Correctness next to godliness for Bible belt
19 January 2008
This week the Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee proposed that the US constitution be brought more in line with God's law in the Bible. Exactly what he meant is the subject of intense analysis. Does it mean amendments to ban abortion and gay marriage? Or would a president Huckabee invoke broader principles in the Bible and include them within the constitution?
Traditional churches turn to advertising
30 December 2007
Mainstream churches should use the same public relations methods as their evangelical counterparts to stop members defecting to more modern congregations or leaving the faith altogether, analysts believe.
[So the Rock Mass is making a comeback?]
Melbourne Anglicans soften views on abortion
15 December 2007
An all-female committee representing the Anglican Church's Melbourne diocese has recommended that abortion be decriminalised, in what is believed to be the first official approval of abortion by Australian Anglicans. Archdeacon Alison Taylor said yesterday the church recognised there were circumstances, especially foetal abnormality, when abortion was "the least problematic solution".
Victoria overhauls baby laws
15 December 2007
Victoria is to make surrogacy available to infertile couples and ease restrictions on access to fertility treatment for lesbians and single women. The proposed new laws - one of the state's most significant changes to social and health policy - were announced yesterday by Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls. They will effectively end the practice of infertile couples travelling to more permissive states to have babies with the help of IVF, donor insemination and surrogacy. The laws, expected to be introduced in Parliament in the first half of next year, will also provide legal recognition to the parents of children born through assisted reproductive technology. But the question of whether gay couples and single people can adopt children remains unresolved.
Too busy for worship
6 December 2007
Mainstream churches are losing their grip on Brisbane and the booming consumer society has been blamed. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows people who classify themselves as having no religion outnumber Anglicans in Brisbane. The data shows the number of Anglicans fell about 8000 in the five years to 2006 to 331,000, despite solid population growth in Brisbane and southeast Queensland. The number of people who said they had no religion jumped from 243,000 to 333,000. A further 2155 were agnostic and 2688 were atheist
Obama accuses religious right of perverting faith
25 June 2007
Democrat US presidential candidate Barack Obama has accused some right-wing evangelical leaders of hijacking faith to sow division. Addressing the 50th anniversary convention of his own denomination, the United Church of Christ, Senator Obama declared that the religious right had "hijacked" faith and divided the country by exploiting such issues as abortion, same-sex marriage and school prayer.
Jerry Falewll dead
16 May 2007
US evangelist Jerry Falwell, the US Religious Right figure who once blamed gays and lesbians for 9/11, died today at the age of 73.
[And Amen to that!]
Sex ed fails to raise teen abstinence
16 April 2007
Abstinence-only education programs meant to teach children to avoid sex until marriage fail to control their sexual behaviour, a US Government report says. American taxpayers appear to have paid over 1 billion federal dollars for programs that have no impact.
Soul-searching for atheists and believers alike
6 April 2007
If, as many contemporary Christians believe, God can be found only within us - in the spirit of love, goodness and truth that ennobles us - then Dawkins's brand of atheism, based on an "out there" God, makes sense.
Brown demands sect inquiry
27 December 2006
Greens Senator Bob Brown will move for a Senate inquiry into the activities of the Exclusive Brethren religious sect next year, following revelations of their long attempts to influence the Government on family law.
US churches shore up anti-gay stand
16 November 2006
Faced with the rising public acceptance of same-sex relationships, three Christian denominations are taking strong measures this week to condemn homosexual acts as sinful.
[Comment: Funny isn't it. The general population, both believers and non-believers, largely show compassion, tolerance and understanding of gay and lesbian people, while church leaders are still stuck in an era of intolerance and bigotry]
The devil made him do it
11 November 2006
Far from being disillusioned, the evangelical faithful are blaming the devil for the actions of their leader Ted Haggard.
[Comment: How many leaders have to fall before evangelicals wake up that they are largely being led by hypocrites?]
Government minister attacks religious Right influence
5 November 2006
A senior Victorian Government minister has attacked the "influence of the religious right" in Australian politics. Health Minister Bronwyn Pike, who comes from a Christian background, likened the rise in the influence of the religious right in Australian politics to that in America.
All religions degrade women
3 November 2006
The Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Roger Herft, has compared Sydney diocese's refusal to ordain women priests with some Islam thinking that repressed women and gave them status as second-class citizens.
US divided on existence of God
1 November 2006
Nearly half of Americans are not sure God exists, according to a poll released today that also found divisions among the public on whether God is male or female or whether God has a human form and has control over events.
Meddling with religious belief
31 October 2006
The Commonwealth's plan to spend $90 million over the next three years putting chaplains in every Australian school has been strongly criticised as weakening the separation of church and state in Australia.
Caught between right and right
9 Oct 2006
In liberal states such as Australia, pockets of cultural and religious minorities engage in practices that express limited views of the full humanity of women, and undermine equity between the sexes.
Churches must not play God with Caesar
2 Sep 2006
Anglican Bishop Tom Frame claims that churches are worried about the rise of Christian political parties such as Family First because they cannot reasonably claim to represent all Christians.
The religious right on the move again
22 Aug 2006
Retired Churches of Christ minister Alan Matheson questions the motives and political agenda of Religious Right groups in Australia.
Faith full of folly
15 Aug 2006
Pamela Bone comments on the rise on non-belief throughout the world.
Chaplain bid provocative and divisive
25 Jun 2006
Christian clergy have no place in public schools, writes Judith Bessant.
Bible, Koran are violent, but read between the lines, say academics
27 May 2006
The Bible has as many invocations to violence as the Koran, if not more, says an American biblical scholar and peace activist. There is a darker side to the sacred text that many Christians will not admit.
Court stops anti-abortion 'wanted' posters
02 May 2006
The US Supreme Court has ended a decade-long fight over the use by anti-abortion protesters of "wanted" posters to identify clinic doctors.
Vatican re-examines condom use
24 Apr 2006
The Vatican is preparing a document about condom use by those with AIDS at Pope Benedict XVI's request, a Vatican cardinal said in an interview published today.
[Comment: A well overdue move. How many deaths occurred becaue of the previous policy?]
Christians take aim at Da Vinci film
24 Apr 2006
Christians who mostly turned the other cheek as The Da Vinci Code climbed the best-seller list are launching a counteroffensive now that Dan Brown's novel is set to hit the big screen.
[Comment: Do they realise they are helping to promote the film?]
Christian warns of religious right's rise
10 Apr 2006
Australia must beware the rise of the religious right in politics, American Christian activist Jim Wallis has told a Melbourne audience. Mr Wallis said religious faith would be the most influential force in Australian politics for the next decade, but the country was in danger of allowing the religious right to dominate.
Losing their religion
10 Apr 2006
Jim Wallis is on a mission to seize the true values and morality of his religion from the rightwingers who have hijacked it. Mr Wallis is in Melbourne to launch the Australian edition of his book God's Politics: Why the American Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It.
The New Puritans: The Rise of Fundamentalism in the Anglican Church
18 Mar 2006
In The New Puritans: The Rise of Fundamentalism in the Anglican Church Muriel Porter argues that Sydney Anglicanism "has become so radically conservative in recent years that it now poses a significant threat to the rest of Anglicanism".
Queen tests Sydney's Anglican boys' club
13 Mar 2006
The teaching of Sydney Anglican Diocese, that women must submit to the "headship" of men both in the church and in marriage would seem unacceptable to most in the 21st century. The hyprocisy of this teaching is amply demonstrated by the attendance of the Queen as Supreme Governor of the Church of England at St. Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney.
Church chief blasts megachurches
22 Feb 2006
The head of the World Council of Churches has expressed concern about the spread of megachurches around the world, such as Hillsong in Sydney, saying they could lead to a Christianity that is "two miles long and one inch deep."
Controversial Bill passes
16 Feb 2006
Australian women could access RU486 within a year after Parliament today overwhelmingly voted to lift a 10-year ban on the abortion drug. In a rare conscience vote, MPs set aside their political colours and voted to strip Health Minister Tony Abbott of his power over the controversial pill. Medical experts at the Therapeutic Goods Administration will now take control of RU486.
Church's benevolent arm stripped of grant
14 Feb 2006
Hillsong Church's benevolent arm has been stripped of a $414,479 federal grant following allegations it obtained the funds by exploiting and deceiving the Aboriginal community that was supposed to benefit from it.
National Civic Council in financial trouble
19 Jan 2006
The National Civic Council is making huge financial losses, with publications produced by the Catholic political organisation losing more than $200,000 a year. "The organisation is in a parlous financial position," said NCC South Australian president Paul Russell.
Pro-life campaigners flood Senate inquiry into RU-486
19 Jan 2006
Among the flood of submissions to the Senate inquiry on who should decide whether Australian women can use the abortion pill RU486, scores of petitioners seem to want a broader debate on the morality of abortion, rather than the method.
National Civic Council in disarray
18 Jan 2006
The National Civic Council, the Catholic political organisation which finances the Australian Family Association, is set to dump all its state presidents as a bitter internal row threatens to undermine the group. Faced with allegations that the organisation has been infiltrated by the anti-Semitic LaRouche movement, the NCC leadership has locked some of the organisation's senior office-bearers out of their offices and initiated legalaction against others.
Israel cancels Pat Robertson contract
11 Jan 2006
Israeli Tourism Minister Avraham Hirchson has shunned US evangelical leader Pat Robertson shortly before the two were to sign a major funding deal for the Galilee Christian Heritage Center after Robertson suggested that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was a punishment from God for the Gaza Strip withdrawal.
Muehlenberg leaves Australian Family Association
10 Jan 2006
Bill Muehlenberg, prominent spokesperson for the right-wing Australian Family Association, has resigned to work freelance as a Christian apologist, ethicist and "culture warrior".
US evangelist sees hand of God at work
6 Jan 2006
Controverial US televangelist Pat Robertson has suggested Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for "dividing God's land" of Israel.
Landmark evolution ruling
21 Dec 2005
A US court has ruled it is unconstitutional to teach school children the intelligent design theory of life as an alternative to evolution, dealing a blow to religious conservatives.
