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Labor speechwriter Graham Freudenberg observed that ‘the oldest, deepest, most poisonous debate in Australia has been about government aid to church schools’. The most dramatic episode in the history of church state relations in Australia was the Goulburn schools strike, which took place 50 years ago this month.
Leading biblical scholar Frank Moloney reflects that after the 16th century council of Trent, 'which was a reaction to Protestantism', there was a tendency within Catholicism away from the Bible and 'into a more defensive way'. While focus was placed on strengthening the hierarchy, the Bible 'dropped out of the Catholic life'.
There is a story that the king, having learned surfing at Bondi, introduced the sport to Tonga. I asked if he was ever fearful of sharks. 'There is nothing to fear,' he said. 'Look them straight in the eye like this!' At which he squared his shoulders in a demonstration of regal might which I shall never forget.
Catholics in Australia have tended to be more tolerant of alcohol and gambling than 'wowser' Protestants. But too many Catholics turn a blind eye to how today's poker machine technology and operating environment is designed to nurture dangerous (but profitable) addiction.
Sociologist Eva Cox heard all the vitriol about boat people when, as a five-year-old Jewish girl, she fled Nazi Germany and headed to Australia. My nine-year-old mother was a different kind of boat arrival: one of 135,000 'child migrants' imported under the 'Populate or Perish' policy.
Australia has this tendency to look for a great and powerful protector, then become slavishly obedient to it ... When we're prepared to sacrifice the human rights of our own citizens in the interests of conducting that alliance, it makes me very angry. –Former diplomat Tony Kevin
As a teenager in Britain I thought Catholic clergy were a pure and undefiled lot, while their Protestant counterparts were hopelessly scandalised. The source of this information? The News of the World. I'm ashamed to admit I was once myself seduced into writing for this unrepentant scandal ship.
This week a series of billboards proclaiming 'Jesus: a prophet of Islam' and other pro-Muslim slogans have stirred controversy in Sydney. Andrew Harvey, a devotee of the mystical strand of Islam, the Sufi tradition, has a much subtler message about the basics of Islam.
Allison argues recent scientific revelations about homosexuality are part of the unfolding natural law that challenges negative attitudes and beliefs regarding it, and the basis for official Church teaching, that being gay is 'an objective disorder'.