Two related events in the past 48 hours have done more to lower my opinion of prominent politicians and galvanise my support for public policy reform than anything else in 2011. The first was the federal opposition’s response to a decision by the immigration department to fly grieving asylum seekers to funerals in Sydney yesterday for eight of those killed when …
Becoming a Christian who cares
This is an article written by Christine Redwood, a member of the Social Issues Committee of the Baptist Union of NSW. She submitted the piece for publication in the denominational magazine, "Together in Ministry", but it was rejected by a Baptist Union staff member before it reached the editor. I publish it here with pleasure, …
Using the Bible in English classes
The Federal Government’s national school curriculum includes the study of Aboriginal culture and spirituality at almost every year level, but nothing about our nation’s biblical heritage, says NSW teacher David Hastie. Knowledge of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures is important for cultural as well as spiritual reasons. Even ardent atheist Christopher Hitchens said, “You are not …
Fresh support for climate action
On Thursday night I attended the policy launch of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, otherwise known as the “ARRCC.” A coalition of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i and other faiths, ARRCC is convinced that climate change is a moral issue, and that while science can present the facts of the case, religious …
Don’t steal from our aid budget
This week the Federal Opposition announced a proposal to defer $448 million of foreign aid to Indonesia as part of its opposition to the Gillard Government’s flood levy. On June 21 last year, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott told a public meeting that he supported a government commitment on 0.5 per cent of national income in …
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