Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 28 June 2008
9.00 am – Calvin turns 500
There’s a big birthday coming up. On the 10th July, John Calvin turns 500. Not everyone likes Calvin, even less the Calvinism of his successors. But there is no doubting the profound influence of John Calvin on theology and politics and culture this past half millennium.
Calvin was a man of his time, and a moral realist. He is best known for his brilliant and elegant Institutes of the Christian Religion which, as Michael Jensen observed this week, must count as one of the great unread classics of Western thought.
Calvin has left a huge legacy. As novelist Marilynne Robinson reminds us, we in the West are indebted to him for “relatively popular government, the relatively high status of women, the separation of church and state, what remains of universal schooling and … liberal higher education. … How easily we forget.”
Happy birthday, John. I’m Rod Benson for nswchurches.com
12.00 pm – French call to ban the burqua
There was a time when most women wore a head covering in public. Those days are gone, except for a few religious and racing events.
But French President Nicholas Sarkozy has made headlines, calling for a ban on wearing the burqua – the full body cloak and mask worn by Muslim women. The burqua has been banned in French public schools since 2004. Mr Sarkozy sees it as a denial of the equality and dignity of women, and claims that France should not be afraid to defend its values.
Some see this as a hollow attention-grabbing strategy. Muslim leaders have reacted with caution. US President Barack Obama has said he does not believe the state should dictate how people dress.
I don’t favour coercion in matters of dress. But the French President would do better addressing the problem of public undress. That would deliver greater dignity and respect for women. I’m Rod Benson for nswchurches.com
2.00 pm – Godwin Grech and “utegate”
Poor Godwin Grech, the Treasury official at the centre of the “utegate” scandal that has enveloped federal politics for most of the last week. He might have a Facebook fan group and the attention of the twitterati, but Godwin Grech’s career is in tatters, and his actions have had wide ramifications for politics and the public service.
When we make a bold claim, as Malcolm Turnbull made last week, it pays to check the veracity and accuracy of your information. The email in question was never reliable evidence. It was a fake. Truth will out, as they say.
The first Christians made the boldest of all claims: that Jesus of Nazareth suffered and died, that God raised him from the dead, and that he was Lord of all. The evidence has been sifted for centuries. It’s utterly reliable. Truth will out, and it will set you free. I’m Rod Benson for nswchurches.com
