Apologetics
Confession must be subject to mandatory reporting
March 26, 2014 Bryan Keon-Cohen, Joseph Poznanski The absolute confidentiality of the Catholic Church’s confessional puts vulnerable children at risk. Illustration: Andrew Dyson. While the Catholic Church appears willing to accept the Victorian parliamentary committee’s recommendations in its report Betrayal of Trust, the church hierarchy rejects the application of a mandatory reporting regime to the sacrament […]
Free Speech or Hate Speech: What Kind of Society Favours Bigotry?
Are we to favour bigotry over the right to live unaffected by it? March 28, 2014 Tim Soutphommasane Political philosopher and regular columnist Illustration: Andrew Dyson. When I commenced my term as Race Discrimination Commissioner last year, I never imagined I would be asked to comment on whether Australians enjoyed ”the right to be bigots”. […]
Cardinal Pell and the Peril of Institutional Atheism
The Religion of the Humble? Cardinal Pell and the Peril of Institutional Atheism Scott StephensABC RELIGION AND ETHICS28 MAR 2014 JOHN ELLIS RIGHTLY EXPECT THE CHURCH TO BEHAVE COMPASSIONATELY, PENITENTLY AND JUSTLY. WHAT ELLIS CONFRONTED WAS A CHURCH INTENT ON PURSUING ITS LEGAL DEFENCE AS THOUGH THERE WAS NO DIVINE JUDGE.CREDIT: AAP / JOE CASTRO SEE ALSO […]
Christianity and the Stockholm Syndrome
IS INSTITUTIONAL CHRISTIANITY THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME? Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them. Has institutional Christianity become this? “Faced by someone promising to do them harm if they didn’t do as they say, most people would at least regard such […]
How to make our asylum-seeker policy firm but fairer
March 24, 2014 Nicholas Reece The present system isn’t sustainable, so why not try other ideas that are cheaper and more humane?  Illustration: Jim Pavlidis. Australia’s hardcore asylum-seeker policy is inhumane and unsustainable. But those hoping the Abbott government or Shorten opposition will overturn the policy of offshore processing and settlement any time soon […]
World Vision: should the poor suffer because anti gay-marriage conservative groups withhold donations?
World Vision Reverses Decision To Hire Christians in Same-Sex Marriages Letter: ‘We failed to be consistent with [our] commitment to the traditional understanding of biblical marriage and our own Statement of Faith.’ Celeste Gracey and Jeremy Weber/ MARCH 26, 2014 [Updated 6:15 p.m. Central with fresh comments from Richard Stearns.] Only two days after announcing it would […]
Physicists – and ‘meaning of life’ questions
Good luck, physicists, with those tricky ‘meaning of life’ questions Scientists have replaced us theologians as the people you’d ask your existential queries. And following the big bang discovery, they should expect a grilling ‘What caused the cause of all things? Jim Al-Khalili’s answer is clever but unsatisfying. It’s like asking what is south of […]
Fred Phelps: ‘An angry, bigoted man…’
Pastor Fred Phelps: ‘An angry, bigoted man who thrived on conflict’ What motivated the man behind the placard-waving, virulently homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, AKA ‘the most hated family in America’? And what next for the church and family following his death? Fred Phelps … ‘Homosexuality was an obsession.’ Photograph: Rex Features Louis Theroux Tuesday 25 […]
Sex offenders: treatment is complicated
Daniel Morcombe: Psychologist who treated killer Brett Peter Cowan gives insight into child sex offenders By John Taylor Updated 9 hours 33 minutes ago PHOTO: Brett Peter Cowan will spend at least 20 years in jail for the murder of Daniel Morcombe A psychologist who treated Daniel Morcombe’s killer has given an insight into the mind of […]
Women Priests in the Catholic Church?
Univision asked 12,038 Catholics in 12 countries if women should be allowed to join the priesthood. Here, a sample of how many responded positively: 83% France 78% Spain 59% U.S. 35% Mexico 21% Philippines [Time, Feb. 24, 2014, p. 6]
Categories
Articles may be reproduced in any medium, without applying for permission
(provided they are unedited, and retain the original author/copyright information - and a reference to this website :-)!
26,754 articles online.
Protected by Akismet, Digital Ninjas and an Ion Cannon. Really.
Blog with WordPress