Bishop John

 Religion may influence doctors’ end-of-life care. Full BBC News article here. 

  Guidelines stress doctors should discuss treatment with their patients

Doctors with religious beliefs are less likely to take decisions which could hasten the death of those who are terminally ill, a study suggests.

The survey of nearly 4,000 doctors found those with a strong faith were also less likely to discuss end-of-life treatment options with their patient.

The London University research urges greater acknowledgement of how beliefs influence care.

And the Guardian reports on the same research with a somewhat more confrontational heading here, Atheist doctors ‘more likely to hasten death’

Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely as those with deeply religious beliefs to take decisions that might shorten a terminally-ill patient’s life, according to research.

See the research article at Journal of Medical Ethics:    

The August issue of the Tasmanian Anglican focused on my people@prayer Pilgrimage around Tasmania during the months of June and July.

Wow! What a couple of months it has been. I have enjoyed immensely travelling around this beautiful state of Tasmania, praying with people, praying for people, being prayed for, fellowshipping, swapping stories and eating! …I have been truly blessed and encouraged by the people with whom I have gathered and shared and prayed…Although the Prayer Pilgrimage is over, our pilgrimage as Christians is not over, and being people @ prayer is definitely not over. As I said at Synod, we are Christ’s pilgrim people. What joy! PTL!…Be encouraged, keep the faith, and keep praying.

Also included are some photos of the places I visited, as well as the people I shared with on this journey and their comments. 

 Thank you for your prayer pilgrimage visit to Edge. It is a wonderful gift to our diocese (and state) for us to meet with you in prayer. We believe the blessings from your desire to gather our communities of faith together in prayer will continue to flow outwards like ripples in a pond. The way you led us all was beautiful and very engaging. – Claremont

Thank you for joining in on our prayer walk recently through the Tamar Valley. We were truly blessed by your companionship, encouragement and prayers and we are eagerly anticipating seeing the fruits of all those prayers made in such joyful hope! – West Tamar

Read the rest of my article here.  Read Your thoughts on the Pilgrimage here and here, and read Celebrating the Prayer Pilgrimage here.

The August issue of the Tasmanian Anglican can be read here.

Suffering with ET (Election Stress)? Feeling anxious as we await the outcome of today’s Australian Federal election? Did you vote correctly? For the right candidate? Who will win? Don’t stress out. Help is at hand. Science shines light on the answer: think about God! Yes, really.  🙂

Thinking about God may make you less upset about making errors, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers measured brain waves for a particular kind of distress-response while participants made mistakes on a test. Those who had been prepared with religious thoughts had a less prominent response to mistakes than those who hadn’t.

At the recent PeaceWise training on conflict resolution I had recourse to my memory verses,  Proverbs 3:5, 6 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  These Bible verses have comforted and enlivened my walk with God when things have been tough. Sounds like trusting in God is helpful to others also. Now, should I be surprised at that?!

“Thinking about religion makes you calm under fire. It makes you less distressed when you’ve made an error,” says Inzlicht. “We think this can help us understand some of the really interesting findings about people who are religious. Although not unequivocal, there is some evidence that religious people live longer and they tend to be happier and healthier.”

 Election Stress? – Trust in God.  🙂

Full article in Science Daily, Brain Study Shows That Thinking About God Reduces Distress — But Only for Believers

There is an old saying that “there is no rest for the wicked.” But how about, “there is no rest for the holy?”

God may have rested on the seventh day, but for a growing number of his ministers, there is more work- – and stress- – than ever, and less chance to unwind. This has led to all sorts of health problems among clergy, from a lack of exercise and a rise in obesity to problems of depression and substance abuse and all the many ills of modern life that pastors spend so much time helping their congregants tackle.

 David Gibson, Religion Reporter for Politics Daily, tackles this topic in his article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern. He raises three concerns:

 The congregation’s expectation of ministers. Some congregants have high expectations of the minister. They expect them to always be there when they need them.  

 There is a deep concern about stress. Rabbis today are expected to be the C.E.O. of the congregation and the spiritual guide, and to never be out of town if somebody dies. And reply instantly to every e-mail. – Rabbi Joel Meyers, former executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly.

The minister’s expectation of the minister. The minister has high expectations of him/herself, but ends up paying the price for this. In trying to be all things to all people they become unhealthy spiritually and physically, and in the end are no longer useful to their Church.

 The health of the minister. Ministers often eat on the run and the food is often unhealthy.  Functions they attend are likely to have food which is not always healthy, but the minister is expected to eat. Several Methodist preachers in the US told researchers from Duke Clergy Health Initiative “Doughnuts will be the death of me.”  [In Tasmania: Curried egg sandwiches!?]

 When surveys (in the US) show us that a high percentage of clergy are overweight or obese and that support groups are being set up for clergy who are suicidal, depressed or overwhelmed….that’s a warning sign, we need to respond and we need to act!!  

For ministers, the secret is for them to provide balance in their own life by:

1. Setting boundaries,
2. Taking care of themselves
3. Attending to their family
4. Sitting down to eat a healthy meal
5. Finding time to exercise or relax
6. Saying ‘NO’ to some requests

 For the congregation, they need to:

1. Remember that ministers are not super-human
2. Remember that ministers are not available 24/7 and are entitled to dinner time, holidays etc.
3. Encourage their ministers to take time off
4. Not view everything in the church as the minister’s responsibility
5. Provide healthy food at church events
6. Support their ministers not only by praying for them, but helping where there is a need.
   

“Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.” (GOD’S WORD Translation 1995)

 Read the article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern.   See also Clergy Burn-Out, Helping Ministers and Ministry Burnout Syndrome.

Article ‘Bring me my burqa!’ with plenty of comments (67 at 15/8) when Michael Jensen calls for burqa wearing to show solidarity with muslim women who wear burqas. Is this a prophetic declaration of freedom for religious expression or an act of  ???  As for me: “Count me in, Michael!”

The governments of Europe are attacking the burqa ostensibly because they feel it is an affront to secular liberal values, most especially those to do with women’s rights. They claim that a woman wearing a burqa is not representative of the freedom of women to express themselves as they choose. The double-standards abound, of course: no-one seems to bother asking the woman under the burqa why she is wearing it. Or at least, it is assumed that such a woman does not have an opinion worth hearing, so oppressed by her husband and her culture is she.

It’s an appalling contravention of the allegedly fundamental liberal values of free speech and tolerance. And shows secular liberalism for what it is – a highly ideological agenda whose supposed neutrality is merely a ruse for the achievement of the aims of its proponents. It’s an old style playground bully, but it works by pretending to be the head prefect. The burqa is an easy target – the estimates are that maybe 1900 women wear one in all of France – but the message is clear: the liberal democratic state will not tolerate that which it deems to be ‘religious extremism’, even when it is as harmless as the wearing of a garment.

So why is Fred Nile attempting to ramp up secular feeling against a religious group in order to achieve his ends – which are to secure the Christian character of Australia? This is suicidal, it seems to me. By strengthening the secular hand against religious and cultural freedom of expression in this country, we are only making the possibility that the state may move against its Christian citizens more likely.

So: who will join me in donning a burqa in the name of religious freedom?

See Bring me my burqa!  I agree with Michael Jensen that a burqa ban is bad news: Belgium burqa ban is Bad.