Dr Jonathan Sarfati is a leading writer and speaker for the Queensland-based Creation Ministries International (CMI) and helps edit two of its journals. He holds a PhD in physical chemistry from a recognised university and has published half a dozen papers in peer-reviewed science journals. He claims that CMI’s Journal of Creation is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, but the ‘peers’ are all Young Earth Creationists. He doesn’t seem to have undertaken any serious scientific work since 1996 when he joined CMI in Brisbane. During the last 12 years, therefore, he has been fully occupied in promoting the YEC religious position on a variety of fronts, very few of which have anything to do with his scientific speciality of infrared spectroscopy.

If Sarfati wants to continue referring to himself as a ’scientist’, he should in all honesty add the qualifiers ‘ex-’ or ‘former’. Like other religious and political enthusiasts – not all of them Christian by any means – he tries to impose a wholly stultifying straitjacket on the theory and practice of science. The question of whether a scientific hypothesis is or is not ‘biblically possible’ should be a non-issue, but Sarfati accords it central importance in his scheme of things. A ’science’ which lurches down that path is not worthy of the name.

Read the full article [PDF] …

Filed in: Christian Right, Creationism, People

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The remarkable victory of Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party in the 2007 Federal Election brings to an end 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard. Much of the Howard government’s rhetoric revolved around claims of growth and national prosperity. But for many Australians there was a sense of unease during the Howard years with its singular emphasis on economic expansion and rampant consumerism which somehow failed to acknowledge our need for humanity and compassion in government.

We have published an article that explores the role and effectiveness of the Christian Right in lobbying for its political agenda, and the failure of Christian parties to make any significant inroads with the Australian electorate.

Read the full article: Righteous Indignity: Musings on The Christian Right and the 2007 Election

Filed in: Christian Right, Family Values, Politics

Margaret Court is unquestionably Australia’s most successful tennis player. Playing in the 1960s and 1970s, Court amassed over 60 Grand Slam titles including eleven Australian Opens, five US Opens, five French Opens and three Wimbledon singles victories. In 1970 she won the Grand Slam i.e. all four major singles titles in a calendar year.

Court is now a ‘Word of Faith’ Pentecostal minister in Perth. Preachers like Margaret Court think that if you sincerely believe in God’s Word, i.e. the Bible, and you claim what you take to be the promises of God with your mouth – yes, you have to speak your prayer out loud, as well as basing it on ‘the Word’ – God will most certainly grant your desire.

This article explores Court’s odyssey and the strange world of Pentecostal ‘healing’ ministries.

Read the full article (PDF): Margaret Court’s Word of Faith

Filed in: Christian Right, Pentecostalism

An ‘Australian Christian Values Checklist‘ has been published by a number of Religious Right groups in order to assist prospective voters at the NSW state election to be held on 24 March 2007.

The introduction to this checklist claims that:

In the 2001 census, 68% [of] Australians identified themselves as Christians. This summary of the positions of major parties on issues of concern to Christians is provided as a service to the Christian community.

This statement disingenuously implies that 68% of Australians support an extensive Religious Right political program involving, for example, a crackdown on abortion, prohibition of embryonic stem-cell research and voluntary euthanasia, and the introduction of a draconian censorship system. As you can see, the only parties who allegedly support a majority of these positions are the National Party (by a whisker) and Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, which promotes all 27 listed policies.

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Filed in: Christian Right, Family Values, Politics, Stem Cell Research

Every now and then – well, actually, about six times a day – I see something that makes me think the Christian fundamentalists should just pack it in. This comes from a piece called ‘Unholy Alliance‘ by Roulla Yiacoumi and it appeared in the Melbourne Age Green Guide of 8 Feb. 2007:

Richard Cohen is chief executive of Hotmovies.com, a website that allows you to watch selected scenes from porn movies streamed to your PC. Each night, between 38,000 and 60,000 video clips are viewed.

‘I couldn’t believe those figures when I first heard them’, Mr Cohen says. ‘I got our people to check them several times. But they were correct …’

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Filed in: Christian Right, Sexuality

Margaret Tighe’s Right to Life Australia (RTLA) is still practising ‘punishment politics’. Aspiring politicians can have conservative views on just about every topic under the sun, but if they’re a shade wobbly on ‘life’ issues, there’s a good chance that RTLA will mount a campaign against them.

Here’s an example of their work, taken from the November 2006 Victorian state election:

In Kilsyth the local Member was Dymphna Beard from the [Australian Labor Party]. Dymphna’s membership on [pro-choice] Emily’s List and her vote in favour of destructive embryo research made it important for us to defeat her candidacy. She is no longer a Member of Parliament.

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Filed in: Abortion, Christian Right, Politics

We’re supposed to be praying for the financial situation facing Salt Shakers, the religious right group run by Peter and Jenny Stokes, Melbourne’s answer to Fred and Elaine Nile. According to an email of 5 Jan. 2007:

We ended December approximately 25% down on the finance required for the month. That means we ended the year short by $4,908.

Prepare for the ‘miracle’ which will now take place. Some benighted happyclaps will pass the hat around and when they count the money it will come to $4,908 which they’ll donate to Salt Shakers. God will have balanced the books, SS can keep getting stuck into gays, lesbians, feminists and other miscreants, and all will be right with the world.

Filed in: Christian Right

It’s an article of faith among conservative Christians that the Church is widely persecuted throughout the Third World. The Australian Prayer Network and similar organisations quickly tell us of any major or minor hindrance to the practice of Christianity in various heathen nations, especially China.

How then to explain this letter to the Melbourne Age of 2 Jan. 2007? The author is Dr John Norman, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, China:

… I have lived in China for several years and can go to church – Catholic or Protestant – any Sunday I wish, and to any number of Bible study or prayer groups during the week. Bibles are readily available …

Specifically with regard to Catholic churches, I have been to churches in China that offer Mass in Chinese, English and Latin – providing the same experience as I have had in Australia and elsewhere.

China’s a big place and Christianity no doubt has an easier time of it in some places than others. But I’ve read lots of accounts like Dr Norman’s and can only repeat what I’ve said before in other contexts: it’s foolish to accept conservative Christian claims unless they’re backed up by independent evidence. These people were staring at the world through ideological blinkers long before Stalin and Hitler came along.

Filed in: Christian Right

Christian Right opponents of embryonic stem cell research regularly tell us that it’s entirely pointless. It hasn’t yet produced any cures, it’s immoral and unethical, adult stem cells are the way to go etc. But let’s look at a specific condition, namely diabetes:

Having already discovered the method for coaxing mouse embryonic stem cells to become insulin-secreting pancreas cells, Professor Alan Trounson says his team at Monash University will be among the first to apply for a new licence to try the technique in humans.

The ultimate aim is to combine a patient’s DNA with a donated egg and then grow the specialised cells – known as islets – in the laboratory. Those cells could then be injected into the vein that drains into the liver, where they would carry out their normal function of secreting insulin in response to blood-sugar levels.

So why the need for embryonic cloning in this instance?

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Filed in: Christian Right, Stem Cell Research

Fred Nile and his Family World News (FWN) to keep everything in perspective. The October 2006 issue of Fred’s mag contains the following diatribe (p.3):

Can a good Muslim be a good Australian or American?

… Theologically – no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia …

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Filed in: Christian Right, Islam