my faith in Jesus Christ, which is the cornerstone of every single thing in my life.
I hope this will provide some context to the discussion that started with my reply to a question asked of me on Instagram two weeks ago. …”
– Israel Folau shares his story at PlayersVoice. (Photo: PlayersVoice.)
Related: The Bible and Same-Sex Marriage – Dr. Lionel Windsor.
Lee Gatiss on Church Society and Anglican evangelicals in the UK
Posted on April 16, 2018
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Over at The Australian Church Record, Steve Tong interviews Lee Gatiss, Director of Church Society in the UK.
Grace Church Sydenham — encouraging news from AMiE
Posted on April 16, 2018
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“This May Grace Church Sydenham will celebrate its 3-year anniversary. We’ve been meeting in an almost brand-new council youth centre, located in one of the largest council estate groupings in South London …“
– At The Anglican Mission in England website, Moore College graduate Tim Iles shares encouraging news from London. It’d be good to pray for them.
Beware of speaking the truth – the Conditioners will be on your case
Posted on April 15, 2018
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“In his 1943 book, The Abolition of Man, Christian apologist C S Lewis describes the dehumanising effects of replacing transcendent truth and morality with the preferences of secularist educators, whom he calls ‘the Conditioners’. His prophetic warning is surely vindicated by the case of a mother threatened with prosecution for objecting to a boy being taken abroad to lose his manhood through transgender surgery. …”
– Read it all at Conservative Woman. (Image adapted from tdaxp.com.)
How 40 Days for Life fought and won against a UK city council wanting to ban pro-life witness
Posted on April 15, 2018
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“40 Days For Life is a Christian pro-life campaign group which aims to end the scourge of abortion by praying outside abortion clinics and offering women an alternative to aborting their unborn child.
Holding placards which read ‘Pray to end abortion’, ‘Pro woman, pro baby, prolife’ and ‘Pregnant? Need help? Ask’, volunteers pray quietly for an hour or more, and the vigil is maintained for 12 hours per day for 40 consecutive days until Palm Sunday. …”
– At Life Site, John Edwards recounts the way a local council tried to silence free speech under the ‘Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act’ of 2014.
Wait not for the bishops!
Posted on April 13, 2018
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“It’s remarkably easy to criticize the bishops for their inertia and timidity when you’re in the parish, but if you become a bishop the shoe is suddenly on the other foot! Ryle saw at first hand the heavy constraints upon evangelical episcopacy in the Church of England.. …”
– At Church Society’s blog, Andrew Atherstone, editor of J. C. Ryle’s autobiography, shares some of the fruits of his research. Ryle himself learned that evangelical laity and clergy should not sit back and wait for others to fight for the truth.
‘I’m on about Jesus’
Posted on April 13, 2018
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“Archbishop Glenn Davies has put the furore over an Instagram post by star Rugby player Israel Folau in context, saying all people should turn to Jesus. …”
– Read it all at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Related: Two Ways to Live – the choice we all face.
Five Days in England
Posted on April 12, 2018
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“You could search the world but I don’t think you would find a country with more church history per square mile than England.
So let’s say you had five days and wanted to see just a little bit of that church history. What could you do? Take a look at what I did, how far I travelled, and how much I saw, in five days in England.”
– Tim Challies gives us a taste of what he’s been up to in England.
Rejection by C of E has driven LGBT people to suicide, says Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool
Posted on April 11, 2018
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“A senior Church of England bishop has said some LGBT people have been driven to harm or even to kill themselves as a result of ‘pain and rejection’ caused by the church.
Paul Bayes, the bishop of Liverpool, also likened the struggle to persuade the Church of England to be truly welcoming and inclusive to LGBT people to the fight against slavery.
Speaking at the launch of the Ozanne Foundation …”
– Story from The Guardian.
A very helpful book in thinking about all this is Rosaria Butterfield’s 2015 book Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ. (Also as an AudioBook.)
Reviewed at The Gospel Coalition:
“When it comes to same-sex anything, the church can appear awkward and clumsy. As the pressure mounts, we Christians fumble around with our Bibles, unsure of how to connect the truths in God’s Word to cultural discourse or personal struggles.
The church would be hard pressed to find someone better than Butterfield to help us make sense of our uncertainty. Once a tenured English professor, she approaches the issue of sexuality with notable scholastic rigor; her theology is profound. Once a committed lesbian, she empathizes with those in the grips of same-sex attraction; her compassion abounds. In her new book Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ [20 quotes], we benefit from both.”
See also:
Analysis of Bishop of Liverpool’s Speech at Ozanne Media Launch – Julian Mann.
John Anderson in conversation with Jordan Peterson
Posted on April 11, 2018
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Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia John Anderson has recently launched his website.
“Like so many Australians, I’ve watched events with increasing concern.
The extraordinary loss of economic discipline, the revolving doors of political leadership, the increasingly strident silencing of out of favour views in a way that threatens our most important freedom, that of speech, the never-ending promotion of division over unity as a nation, and overshadowing it all the deteriorating global strategic environment, are all cause for deep and urgent reflection.
We need – now – to reunite as Australians in the face of a grim reality: we are in danger of eating ourselves out from within.”
One of his first posts features his interview with Jordan Peterson.
(Watch it – but also be sure to watch John Piper: Don’t Waste Your Life – or his earlier, shorter version.)
Albert Mohler on Martin Luther King Jr.
Posted on April 10, 2018
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Last week, on his The Briefing podcast, Albert Mohler spoke about Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy, on the 50th anniversary of his death –
“For Christians trying to understand the historical significance of a figure like Martin Luther King Jr., we have to bring all the tools of historical evaluation to the fore.
We have to understand the man in his time. We have to understand the crucial role that a singular individual can play on the world scene and some of the great moral affairs of humanity. We also as Christians, however, must think in a providential understanding of history. History according to the biblical worldview is not just one event after another …”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…