While I might flippantly speak of my favourite football team with pride, C.S. Lewis was a little more serious when it came to speaking about it.
He has argued that pride is a “spiritual cancer,” “the complete anti-God state of mind,” and “the chief cause of misery in every nation and in every family since the world began.”
For insight into his thinking, Christianity 9 to 5 has provided his chapter on “The Great Sin” from Mere Christianity.
Father Bob Maguire has been a tireless worker for social justice in Melbourne for many years, as Minister in the Catholic Parish of St. Peter and St. Paul in South Melbourne.
More recently, he has gained a degree of notoriety for his contributions to several projects by Melbourne comedian John Safran, notably the series “Speaking in Tonguesâ€, as well as their regular slot on JJJ FM.
The people at ‘Edgespace’, an outreach ministries project of the Uniting Church caught up with Father Bob recently. You can catch him on video here.
Baptcare, the Brunswick Baptist Church and the Hotham Mission Asylum Seeker Project are opening a new housing facility called Sanctuary where twenty male asylum seekers who have no right to work, Medicare or any welfare payment can safely await their visa application outcome.
Melbourne, Australia (ENI). Rich nations are the real beneficiaries of the “boom industry” of global corruption that is making the world’s poor even poorer.Â
That is the central finding of a new report, “From Corruption to Good Governance”, about global bribery and malpractice, by the Uniting Church in Australia.Â
The report calls for an all-out attack on tax havens that, it asserts, help wealthy individuals and businesses prosper at the expense of the poor.
St Andrew’s Cathedral has launched a new topical discussion show and Your.sydneyanglicans.net is the place to catch it.
The Chat Room features Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen and broadcaster and author Kel Richards tackling current issues in contemporary culture such as multiculturalism, pornography, gambling and abortion and has been made available for download at Your.sydneyanglicans.net
A PORT Macquarie church wants to help tackle the issue of binge-drinking in the town’s CBD. Police have welcomed the initiative, saying any support that helps young people stay out of trouble is worthwhile.Â
Ignite Church, the youth arm of Grace Church on the Oxley Hwy, will use a bus to transport drunk or sick people home on a Friday night. Youth pastor Todd Murray raised funds to buy the bus, which already transports about 40 people to Ignite Church on a Wednesday night.Â
The $10,000 bus will park near the corner of Horton and Clarence streets from about 8pm until midnight every Friday from April 4. Mr Murray said there would be a team of up to 10 people, including trained counsellors, handing out coffee and biscuits, as well as providing a lift home for those in need.Â
“This is a community project aimed at reducing crime and helping teens learn that there is hope in life,” the pastor, 30, said.Â
“What we see around us today of the “usual†Christian life could easily make us think that spiritual transformation is simply impossible”, writes Dan Willard. This is made worse by the behaviour of prominent Christian leaders. Despite this, Willard believes that Transformation into Christlikeness is Possible.
Rising seas and water shortages will displace about 125 million people living along the coasts of India and Bangladesh by the turn of the century, Greenpeace said.
In a study on rapidly warming South Asia, the global environment group said climate change would also trigger erratic monsoons and break down agricultural systems in the vast and densely populated Gangetic delta.
India, whose economy has grown by eight to nine per cent annually in recent years, is one of the world’s top polluters and contributes around four per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions as its consumption of fossil fuels grows.
“We cannot wait for the inevitable to happen and hope to adapt to it,” Vinuta Gopal, the group’s climate and energy campaigner in India said, releasing the report on the ecologically sensitive region, one of the poorest in the world.
I have today advised Jon Stanhope, ACT Chief Minister and host of the Australian Olympic Torch Relay, that I am withdrawing from the relay.
This has been a very difficult decision that I have not taken quickly or lightly.
While I remain an enthusiastic supporter of the Olympics, as a leader within the Uniting Church in Australia and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), the decision not to run is the right one for me.
My decision not to participate reflects the changed symbolism of the Olympic Torch Relay. These issues are complex and multifaceted.
The Uniting Church and ACOSS have proud histories of standing with those who suffer violence and injustice and of working for a world in which the dignity of every person is valued and human rights are upheld.
I have made the decision not to run because my personal commitment to standing with those who are vulnerable and marginalised and the leadership positions I hold in the Uniting Church and ACOSS make it important to ensure that my actions do not leave any doubt about our commitment to human rights.
I support Australia’s continuing engagement in the Olympics and have nothing but admiration for our athletes, and athletes around the world, who have dedicated so much of their lives to reach the pinnacle of their sports. I wish them well.
Lin Hatfield Dodds
National Director, UnitingCare Australia
President, Australian Council of Social Service
ACT Australian of the Year
21 April 2008
This past Sunday afternoon, the St. David’s congregation had a screening of Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth. One of the indicators of climate change is the disintegration of ice shelves in both Antarctica and the Arctic circle, including Greenland.
Just over a month ago, an area of ice the size of the Gold Coast disappeared into the Antarctic seas in just a few days.
A report from the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado says:
Satellite imagery from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder reveals that a 13,680 square kilometer (5,282 square mile) ice shelf has begun to collapse because of rapid climate change in a fast-warming region of Antarctica.
There are things that each and every one of us can do to make a difference to the problem of global warming. What follows is a simple list of 10 things to do, and for more information check out climatecrisis.
- Change a light globe (to energy efficient ones)
- Drive less
- Recycle more
- Check that your tyres are inflated properly
- Use less hot water
- Avoid over-packaged goods
- Adjust your thermostat (2 degrees warmer for cooling, 2 degrees cooler for heating)
- Plant a tree
- Turn off electronic devices (standby mode uses significant power)
- Spread the word.