Link Highlights | June 2018
Tuesday, 3 July 2018
| Ethos editor
Link highlights – June 2018
Below is a selection of links to online news and opinion pieces from June 2018. To keep up-to-date with our posts, ‘like’ us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter.
The articles below are selected by the editor, Armen Gakavian, at his discretion. Neither the editor nor Ethos necessarily endorse the views expressed in these articles.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
On the anniversary of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Megan Davis, Shireen Morris and Maria Giannacopoulos write: Exactly one year ago, an unprecedented gathering of Indigenous elders and academics, delegates and activists held out an invitation to non-indigenous Australians to join with them in a process of truth-telling and political attentiveness. One year on, can that invitation still be heard? And will we accept?
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/05/26/4848714.htm
Scott Higgins writes: Reconciliation doesn’t require me to diminish my own story. It not only offers me an opportunity to be honest about its failings at the same time I celebrate its achievements, but it invites me to enlarge my story, to celebrate the fact that as an Australian I share in a story that goes back 60,000 years. Reconciliation it seems, if successful, will change us all for the better.
http://scottjhiggins.com/reconciliation-can-change-us-all-for-the-better/
Rodney Crisp writes: We can design and create a Makarrata Commission that's a democratically elected, non-legislative body speaking on behalf of all our nation's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19767
Kylie Beach writes: National Church Life Survey Research (NCLSR) exposed a significant “gap” between Christians’ “aspiration and action” on the issue of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reconciliation in a bleak report on Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Relations in Churches this week.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/reconciliation-its-all-talk-and-no-action/
Gaynor Macdonald writes: Enthusiasm for Indigenous treaties at the state and territory level is misplaced. The power to bring about real change lies only at federal level.
https://theconversation.com/indigenous-treaties-are-meaningless-without-addressing-the-issue-of-sovereignty-98006
Kylie Beach writes: Last Sunday, June 10, marked the 180th anniversary of the Myall Creek massacre, but most Australians have never heard of it or attended a service commemorating those whose lives were lost.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/the-battle-australians-dont-want-to-remember/
Abortion
Ann Deslandes writes: The result in Ireland is a timely reminder to political and/or church leaders in Australia who like to use Irish Catholic heritage as a way to defend their conservative views. On nearly all issues that have been debated by Australian Catholics against their religious obligations, the motherland is, clearly, no longer the source of moral legitimacy.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=55857
Anyone who obstructs or harasses a person within 150 metres of an abortion clinic will be liable for up to a year in jail under a bill to amend the Public Health Act, which passed the NSW Legislative Assembly last night. Anne Lim reports.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/safe-access-zone-bill-passes-nsw-parliament/
Academia
David James writes: The imposition of 'managerialism' or 'marketisation' on universities is disastrous. So why are academics so passive when their working lives are being immiserated by the imposition of ideas, mostly derived from business or economics, that are either patently false or poor?
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=55910
Asylum seekers, refugees and migration
Marilynne Robinson writes: The Christian right is allowing Trump to escape responsibility for the immoral policy of separating children from their parents. Have they no shame?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/03/us-immigration-ice-migrant-children-refugees
Mark Brett writes: In a time when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is citing Scripture in support of immigration policy, critical public discussion of theology is vital. The lives of refugees hang in the balance.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/20/4859559.htm
Scot McNight writes: "What the administration is asking here is contrary to everything the Bible teaches about family: we do not separate parents from children, we do not do such a thing as Christians, and thus the appeal to Romans 13 on this occasion is morally reprehensible, hermeneutically irresponsible, and an opportunity for Christian resistance."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2018/06/20/romans-13-pence-session/
Margaret M. Mitchell writes: Paul’s argument in Romans 13 … is a complexly contextual — and perhaps deliberatively ambiguous — one, and the history of its interpretation has reconciled the text with any number of positions vis-à-vis worldly regimes of power, from acquiescence and obedience to subversion and rebellion. So much for what Sessions characterizes to his audience of law enforcement officers in Indiana as the apostle’s “clear command”! … In any case, “Romans 13” does not say one should “obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order” (as in the Sessions rendering), though it does rather unmistakably say one should pay taxes.
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/apostle-and-ag
Michael Bird writes: The challenge for people of faith is to refuse the temptation to cling to Romans 13 for political leaders they like and appeal to Revelation 13 for political leaders they oppose. Instead, they must discern within the precincts of their own conscience whether a given president or policy is behaving in a way that is just and righteous, or else, wicked and authoritarian.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2018/06/romans-13-government-and-the-obedient-christian-citizen/
Craig Greenfield writes: Romans 13 is one of those classic clobber passages, used to make sure we are all being obedient citizens, which historically has led Christians into all kinds of problems. But what does the passage actually say?
http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/romans13
Birth control
Martin E. Marty writes: Fifty years ago, Catholics and their fellow believers and citizens celebrated or fought over the papal condemnation of all-but-“natural” birth control. What happened in the course of five decades that has made the anti-contraception forces lose energy and appeal, even as anti-abortion agencies continue to get a hearing and cause stirs?
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/fifty-years-after-humanae-vitae-opposition-birth-control-lost-cause
Child sexual abuse
The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches, including the confessional. This is despite a last minute plea by Archbishop Christopher Prowse, who supported the extension of the government’s reportable conduct scheme to churches, but opposed the government’s plan to break the seal on religious confession.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/act/reporting-scheme-shouldn-t-ignore-catholic-community-s-concerns-20180606-p4zjuo.html
Lucie Morris-Marr writes: Leading child abuse advocates have responded with anger and dismay after the Catholic Church immediately pushed back against new laws that would force priests to break the seal of confession.
https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2018/06/13/child-abuse-royal-commission-advocate-outrage/
Timothy W. Jones writes: The government's response to the Royal Commission, which includes a formal apology, is heartening. But the real test will come in redress for the harms done.
https://theconversation.com/government-response-to-child-abuse-royal-commission-is-positive-but-will-need-to-go-beyond-an-apology-98243
John Sandeman writes: The start date for the federal government’s Redress Scheme to compensate survivors of child sexual abuse is July 1. It is becoming clear that not every Christian church will make that deadline. This is based on public statements and an Eternity survey of groups of churches that have not made public comments.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/whos-signed-up-for-the-redress-scheme/
Domestic violence
Laura Tarzia and Molly Wellington write: For some women in Australia, the decision about whether or not to have a baby is taken away from them, usually by an abusive male partner. This can happen via the use of verbal pressure, threats, blackmail, physical violence or rape.
https://theconversation.com/how-forced-pregnancies-and-abortions-deny-women-control-over-their-own-bodies-96982
Economics, finance & inequality
Michelle Grattan writes: Executive Director of Brotherhood of St Laurence Conny Lenneberg spoke to The Conversation about the inequality created by the low level of Newstart, which hasn't been boosted for many years.
https://theconversation.com/politics-podcast-brotherhood-of-st-laurences-conny-lenneberg-on-newstart-poverty-and-inequality-97544
Six years on from her famous misogyny speech, does Julia Gillard think it’s any easier for female leaders? How do you talk to your kids about a cancer diagnosis? And could changes to the tricky language of industrial awards be a win for workers? With Laura Tingle.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/gender-and-power/9836348
Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, tweeted that the Pope had declared wage theft a mortal sin, and that the repercussions were eternal punishment. What did the Pope actually say and what are the implications? Danielle Bonica writes.
www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-14/fact-check-is-wage-theft-a-mortal-sin/9841392
End of life
Natasha Moore asks: Is there a right and a wrong way to die? Or a worse and a better way? It sounds odd to suggest that dying is also a moral enterprise, a task that some might perform "better" than others.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/07/4853711.htm
Colorado State University psychologist Silvia Sara Canetto recently uncovered a curious statistic: two thirds of the people who die in so-called mercy killings are women. Moreover, most of these women are killed by men. "... one should be wary of those who present mercy killing as a gift to women. These are fatal gifts, embedded in a long tradition of legitimizing women's sacrifice", Canetto says. By Kristin Leutwyler (From September 2001)
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/in-cases-of-euthanasia-me/
Evil
Nathan A. Kennedy writes: Does the insistence of showing evil people to be monsters not, after all, achieve a sort of social distancing? Are we not able to project and deflect our social, collective ills onto such individuals and wash our own hands of innocent blood, all while our systems of normality continue to spill that same innocent blood? Does not understanding the banality of evil help us to identify and disrupt the murderous machinations of normality?
https://bookishbearblog.com/2018/03/30/rethinking-the-banality-of-evil/
Gender
Six years on from her famous misogyny speech, does Julia Gillard think it’s any easier for female leaders? How do you talk to your kids about a cancer diagnosis? And could changes to the tricky language of industrial awards be a win for workers? Laura Tingle talks with the former prime minister.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/gender-and-power/9836348
Health
Six years on from her famous misogyny speech, does Julia Gillard think it’s any easier for female leaders? How do you talk to your kids about a cancer diagnosis? And could changes to the tricky language of industrial awards be a win for workers? With Laura Tingle.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/gender-and-power/9836348
Humility
John Dickson writes: Humility came to be regarded as a virtue in Western culture as a consequence of Christianity's dismantling of the all-pervasive honour-shame paradigm of the ancient world.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/13/4856548.htm
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes: Humility - true humility - is one of the most expansive and life-enhancing of all virtues. It does not mean undervaluing yourself. It means valuing other people. It signals a certain openness to life's grandeur and the willingness to be surprised, uplifted, by goodness wherever one finds it.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/14/4856961.htm
Law, human rights and free speech
Sarah Joseph writes: ABC's cancellation of the hit reboot Roseanne because of its star's racist tweet raises complex questions about freedom of speech and the line between public and private selves in the age of social media.
https://theconversation.com/roseannes-implosion-when-art-freedom-of-speech-and-social-media-collide-97463
Ed Stetzer writes: Supreme Court rules 7-2 in favor of Jack Philips, doing the right thing. But there is more work to do.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2018/june/religious-liberty-takes-cake-supreme-court-makes-right-call.html
Kayley Payne writes: The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple in 2012. But the court made it clear that similar cases of other Christian service providers such as florists and photographers might have a different outcome.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/world/us-supreme-court-rules-for-baker-in-same-sex-wedding-case/
Stephen McAlpine writes: The decision by the US Supreme Court in favour of baker Jack Phillips leaves one side happy and another side unhappy. And next time? Who knows which side will be happy and which side will warn of impending doom? The cake is only half-baked. And no one can truly be happy with that.
https://stephenmcalpine.com/2018/06/05/a-half-baked-wedding-cake/
Around 14% of Australians identify as spiritual. Should they have the same rights as those belonging to organised religions? Jeremy Patrick says yes.
https://theconversation.com/religious-freedoms-should-include-spiritual-beliefs-too-97445
The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches, including the confessional. This is despite a last minute plea by Archbishop Christopher Prowse, who supported the extension of the government’s reportable conduct scheme to churches, but opposed the government’s plan to break the seal on religious confession.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/act/reporting-scheme-shouldn-t-ignore-catholic-community-s-concerns-20180606-p4zjuo.html
Bishop Anba Suriel writes: The display of anti-Christian symbols offends Christians who have witnessed the reality of persecution, lost loved ones or suffered for their faith. The display of anti-Christian symbols offends Christians who have witnessed the reality of persecution, lost loved ones or suffered for their faith.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/08/4854255.htm
Michael Jensen writes: Are the upside-down crosses really that subversive and provocative? Not if it is just a poke in the eye to some religious groups (who shouldn’t be so sensitive). But if we read the crosses as a threat to our worship of money, our naked self-belief, and our moral complacency, then they really are outrageous.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/opinion/the-real-outrage-is-the-murder-in-our-souls/
Anne Lim writes: Threat or opportunity? Christians split on how to respond to the irreverent symbols of the Dark Mofo arts festival.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/inverted-crosses-stir-up-fevered-debate/
Michael Bird writes: While Dark Mofo’s inverted crosses sadden me, I am not outraged by them, and I definitely do not want them taken down. I regard the crosses as exemplary tools with which to teach the Christian community some important lessons.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/06/why-i-support-dark-mofos-inverted-crosses/
Margaret Simons writes: Sister Fox has been living and working in the Philippines for more than 28 years without receiving a word of publicity. Now, she has sprung to international attention as the Australian nun who has riled a president.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/16/the-unassuming-australian-nun-taking-on-rodrigo-duterte
Petition by the Uniting Church of Australia: "In a Bill to address the influence of donations to political parties from foreign sources ... the Commonwealth Government has also included provisions to curb the ability of community organisations from expressing views on any matter publicly. If they do so, their ability to accept donations for their work will be tightly regulated."
https://www.justact.org.au/church_voices
"Many Christians may welcome the Trump administration’s call to defend freedom of religious belief and expression. However, a note of caution or even alarm sounds when governments, particularly with the global trade interests and military weight of the US, declare this kind of campaign. Invoking the cause of religious freedom as a pretext for intervening in the affairs of foreign nations is a risk that history begs us not to ignore."
https://barnabasfund.org/en/news/weaponising-religious-freedom-the-risks-to-christian-and-other-minorities#
Martyn Iles writes: As Christians, we have a collection of convictions about marriage, creation and the human person which are contrary to the new rules. We have a collection of beliefs that are, strictly speaking, against the law. We now find ourselves in a position where we need a special law that gives us permission to hold and express our beliefs without fear of punishment.
https://www.acl.org.au/awaiting_the_review
Mental health
“There is always tomorrow”: Jordan Peterson offers four reasons to choose life. By Caroline Overington.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/there-is-always-tomorrow-jordan-peterson-offers-four-reasons-to-choose-life/news-story/b7947b3acdb9cfc8c67f520ed6382570
Politics, society & ideology
David McMullen writes: The pseudo-left wants to stop a multi-million-dollar donation by the conservative Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation to the Australian National University for a new course on Western civilisation. But Western history should indeed be prioritized over other history because that is where modernity began.
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19769
Fatima Measham writes: The Ramsay Centre was an agenda-laden venture at the outset. It has now been left hanging after the Australian National University withdrew from negotiations, with Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt saying that a difference of vision led to the decision. The Ramsay Centre's focus on western 'civilisation' was never neutral to begin with. The people involved gives that away.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=55885
John Avery writes: As it is taught today, history is a chronicle of power struggles and war, told from a biased national standpoint. But the true history of humanity is a history of ideas, inventions, progress, shared knowledge, shared culture and cooperation.
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19757
Gareth Evans and Brian Schmidt write: The ANU withdrew from the Ramsay negotiations not because of any cold feet about the substance of the program, but because of our concerns about the extraordinarily prescriptive, micro-management, controlling approach by the Ramsay Centre to its governance, particularly in relation to curriculum and staffing decisions.
https://theconversation.com/anu-stood-up-for-academic-freedom-in-rejecting-western-civilisation-degree-99189
Response in The Australian by Simon Haines: Neither Australian National University chancellor Gareth Evans nor vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt were at the discussions during which the memorandum of understanding with the Ramsay Centre was negotiated and drafted. Had they been, they would have known it never sought a controlling influence or veto in curriculum design and staff appointments.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/no-veto-or-control-ramsay-response-to-anus-evans-schmidt/news-story/37f6d7133b47f2edbb1cd9f0715fb219
"While we welcome talks aimed at creating peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, our response as Christians must be one of both discernment and prayer. We should exercise great caution in allowing the Christian faith to be allied to US foreign policy. But at the same time we must pray for peace in the region and for the political authorities who can bring about that peace."
https://barnabasfund.org/nz/news/secular-means-to-a-gospel-end-should-christian-faith-be-allied-with-political-interests
Anne Lim writes: Western culture is no longer based on honour and dignity but on pain and grievance, says UK apologist Michael Ramsden.
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/culture/five-ways-to-speak-to-a-victim-culture/
Stephen Chavura writes: In other words, the problem with humanities departments is certainly not that they contain leftists, even bona fide Marxists. The problem is that they contain hardly any conservatives to offer balance and a true diversity of views.
https://www.spectator.com.au/2018/06/time-to-end-the-closed-shop-of-ideas-at-university/
Mark Brett writes: In a time when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is citing Scripture in support of immigration policy, critical public discussion of theology is vital. The lives of refugees hang in the balance.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/20/4859559.htm
Scot McNight writes: "What the administration is asking here is contrary to everything the Bible teaches about family: we do not separate parents from children, we do not do such a thing as Christians, and thus the appeal to Romans 13 on this occasion is morally reprehensible, hermeneutically irresponsible, and an opportunity for Christian resistance."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2018/06/20/romans-13-pence-session/
Margaret M. Mitchell writes: Paul’s argument in Romans 13 … is a complexly contextual — and perhaps deliberatively ambiguous — one, and the history of its interpretation has reconciled the text with any number of positions vis-à-vis worldly regimes of power, from acquiescence and obedience to subversion and rebellion. So much for what Sessions characterizes to his audience of law enforcement officers in Indiana as the apostle’s “clear command”! … In any case, “Romans 13” does not say one should “obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order” (as in the Sessions rendering), though it does rather unmistakably say one should pay taxes.
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/apostle-and-ag
Michael Bird writes: The challenge for people of faith is to refuse the temptation to cling to Romans 13 for political leaders they like and appeal to Revelation 13 for political leaders they oppose. Instead, they must discern within the precincts of their own conscience whether a given president or policy is behaving in a way that is just and righteous, or else, wicked and authoritarian.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2018/06/romans-13-government-and-the-obedient-christian-citizen/
Craig Greenfield writes: Romans 13 is one of those classic clobber passages, used to make sure we are all being obedient citizens, which historically has led Christians into all kinds of problems. But what does the passage actually say?
http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/romans13
Religion in Politics
"While we welcome talks aimed at creating peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, our response as Christians must be one of both discernment and prayer. We should exercise great caution in allowing the Christian faith to be allied to US foreign policy. But at the same time we must pray for peace in the region and for the political authorities who can bring about that peace."
https://barnabasfund.org/nz/news/secular-means-to-a-gospel-end-should-christian-faith-be-allied-with-political-interests
Kara Voght speaks with Rob Schenck: “Could God use this terrible thing in the end to bring about a better form of evangelicalism in America? … maybe this is the demise of what we now know as American evangelicalism, and largely, the Trump phenomenon is a symptom, rather than a cause. … Donald Trump didn’t demoralize us — he is the evidence of our demoralization.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/06/this-evangelical-pastor-helped-build-the-religious-right-he-now-believes-he-made-a-terrible-mistake-rob-schenck/
Will Trump’s solid, evangelical base ever come to terms with the kind of person they voted into office? Randall J. Stephens argues that today’s evangelical leaders could learn a thing or two from their predecessors, who aligned themselves closely with another troublesome president: Richard Nixon.
https://theconversation.com/evangelicals-and-trump-lessons-from-the-nixon-era-97974
Mainline churches in the Trump era see a new opening to renew their social activist mission. Yet the results of this engagement have been a mixture of conflict, polarisation and growth, writes Ian Lovett in the Wall Street Journal.
www.religionwatch.com/mainline-church-activism-reviving-mission-or-risking-its-base/
Religion in Society
Deloitte Access Economics was engaged by The Study of the Economic Impact of Religion on Society (SEIROS) to examine the economic impact of religiosity (specifically, attendance at religious services of any organised religious denomination) on giving and volunteering behaviour in Australia, using data from a national survey of over 7,000 Australians.
https://www2.deloitte.com/au/en/pages/economics/articles/donating-volunteering-behaviour-associated-with-religiosity.html#
In reviewing Geoff Thomson’s recent volume on theological training for the Uniting Church, Peter Sellick argues that keeping the substance of the gospel before us is not an easy task in an age flooded with ideology, cultural warfare, rampant populism and political correctness.
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=19768
The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed a bill to extend the mandatory reporting scheme to cover churches, including the confessional. This is despite a last minute plea by Archbishop Christopher Prowse, who supported the extension of the government’s reportable conduct scheme to churches, but opposed the government’s plan to break the seal on religious confession.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/act/reporting-scheme-shouldn-t-ignore-catholic-community-s-concerns-20180606-p4zjuo.html
Bella d’Abrera writes: The study of Western civilization in Australia is in crisis, not due to a lack of students, but rather because of the particular version of Western civilization that they are being offered.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/14/4856790.htm
Renee Kohler-Ryan writes: The idea that Western civilization has nothing to teach Australian university students smacks of false pride and fear. And the notion that Western civilization is a closed system is dangerous.
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/15/4857669.htm
Hayden Ramsay writes: When Catholics confess, they don't think they are confessing to priests or to "the Church" but to God. Attempts from time to time to undermine this by co-opting confessors are always ineffective.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/22/4860649.htm
Science
Peter Harrison writes: Much of the contemporary conflict between science and religion arises not out of the activities themselves, but out of the unhelpful way in which we presently conceptualise them.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/05/24/4847907.htm
Secularism
From Tim Keller to Russell Moore to Rod Dreher, a lot of Christian thought leaders and quite a few academics are using Charles Taylor‘s ideas to help understand our modern world. Why are Taylor’s ideas so popular?
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/june-web-only/charles-taylor-secular-age.html
Sex
Martin E. Marty writes: Fifty years ago, Catholics and their fellow believers and citizens celebrated or fought over the papal condemnation of all-but-“natural” birth control. What happened in the course of five decades that has made the anti-contraception forces lose energy and appeal, even as anti-abortion agencies continue to get a hearing and cause stirs?
https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/fifty-years-after-humanae-vitae-opposition-birth-control-lost-cause
Sexism
Six years on from her famous misogyny speech, does Julia Gillard think it’s any easier for female leaders? How do you talk to your kids about a cancer diagnosis? And could changes to the tricky language of industrial awards be a win for workers? With Laura Tingle.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/gender-and-power/9836348
Sex industry
Amanda Jackson writes: You would think that all of us would be united in seeing prostitution as an example of exploitation – it is wrong for women to be forced to sell their bodies to strangers for sex . But somehow the conversation has changed.
http://amandaadvocates.blog/2018/06/20/prostitution-is-not-a-career-choice
Sexual abuse and #MeToo
Amanda Marcotte writes: Many who want to end abusive environments in the evangelical Christian world are concerned that their leaders are far too invested in the status quo to allow the reforms necessary to make their world safer and more respectful of women's well-being.
https://www.salon.com/2018/06/06/evangelical-christians-struggle-with-their-own-metoo-moment/#.WxiW1vtZF8g.facebook
Slavery
Andrea Tokaji writes: The UK law has been called “muddled” and “inconsistent”. At the core of the frustration, is that this international crime is seen only as a criminal justice issue, neglecting the human rights components of these violations. So, what does this all mean for Australia’s imminent Modern Slavery Act?
https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/new-laws-could-put-sex-slaves-at-greater-risk/
Spirituality
Philip Almond writes: Notions of heaven have changed through the ages, from an eternity centred on God to a more secular place where loved ones will reunite.
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-what-might-heaven-be-like-95939
Hayden Ramsay writes: When Catholics confess, they don't think they are confessing to priests or to "the Church" but to God. Attempts from time to time to undermine this by co-opting confessors are always ineffective.
www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2018/06/22/4860649.htm
US politics
Will Trump’s solid, evangelical base ever come to terms with the kind of person they voted into office? Randall J. Stephens argues that today’s evangelical leaders could learn a thing or two from their predecessors, who aligned themselves closely with another troublesome president: Richard Nixon.
https://theconversation.com/evangelicals-and-trump-lessons-from-the-nixon-era-97974
War, peace & nonviolence
Andy Owen writes: The soldier in battle is confronted with agonising, even impossible, ethical decisions. Could studying philosophy help?
https://aeon.co/essays/how-philosophy-helped-one-soldier-on-the-battlefield
Work
Osmond Chiu writes: While the threat from automation is often overstated, there are big technological shifts occurring which are undermining job security. But the experience is that work is created as well as displaced by new technology. Change in social relationships, not technology, explains what is happening in labour markets today.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=55334
Lizzie O'Shea writes: Many people, including on the left, talk about the centrality of work to our sense of purpose and dignity. Work is commonly understood as the method through which we acquire income, a sense of identity, make a contribution and find community, but for many, it has also become an extremely unreliable source of these things.
https://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=55867
Six years on from her famous misogyny speech, does Julia Gillard think it’s any easier for female leaders? How do you talk to your kids about a cancer diagnosis? And could changes to the tricky language of industrial awards be a win for workers? With Laura Tingle.
www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/gender-and-power/9836348
Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, tweeted that the Pope had declared wage theft a mortal sin, and that the repercussions were eternal punishment. What did the Pope actually say and what are the implications? Danielle Bonica writes.
www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-14/fact-check-is-wage-theft-a-mortal-sin/9841392
Craig Greenfield writes: When it comes to workplace ministry (also known as Marketplace Ministry or Business as Mission), our vision is too small. We too often limit ourselves to personal piety (being nice to our colleagues), integrity issues (not watering down the drinks) and of course, sharing the gospel verbally with our co-workers.
http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/workplace-ministry