HERD IMMUNITY AND THE COMMON GOOD
Part 1 in a series of 6 blogs navigating the issues around vaccinationsChristians are committed to health! Of course, we live with the reality of sickness and death, but healing was central to Christ’s ministry. His healings showed that the kingdom which he was bringing would mean restoration and the end of death and pain and suffering. Jesus’...
Health Disparity and Social Justice
Part 4 in the series navigating the issues around vaccinationsAll around the world - in countries with both high and low incomes - we’ve seen significant progress in health care, quality of life and life expectancy. Vaccines have played a substantial part in this. Yet despite these successes, approximately 6.6 million children still die each...
CHRISTIANITY EVERYDAY SEMINARS – VIDEOS, PRESENTATIONS FROM THE VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
Here is a selection of resources from three Christianity Everyday Online seminars held in June and July JUNE 10 COVID-19 VIDEO EXPLAINER GS&C Christianity Everyday presenter PROFESSOR NALINI PATHER has produced this video to help us understand more about Covid-19. Click here.JUNE 24 THE PROBLEM WITH EVILWhy do bad things...
Prayer During The Pandemic
JOHN McCLEAN writes that prayer is a great way to love our world and care for friends. If you are like me, you have probably felt a bit helpless in the last few weeks. You may be feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the current pandemic, by the constant disturbing news and the terrifying predictions. On top of all this, while the best response to...
Church and Meeting
Are we a church if we aren’t meeting? In the strange time of the COVID 19 pandemic, churches have suddenly stopped meeting, and are facing that as a continued pattern in the medium term. This raises a question with practical implications. JOHN McCLEAN writes. Are we a church if we are not meeting? This might seem an odd question, so it is worth...
What homeschooling has taught me about kids and God
As parents around Australia consider the practicalities of what it could mean for schools to close and their children's education to continue under their own roofs, AMY BUTLER paused to reflect on the thing she treasures most about having her kids around 24/7. My kids range from ages 15 to 6. My husband and I decided to educate them at home the...
The Hidden Crisis: COVID-19 and Modern Slavery
Modern slavery is growing because of Covid-19. But it’s not just a developing world problem – it’s also here. KARINE WOLDHUIS* writes.COVID has had a devastating impact all around the world. While Australia moves into the next phase of easing restrictions, the crisis continues to unfold across the Majority World. As the months roll by the...
Marriage, Work and Covid-19
SHERYL SARKOEZY, the researcher and writer for GSC, is married to STEVE. Here are her reflections on working and living together in COVID ‘lockdown’. Steve has contributed to the reflections, as well as the experience! Like most couples we spend much of our week apart. Work is work, and marriage is part of ‘home’. As we plan for “retirement” we...
MEDIA – HOW TO NAVIGATE TREACHEROUS WATERS
Covid-19, last year's bushfires, floods and the compelling US elections have put media into high relief. Criticism of new and old media has intensified as the big issues continue to unfold. Distrust of media has always existed, sometimes justified but often not. Today, with a mind-boggling array of sources, the word 'media' is a catch-all that is...
COVID-19 – WHO’S TO BLAME?
AMY BUTLER takes a Christian view of the Covid-19 blame game Should blame for the coronavirus be squarely cast at China's feet? That’s one relatively popular view. It seems to lie behind some appalling racist incidents in Australia. We want to blame someone. That seems to be a very common impulse because it exonerates us. It also gives a sense of...
COVIDSafe: Contact tracing for the pandemic
On April 26th, the Australian Federal Government released COVIDSafe, a contact tracing App for smart phones. The App aims to help State and Territory health officials trace the contacts of people who test positive for COVID-19. It won’t replace the current manual process of contact tracing, but will supplement it and speed it up. The Health...
MEDIA: THE PERSONAL IMPACT
In this, the fourth in a series, journalist PETER CHRISTOPHER looks at why it’s hard to avoid 24/7 crisis coverage and its impact on you. New media impacts us personally. Droughts, bushfires, floods and Covid-19 have assaulted our emotions with what seems like an uninterrupted coverage of disaster. Thanks to the convergence of new media and...
MEDIA – HOW WE ARRIVED AT THIS PLACE
THIS is the third in a series of articles aimed at helping you navigate the good and the bad about new media. The first two gave advice on what to watch out for and the implications of careless use. This one aims to put some context into new media world by explaining how we’ve arrived at a place that can be divisive and angry, particularly in the...
MEDIA – MIND YOUR REPUTATION AND INTEGRITY
In the first blog on the new media, I offered some general and practical advice on how to engage with media responsibly. In this second blog I’m looking at personal issues – your reputation and credibility, for example. I’ll start with a reminder from the first blog that using social media makes you a reporter, sub-editor, editor, commentator...
MEDIA – USE IT WELL, AVOID THE PITFALLS
The new media universe is a high-risk place for the poorly prepared. COVID-19, climate change wars and vexatious politics have exposed the new media's flaws. The ‘democratisation’ of news and information has produced an overwhelming volume of unmoderated content. Many people are choosing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as their...
RUSH TO LEGALISE ABORTION IN NSW
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in NSW, Richard Keith, has issued this press release expressing concern about the proposed Abortion Bill http://gsandc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Media-release-19.07.30-Abortion-Bill-1.pdf
ACTION: What you can do
This week is a crucial one for protecting unborn children in our state. Richard Keith has sent a call to action to all Presbyterian churches in NSW. Click here Call to action FINAL. We encourage you to read it, share it and act.
ABORTION Resource Paper
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: Call to Action
The Moderator of the Australian Presbyterian Church, John Wilson, has written to all congregations in a call to action over the religious Freedom. Read his letter here http://gsandc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Moderator-PC-Religious-freedom.pdf
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: another perspective
To get some perspective on our concerns about religious freedom here in Australia – here’s an insight into what Pakistani Christians face every day. LifeSiteNews.com
Engaging with Culture
“If morality is uniquely Christian, then “engaging the culture” is a fool’s errand. … But if right and wrong are intelligible concepts to the unbeliever—concepts the unbeliever is responsible for ignoring … then Christians have something to do with this world.” BreakPoint
Education and Work
What is the meaning & purpose of education and employment? Contemporary Western culture takes for granted that it is all about yourself – self-expression and self-fulfilment. In contrast, the Christian concept of “vocation” views work as self-donation. How can you invest in this world to make things better? Click here for JOSEPH...
POPULATION GROWTH: Good or bad?
This is an informative article from The Guardian. It uses population growth & decline as a way of analysing the effects of global wealth and development, particularly with ref urbanisation, independence, and individualism. “Population decline is [by itself neither] a good thing or a bad thing. But it is a big thing. It’s time to look it in...
Pagans vs Christians
This Public Discourse article https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2019/02/48418/?fbclid=IwAR0q9Ngc3GevFHNAFcUxRd6y1Eh6RzWCSjfCuBotoV2aLE1LTLnwxwXhT9I argues that contemporary social progressivism is actually a quasi-religion, returning to “ancient [pagan] sources of meaning, as part of an effort to re-sacralize the world.” This explains their...
Ignoring Religion: The consequences
From approximately the sexual revolution of the 1960s onwards, Western culture has assumed that we can achieve the ‘good’ life while ignoring not only religion, but increasingly character and virtue. David Brooks of the The New York Times shows us the consequences.