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The swine flu saga has been of interest mainly because the responses to it have shown what Australians consider to be important. That is also true of the response within Australian churches.
Victoria, with its spate of swine flu cases, is no longer 'The place to be'. Prudence is one thing, but absurdity also needs to be recognised. Exhibit A: Archbishop Hart's instruction to priests not to offer chalices of wine during Communion.
In the 16th century, following its conquest of Latin America, Spain drained the area of its gold and silver. One might suspect that this windfall turned Spain into an economic powerhouse. But some funny things happened when the easy money arrived.
As Australia deals with its own incursion of H1N1, a strange event on a Geneva-bound train reminds us that this virus is in human hands. Meanwhile the manufacture of a vaccine for the virus raises doubts about medical ethics and equity.
An American priest reportedly claimed that swine flu was God's punishment for sin. The idea that God might use natural disasters to punish people is repugnant. But at first glance the Scriptures do seem to represent God as doing just that.
The Herald Sun's Andrew Bolt has provided a welcome critique of 'pig flu' fear-mongering by the Australian media. But he falls into a similarly myopic trap that misses the global perspective.
The outbreak of swine flu has crossed the species barrier and spread quickly from human to human. Amid the general gloom, medical companies' stocks have risen since Monday, particularly those which produce ant-virals.
Margaret Coffey reviews Sean McConville’s weighty tome, Irish Political Prisoners, 1848–1922, Theatres of War.