Rob Thomas, Mt Ommaney, Qld., letter in Festival of Light Australia Light, Aug. 2006, 4:

The greatest threat to Australian families is the cancer of no-fault divorce. No-fault divorce is championed by feminists, all political parties and even some churches in the name of human rights under the banner of feminism.

[If only feminism was half as influential as Rob thinks it is.]

Catch the Fire! - 6th anniversary celebration of Rise Up Australia Prayer Meetings (Pastor Danny Nalliah), leaflet (distributed Aug. 2006):

Speaker Brian Pickering. Founder of Australian Prayer Network, Brian is an Apostolic Father with a mandate to unite the Body of Christ in prayer. He is passionate to see prayer impact each community to pulsate with Kingdom life and God’s heartbeat to mobilise His people to pray for spiritual awakening across our nation.

[I wish Brian was also passionate to write in plain English.]

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Filed in: Their Own Mouths

David Rivers of Mordialloc in Melbourne is such a spoilsport. Just as I’m about to launch into the Adelaide-based Southern Cross Bioethics Institute (SCBI) and their controversial ’surveys’ into subjects like abortion and therapeutic cloning, David comes up with this excellent letter to the Age. How dare he do all my work for me?

A Catholic organisation, the Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, commissions a survey into attitudes to therapeutic cloning and, hey presto, finds that most Australians (51 per cent) oppose it. But this finding contradicts all previous independent surveys suggesting 80 per cent support it.

Southern Cross previously commissioned a survey into attitudes to abortion, and similarly concluded that most Australians (63 per cent) opposed abortion on demand. Again, this contradicts a number of independent surveys finding up to 80 per cent support for abortion on demand.

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Filed in: Abortion, Catholicism

The Christian right tries to exaggerate its influence by pretending that the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism, and within the denominations themselves, really don’t exist any more. Conservative Protestant leaders appear on platforms with conservative Catholics and even conservative Jews, because, hey, we all believe in the same god, don’t we, and everything in the garden’s rosy.

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Filed in: Christian Right

A Jehovah’s Witness named Angela dropped a letter in my postbox the other day, asking me to invite her around so she could give me a 16-week ‘home Bible course’. Despite the enormous spiritual benefits that would undoubtedly accrue to me, I shall have to decline this kind offer, partly owing to this assertion:

Many people who have not had the opportunity to read it are surprised at how practical and up-to-date the Bible is. Not only is it historically and scientifically accurate, but its record of fulfilled prophecies gives further reason for examination of its contents.

I wonder how Angela would feel if I asked her over and proceeded to show her that the entire Passion and Crucifixion narrative, rather than being the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies, was inventively constructed on the basis of them. And that many of these ‘prophecies’ were wrenched from their contexts and were not really prophecies at all. In other words, that Angela’s got it all the wrong way around and that the Passion is a work (actually several works) of fiction.

I tried this once. Only to learn that it’s not nice being called a hell-bound blasphemer in your own house. So perhaps I won’t do it again.

Filed in: Biblical criticism

According to a survey just published in Britain, 23.5 per cent of women fantasise about same-sex relationships, while only 5.3 per cent of men do so. (’Nurses and firemen top fantasy poll’, Melbourne Age, 24 Aug. 2006)

This is going to cause a lot of problems. You see, religious right groups constantly tell us that only 1-2 per cent of the population is gay or lesbian and therefore that we should staunchly oppose the granting of equal rights to such a tiny, insignificant group. It’s completely illogical but this is how these people think.

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Filed in: Sexuality

Christian Right leaders and their followers are often quite prurient when it comes to the discussion of sex. (This prurience sometimes extends to sexual activity itself, but that’s another story). I well remember attending a talk at which the highly ’spiritual’ speaker treated us all, including a number of young teenagers, to a detailed description of physical homosexuality. The speaker was most enthusiastic and the sensation of delighted ‘disgust’ running through the audience was palpable.

Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish between an almost morbid fascination with sex and a simple matter of ‘too much information’. Bobbie Houston, wife of Hillsong Church’s Brian Houston, once produced a set of tapes called ‘Kingdom Women Love Sex’ in which she gave detailed tips on how to keep your husband happy. Most of it was excruciating Pentecostal nonsense:

When you are doing what is correct in God there is a protection over your life. Like - hello! - it is just there. So it is a very powerful thing. Amen. Yeah, fully.

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Filed in: Sexuality

Could it be that moderate Coalition MPs are finally starting to see the Christian Right for what it is? The RU 486 ‘abortion pill’ vote earlier this year stripped conservative Catholic Health Minister Tony Abbott of his power to keep the drug out of Australia. Now Prime Minister John Howard has decided to allow a conscience vote on therapeutic cloning in the teeth of opposition from evangelical Protestants like Tasmanian Senator Guy Barnett.

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Filed in: Abortion, Christian Right, Politics, Stem Cell Research

I see that the WA National Party state conference recently voted to support legally recognised unions of same-sex couples. The party will be taking this policy to the next state election.

Young Nationals WA president Darren Moir said that the party was not made up of radicals: ‘It was the right thing to do.’ Moir noted that one of the party’s 84-year-old stalwarts had been all in favour of the motion, saying that ‘homosexuality was natural and people were born with it and we should get over it’.

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Filed in: Politics, Sexuality

Charles Francis AM QC is the honorary legal adviser to Endeavour Forum, an anti-feminist group run by his wife, Babette Francis. Writing in the National Civic Council’s News Weekly magazine of 5 August 2006, Charles informs us that:

It has taken the World Health Organisation [WHO] decades to warn that the contraceptive pill is a Class 1 carcinogen, in the same category as tobacco and asbestos, and no doubt it may take decades for WHO, wedded to the ideology of population control, to acknowledge the link between abortion and breast cancer. (’Pregnancy counselling services under threat’, 11)

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Filed in: People, Sexuality

Age film critic Tom Ryan recently wrote an article about why younger teenagers should be allowed to see the ‘R’-rated movie 2:37. (’Why my girl should watch this movie’, 30 Jul. 2006)

Among other things, he said this:

My wife and I have tried to bring [our daughter] up as an individual, someone who is aware of the world, treats others as she would like to be treated, thinks for herself and isn’t afraid to stand up in the face of injustice.

These aren’t ‘Christian family values’, but rather predate Christianity and probably all religions by many, many ages. They used to be known as ‘good old common sense’ and they don’t need to have any magical label stuck on them at all.

Thanks, Tom.

Filed in: Family Values