What is it about the Australian Jewish community, Australian Jewish ‘faith’ schools and Israel? Israel is another country, with its own raison d’être, decidedly blood-soaked. The young Israel had been created out of settler colonialism and terrorism in a country with a majority indigenous non-Jewish population. Australian Jewish families are Australian with a long history. Continue reading »
Religion and Faith
The Census is important because it tells us so much about ourselves. But the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is complicating the data we collect on religion. The Australian public service is positively benign compared its US counterpart. I know how Kafkaesque the US is because I’ve had several years dealing with them in terms Continue reading »
Analysing contemporary Catholicism requires a bit more knowledge than merely quoting a couple of reactionary Catholics – as does a recent New Statesman article. Eighty-seven-year-old Pope Francis has recently been in trouble over LGBTQ+ issues. Late-last year he faced an outright revolt from African Catholics after approving the blessing of same sex couples and individuals. Continue reading »
Ruling institutions — the state, the press, the church, the courts, universities — mouth the language of morality, but they serve the structures of power, no matter how venal, which provide them with money, status and authority. This is a sermon the author gave Sunday, April 28 at a service held at the encampment for Continue reading »
The regimes in Israel and Palestine both claim to be victims in the violence that engulfs them. Interpreting the situation through “victimhood” assists in understanding the human forces that arise from age-old conflicts and that continue to cause so much horrific suffering. Pope Francis is calling on people of goodwill to raise their voices for Continue reading »
In the end as at the beginning all that really matters is how we treat one another. This song of knowing is in our hearts and of our hearts. It whispers of better times. A daily life that can be calmer. Kinder, not something to worry about. Where the healing of memories is subtle but Continue reading »
The neo-traditionalists have been sent a clear message by Pope Francis that their dismissal of synodality, and their disruptive behaviour do violence to the very nature of the Church itself and thereby damage the Reign of God. For Pope Francis, synodality is ‘one of the most precious legacies of the Second Vatican Council’ and the Continue reading »
Australian leadership is no longer an embarrassment at UNFCCC COPs. Nonetheless, Australia’s participation in the fossil fuel industry, including through new projects, is not putting us on the fastest path to net zero. Will we miss our “brief and rapidly closing window” to secure a liveable future? The UNFCCC COPs reflect the ‘international rules-based order’ Continue reading »
There are five major and hundreds of minor religions in the world. But don’t worry – yours is the right one. – Anon After Christianity the second biggest global faith is Islam. The nation next door has a quarter of a billion followers; that’s more than any other international state. This fact sets Australia’s xenophobic Continue reading »
In a recent official Declaration on Human Dignity, Dignitas Infinita, the Pope has endorsed a document that effectively outlaws sex change for transgender Catholics. The Declaration is both harsh and unrelenting in its tone, dismissive of new science and judgemental of those Catholics who in good faith make life choices contrary to the edicts of Continue reading »