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Section: Religion

  • RELIGION

    The popes versus the free market

    • Bruce Duncan
    • 02 April 2009
    7 Comments

    In his forthcoming response to the global financial crisis, Pope Benedict does not have to reinvent the wheel. Catholic social writings have long insisted that economics must be directed to serve the good of everyone, not just the rich.

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  • RELIGION

    Dissecting rebel priest's heresy

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 01 April 2009
    44 Comments

    One of the strongest accusations you can make against Christians is that they deny the divinity of Christ. This accusation was made, far too hastily, against Fr Peter Kennedy, on the basis of his appeareance on the ABC's Q&A.

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  • RELIGION

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

    • Frank Brennan
    • 27 March 2009
    42 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.

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  • RELIGION

    The Pope, condoms and AIDS

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 26 March 2009
    20 Comments

    The Pope's criticism of condoms was forged in a Western context, but reflects an aspect of the African experience of AIDS. There, a value-free Western strategy has been inadequate because it does not deal with important cultural factors.

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  • RELIGION

    St Mary's quite contrary

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 25 March 2009
    44 Comments

    The parish acts as a beacon in social justice and inclusion. It is hard to see why they can't do this without breaking the Church's rules. Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement managed to marry social activism with a conservative religious life.

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  • RELIGION

    Non-believer drawn by the sacred

    • James McEvoy
    • 12 March 2009
    3 Comments

    Irish poet Seamus Heaney's spiritual journey could be seen as a casualty of the so-called secularising effect of the '60s and '70s. Heaney describes a shift from faith as external and ritualistic, to something more personal.

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  • RELIGION

    How to 'green' your church

    • Steven Douglas
    • 05 March 2009
    9 Comments

    Catholic and Anglican Churches are relatively recent converts to religious environmentalism. The rhetoric of the Catholic Church on Creation-care remains largely an optional extra for its organisations; economic and institutional gains take precedence.

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  • RELIGION

    Euthanasia: doctors' conscience vs patient rights

    • Frank Brennan
    • 02 March 2009
    2 Comments

    The medical pledge to do no harm no matter what the cost effective benefits, and the conscience of the doctor are still key elements in any law which promotes good medicine. –Frank Brennan, addressing the Medico Legal Society of Victoria

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  • RELIGION

    Human rights without God

    • Frank Brennan
    • 27 February 2009
    3 Comments

    Professor Martha Nussbaum's recent book Liberty of Conscience provides a rich textured treatment of the place of religion in the public square. If God is taken out of the picture, it may be difficult to maintain a human rights commitment to the weakest and most despised in society.

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  • RELIGION

    Obama's challenge to the Church

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 26 February 2009
    22 Comments

    The standard by which the most vocal Catholic Bishops judged Obama was his position on abortion, same sex marriages, and on the use of embryos for research. Obama has done the churches a favour by stealing their clothing.

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  • RELIGION

    People of hope, not hate

    • Frank Brennan
    • 24 February 2009

    In East Timor, I was able to see close up the work of Caritas in war torn conditions. There could be no reconciliation without justice. Caritas worked tirelessly to proclaim the message.

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  • RELIGION

    Putting the flame to blame

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 12 February 2009
    12 Comments

    A compulsive fire lighter sets fire to a few leaves. The fire grows and ends up causing many deaths. While it is momentarily satisfying to find someone on whom to fix blame for the fires, it is unhelpful to be fixated in blame.

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