Gambling reform has been headline news again this week with independent MP Andrew Wilkie and the Greens claiming they won’t support the Gillard Government’s reform bills, putting at risk the proposed trial of pre-commitment technology in the ACT. But to be successful, gambling reform must engage the states. NSW has around 50 per cent of …
Politicians and the uses of faith
Freedom of religion and the separation of church and state are two fundamental pillars of Australian culture and society. But as soon as Mr Abbott, or Mr Rudd, or the Rev Fred Nile, make any link between politics and faith, angry mobs write venomous articles and letters to the editor, denouncing them. And it only …
Bethlehem’s Child is Lord and God
In William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, Malvolio says to Fabian, “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Jesus Christ, whose birth Christians celebrate on this day each year, was great in all three ways. King Herod referred to him as “the one who …
Father Chris Riley sells out
The founder of Youth Off the Streets, Father Chris Riley, has lent his support to a Clubs Australia advertising blitz targeting two million homes in NSW, as the gambling lobby intensifies its battle against the Gillard government’s proposed poker machine reforms. Father Riley, whose charity receives substantial donations from gambling venues, seems at the very …
ACL unrepresentative, say Victorians
In a direct attack on the Australian Christian Lobby, the Victorian Council of Churches this week expressed dismay at what it called “the one-sided portrayal of Christianity” in the Australian media. The Victorian Council of Churches described its role as “acknowledging a variety of emphases” and enabling “a safe environment to prayerfully discuss and discern …
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