Bishop John

What will you be doing on the 9th anniversary of the destruction of the Twin Towers by Islamic extremists?

I will be giving a seminar ‘Understanding our Muslim Neighbours’.

Sadly, an extremist group plans on burning a Koran – this is totally unacceptable.

Reverend Terry Jones (a pastor from Florida) created an international firestorm as he is planning a Koran-burning event.

The controversial pastor has comes under heavy criticism throughout the world after he announced plans to burn hundreds of Korans this Saturday to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The mass burning is scheduled to take place at Jones’ congregation, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida.

  “As of this time we have no intention of canceling,” said a defiant Jones. “We are not convinced that backing down is the right thing.” he added that the burning was meant as an act to “stand up and confront terrorism.”

The hate-filled plans have been condemned by several international leaders, including General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who said that the event would provide propaganda for insurgents and endanger U.S. and NATO troops on the ground. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that burning the holy book would be “disgraceful,” while U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon said he was “deeply disturbed” by the news. The Vatican chimed in Wednesday as well, saying that the burning would be “an outrageous and grave gesture.”

  See the rest of the article, Reverend refuses to cancel Koran burning, here

Jesus tells us that we are to love one another; sadly this act is one of hate. Please pray with me that this Pastor will not go ahead with what is a truly sad and disgraceful display.

Detailed commentary from Mark Durie, here, and a statement from Barnabas Fund, here.

What I have learnt is that economic development projects, funded by aid, can and do work. They work by tackling poverty on many levels – by introducing initiatives such as education and skills training, agricultural development and access to finance, technology and markets.

At their core, these projects work because they are all about empowering people – giving a community a hand-up, not a handout. They’re about teaching a person to fish rather than giving them a fish. They’re about setting up a community to succeed and stand on its own two feet.

The ongoing challenge is to identify how we can help initiate and sustain the development of the poorest countries. There is no blueprint, but there is broad agreement that the changes necessary for development must come from within the society itself – they cannot be imposed from outside. . . .

Because economic development is complex, field projects take many forms: microfinance programs to enable the poor to purchase income-producing assets; education and training to increase employment prospects; and advocating on behalf of the poor for land rights, roads and social safety nets to see them through times of hardship.

History has shown development is possible, but not inevitable. Our challenge in the developed world is to help people to be more productively involved in the economy, to raise themselves out of poverty, and achieve a life with choices for their children – all without handouts. From what I have seen, economic development projects do work. They are the best answer to one of the biggest social issues of our time.

Full article, The best development programs help people to help themselves.

Hugh Jackman speaks further on deveopment aid in a documentary to be screened on 19th September at 4 pm on Channel 9.

Hugh Jackman is a World Vision Australia ambassador and supporter of its economic development program, SEE Solutions.  Blogger’s personal disclaimer: I am a director of World Vision Australia.

Also, Australia’s contribution to MDG 8.

Following my day visiting St Michael’s Collegiate School, the Chaplain wrote some reflections in the School Magazine,

 The Students’ questions ranged from, How old are you? and Do you like chocolate more than ice-cream or ice-cream more than chocolate? to How do you become a Bishop? and Who made God?

 The Bishop explained to both a year 6 and year 9 class (both of whom are currently studying world religions) three reasons why he regularly travels Tasmanian teaching people about Islam in sessions entitled Understanding Your Muslim Neighbour. Firstly, Bishop John argues, it is impossible to fully love your neighbour (as Jesus demands we do) if you do not understand their core beliefs and customs. Secondly, John sees benefits in Christians understanding where Christianity is similar to Islam and where it is different – thus providing points of connection to encourage and promote respectful dialogue across these two faiths. Thirdly, as the world’s youngest major religion Islam has much to say in critique of Christianity and Jesus and, Bishop John argues, knowledge of what Islam says about Christian beliefs can help promote critical and beneficial reflection on our own faith position – what is the basis for believing what we do about life, Jesus, God etc.?

 Whatever your personal faith position may I encourage you to learn more about the beliefs and faith of others so that you may more fully understand, connect with and love your neighbours – whoever they may be.

The Weekend Australian carried Piers Paul Read’s article on the apparent absence of guilt from our 21st century consumer society with the heading ‘Has guilt gone out of fashion?’. 

Guilt, as all right-minded people know, is the unpleasant feeling that one has done something wrong. The source of this feeling, clearly, is one’s conscience. But how is one’s conscience formed?
Cardinal Newman believed that God wired the human conscience, making right and wrong the same in any time or place. His, however, is now a minority view. 

Gone, then, from our collective consciousness is not just the vengeful God of the Old Testament, or the gentler but still judgmental Jesus. Now an anarchic libido is all the rage.
 So. Go for it! But go for what? What constitutes enjoyment of life? Eating, drinking and making merry? Wine, women and song? 

Does that mean that our society is guilt-free? Quite the contrary, there is a new list of seven deadly sins  –  racism, misogyny, homophobia, elitism, smoking, obesity, religious belief. These are the things that induce not just guilt but an inner anxiety that one might be a sinner without knowing it, like the carrier of a disease.  …  

What is a racist? … Who makes these judgments? Who are the high priests of this new religion? Is The Guardian the Pravda of political correctness? How are we to learn the new rules?

Guilt is still with us but, with moral relativism in the ascendant, there is no Bible or catechism to consult to inform one’s conscience, and no confessional where we can be absolved for the things we have done wrong.

We have cut ourselves adrift from a coherent ethic, whether it is that of Aristotle or Aquinas. We look indulgently on our own individual transgressions, and reserve our feelings of guilt for things that happened in the past for which we were not responsible  –  slavery, the Holocaust  –  or for things where our own guilt is infinitesimal, such as poverty in Africa, global warming, the depletion of the world’s resources. We assuage it by buying low-energy lightbulbs and driving hybrid cars. That may save the planet. But will it save our souls? 

Read the original article here which appeared in the Daily Mail. I could not find it at the online Weekend Australian magazine. Interestingly the original article was titled ‘What the Mafia and Sex And The City can teach us about guilt’ and the Weekend Australian ‘Has guilt gone out of fashion?‘. In deciding on these titles, I wonder at the cultural analysis done by the sub-editors?

We have been spending a few days on the Tasman Peninsula and have visited the Port Arthur historic convict precinct on a number of occasions.

On a site tour our excellent guide, Mark, described the thinking that shaped the convict penal settlement. Jeremy Bentham was the English penal reformer who believed a model penal settlement was ‘a machine for grinding rogues into honest men’. This reformer’s thinking determined five key aspects of penal life:

• classification and separation
• discipline and control/punishment
• architecture and the built environment
• moral formation: religion, education and training
• it’s all about money! (financial resourcing)

I expect these five aspects are still important but the ways in which they are carried out by today’s penal/corrective services differ significantly from those of Port Arthur’s days. See for example, Corrective Services, Tasmania.

At a general level, the issue of restoration/rehabilitation of relationships in all areas of our community life are a vital issue for us in 21st century Australian society.

I have recently attended a PeaceWise course on conflict resolution and for a new reforming model of restorative justice within a school context see, Restorative ways of healing and living healthy relationships. Never forgetting Christ’s offer of forgiveness with God and one another, Healing through forgiveness.