Bishop John

Returning from North West Tasmania last Sunday evening I listened to a very good interview of Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, by Monica Attard on the  vexed question of the “Christian vote”. The whole interview is well worth listening to. The following excerpt sets out some parameters in Christian reflection on the platforms of the two major parties – but please read this in the larger context of this non-partisan interview 🙂

Monica Attard: Robert Forsythe, a senior bishop in Sydney, is quoted as saying that Gillard is a “good model for religious freedom”, who most importantly has a clear belief in right and wrong.

 You would agree with that; that she is a good model for religious freedom?

 Peter Jensen: Yes. I believe she is, although both parties have a central platform which is attractive to Christians in different ways.

 On the left side of politics there is a commitment to community, going back historically, which is very attractive to Christians, and what you may call social justice, though I question the name.

 But on the right side there’s a commitment to what you may call individualism, but individual responsibility, taking responsibility for community, that again is attractive to Christians and comes out of a Christian ethos.

 Go further on both sides, however; on the further left of the Labor Party you get a commitment which is a bit like the French Revolution. It’s a revolutionary commitment to civil rights, some of which are unattractive to many Christians.

 And on the right of the Liberal Party you get a commitment to individual freedom without responsibility, which is unattractive to Christians.

 So Christians can quite easily vote across the range and for either party while being very disturbed about any sign on either side that the more – I’ll say extreme views – are gaining prominence.

  Audio and Transcript are available at ABC RN ‘Sunday Profile’ with Monica Attard 8 August 2010.  Also see, A “Christian vote”?

UNBROKEN cloud and rain last night did not delay Ramadan 1431 in the Islamic calendar for Melbourne’s Muslims today, as hundreds of eagle-eyed Muslims around the country took to good vantage points to spot the crescent moon.

The holy month of fasting begins only after sighting of the new moon is confirmed. In days before mass communication, a cloudy evening would be declared ”a day of doubt” and fasting deferred.

See Crescent moon rises for Muslims to begin fasting (Melbourne) and from Aljazeera, Muslims begin Ramadan observance.

A good explanation of Ramadan includes A Challenge for Christians:

Ramadan is a challenge to Christians. It challenges our lack of discipline, especially in prayer and fasting. It challenges us with the fact that so few Muslims have become followers of Jesus. It is also an extremely strategic time for us as Christians to believe that God would sovereignly reveal Himself to those who do not yet know Him.

Christians pray for Muslims: info  30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World using the 30 Days 2010 Prayer Booklet.  

Also Muslim and Christian Prayer at Ramadan.

Is faith, “believing what you want to believe, yet cannot prove?”

Michael Ramsden, the author of “Faith is …”, writes,

Sadly, many people, including some Christians, live with this definition of faith.

Suppose you tell a friend that you have faith in her. What does that mean? It means two things. First, you are sure the person you are talking to actually exists.  And second, you are convinced she is trustworthy; you can believe what she says and trust in her character.

It is in this way that the writer of Hebrews talks about faith in God. Faith is knowing that God is real and that you can trust in his promises.

Michael concludes the article with a challenge to be real and honest as Christians, and to grow in our relationship with a real and true God.

The Christian gospel invites you to delve into reality. It commands you to be honest in your commitment to know that which is true. Is Jesus real? Who did he claim to be? Is he really alive today? Faith comes in response to knowing the answers to these questions, even as Christ is calling you near. But don’t stop after the initial introductions! Just as you are able to put more trust in other people as you grow to know them, so faith increases as you grow in your relationship with Christ. There is a God who is real and true, and He is calling you unto Himself. The great joy of the Christian faith is found in the person who invites us to trust and believe.

I affirm this emphasis on faith being placed in a person: the person of Christ. The Gospel is Good News about persons in relationship: ourselves and Christ. Perhaps Anselm’s phrase to describe Christian exploration of faith, ‘Faith seeking understanding’ can be adapted to ‘Faith deepening relationship’?

How do you go about describing your faith?

Michael Ramsden is Joint Director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics and European Director of RZIM (UK). Read his, “Faith Is…,”  on page 10 of Newsletter (Trinity Term 2010) from Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

[Anselm lived from 1033-1109 and was Archbishop of Canterbury.]

The National Church Life Survey conducted in 2006 (by Ruth Powell, Michael Brady, Michael Pippett, Sam Sterland along with the NCLS Research team) amongst rural churches in Australia has produced some interesting results:

42% of the churches were in rural settings

survey forms were completed by 114,340 rural church attenders

more than half of all rural churches were Anglican or Uniting

most of the rural churches were in small or medium sized towns

decline of churches in rural communities was named as a key issue

over 60% of rural churches have regular congregations of less than 51 people

rural church attenders have an older age profile than urban church attenders

half of rural churches are led by a single ordained leader, 45% are led by a leadership team

65% of rural leaders have responsibility for multiple congregations

rural churches make up a considerable proportion of churches across the nation

My recent Prayer Pilgrimage throughout Tasmania bears testimony to these results for our rural parishes. 

See ‘Churches in Rural Settings’ for more survey results and articles. With thanks to James Collins.

Excellent overview of our State and Federal Governments’ addiction to pokies plus new research showing “increased gaming (on pokies) leads to increased crime”.

As numerous studies have already proven, including Anglicare Tasmania’s soul-searching report on gambling addiction “Nothing Left to Lose” early this year,  there is no disputing the social distress and financial damage caused by poker-machine addiction.

But what about the link between pokies and crime? A new Victorian study has found:

“strong and robust evidence” of a significant link between gaming expenditure and crime, in particular “income-generating” crimes such as theft, robbery, fraud and handling stolen goods.

only drug use or drug addiction had a stronger link to causing crime than poker machines.

“the causal relationship runs from increased gaming to increased crime, rather than the other way round.”

It followed earlier studies that have proved:

Adults spend more money on the pokies in poorer and less educated suburbs and towns.

Communities with a high rate of volunteering – and presumably a better community feel  have less money lost on poker machines.

More poker-machine venues and the more pokies per suburb results in more money spent per adult.

The response of Tasmanian, Victorian and Federal Governments is appalling.

Just last month, Treasurer Michael Aird claimed in parliamentary estimates hearings that it was impossible for the state to alone impose the $1 bet limit on poker machines recommended by the Productivity Commission to reduce losses by gamblers.

Yet the Federal Government has said it thinks the issue is one for the states to address.

 In this year’s State Budget Tasmania will receive $92million from gambling taxes from a total state taxation revenue base of $875million.

The federal Labor Party is complicit in the failure to tackle pokies spending and the corollary harm. It directly owns and runs four major club venues filled with pokies in Canberra, including the vast Canberra Labor Club with its 60,000 members.
The money they plough into poker machines is directly paying for some of the Labor Party’s lavish advertising during the current federal election.
Small wonder that so little is being done about the problem.

But if crime is directly related to poker machines vanquishing the oft-heard arguments by industry players that it is just another entertainment choice surely the State Government cannot twiddle its thumbs much longer? 

Are the police costs of tackling and  investigating crimes irrefutably caused by poker-machine addiction now outweighing the tax benefits returned by gambling to the state’s coffers?

Add in too the cost of caring for offenders who end up in jails because of their poker-machine addictions. Or children who end up in state care because of family breakdown caused  by uncontrolled gambling.
But even that simplistic financial cost-benefit  approach  ignores the endless pain and suffering to law-abiding citizens who have their homes broken into, their bags snatched or their faces bashed in a snap robbery because of  the lure of poker machines.
And it fails to even start to calculate the impact on society of broken marriages, lost jobs, child neglect, mental anguish and suicide.

See Buck the pokie habit by Sue Neales  and  Explosive report links pokies to jump in crime.