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Section: Religion

  • RELIGION

    Churches confused on Human Rights Act

    • Frank Brennan
    • 28 January 2010
    22 Comments

    Cardinal Pell thinks Church positions on contested moral issues have a better chance of being reflected in law and policy if parliaments are not constrained by a Human Rights Act. I would beg to differ. Gone are the days when church leaders can do deals with politicians behind closed doors.

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  • RELIGION

    Australians aspire to lift their climate game

    • Frank Brennan
    • 25 January 2010
    10 Comments

    For a while we were leading the world on climate change. But once Copenhagen collapsed Rudd assured us 'Australia will do no more and no less than the rest of the world'. The lowest common denominator is not usually the solution to the great moral challenges.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2009: Roman Polanski and clergy sexual abuse

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 14 January 2010
    6 Comments

    The case for Polanski's avoiding extradition has generally received a sympathetic hearing. The same sympathy is not generally shown to clergy who have been tried for less serious acts committed just as many years ago. October 2009

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  • RELIGION

    Pope's fighting words for a world in crisis

    • Bruce Duncan
    • 07 January 2010
    8 Comments

    In his World Day of Peace statement for 2010, the Pope again highlights the urgency of responding to climate change. Pope Benedict has had major problems in communicating this message, notably a lack of journalistic expertise to make his documents more readable.

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  • RELIGION

    Best of 2009: St Mary's, Bishop Robinson and the value of dialogue

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 January 2010
    18 Comments

    Bishop Bathersby and Fr Kennedy are pastoral, down to earth men. If there had been more dialogue between them, and between Cardinal Pell and Bishop Robinson, the Catholic Church would be more the Church Jesus would want it to be. March 2009

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  • RELIGION

    The inhospitality of Bendigo Anglicans snub

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 December 2009
    34 Comments

    Christmas is a time for hospitality, and hospitality is central in the Christian tradition. You may not have thought this was so when, recently, the Anglican Church in Bendigo, Vic., was denied the use of a Catholic cathedral for the ordination of four female deacons.

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  • RELIGION

    Marketing the Dalai Lama

    • Yannick Thoraval
    • 14 December 2009
    8 Comments

    When the Dalai Lama appeared, people flocked to the stage, mobile phone cameras in hand, so they too could own a piece of the Dalai Lama. As a measure of our cultural values, it is interesting to consider that the Dalai Lama has become a commodity.

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  • RELIGION

    Men in dresses and conversations about peace

    • Katherine Marshall
    • 04 December 2009

    There's as much cynicism as hope around such 'Kumbaya' happenings as the Parliament of Religions. And the male domination at official interfaith gatherings turns many off. The goals for interfaith meetings, however, are ambitious and right at the heart of today's global agendas.

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  • RELIGION

    Parliament as conversation that gets things done

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 December 2009

    The job of parliaments is to pass legislation after debating its merits. They get things done. The Parliament of Religions, which begins in Melbourne today, offers religious perspectives on public issues including discrimination, poverty, indigenous welfare and care for the environment.

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  • RELIGION

    Pope skips language of love in Anglicans manifesto

    • Charles Sherlock
    • 20 November 2009
    25 Comments

    Pope Benedict XVI's recent Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (‘Groups of Anglicans’) moves the pastoral openness of Vatican II towards a ‘Rome is right’ mentality. This is disturbing and dangerous, not only for Anglicans, but for Roman Catholics themselves.

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  • RELIGION

    Hillary comes to Pakistan with baggage

    • Frank Brennan
    • 12 November 2009
    4 Comments

    Hillary Clinton worked hard on a three day charm offensive encouraging Pakistanis to engage in a new trusting relationship with the US. But Pakistanis cannot trust themselves at the moment, let alone the world superpower which has funded Taliban militants.

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  • RELIGION

    Mixed blessings on Anglican road to Rome

    • Andrew McGowan
    • 23 October 2009
    22 Comments

    Liberal Roman Catholics have particular reason to be perturbed at the influx of ex-Anglicans driven not by ecumenical zeal, but by dogged adherence to positions on women's ordination or human sexuality which bespeak a broader conservatism.

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