Author: Peter Hallett

Aid attack makes Micah’s voices all the more important

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Just a few weeks out from Micah Challenge’s Voices of Justice conference, News Ltd publications such as The Daily Telegraph are carrying a story questioning the Australian Government’s overseas aid commitment due to alleged rorting of payments.

The article begins: ‘Australia’s foreign aid program is under siege after revelations tens of millions of dollars are being wasted on mega-salaries for consultants and rich contracts for private firms. An extensive investigation revealed a lucrative foreign aid “industry”, raising questions on the Rudd Government’s decision to double funding to $8 billion-plus a year.’

The main issue raised by ‘aid experts’ is the payment of extremely high salaries to a variety of consultants. Examples listed include a senior justice adviser to East Timor receiving $757,960 tax-free paid out of Australia’s aid budget for a two-year contract. Read More »

God drives the bus to his own defence

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God gave a clue to his reality during our bus trip to the ‘In defence of God’ session of the Sydney Writer’s festival today (May 23).

Running late due to bus delays, we were worried about missing the session until our bus driver got lost in the Rocks and pulled over randomly to let us out – right in front of our destination, Sydney Theatre, instead of the actual bus stop two streets away! God is providential, generous and has a sense of humour…

As we gathered with the unfaithful – the session was chaired by an atheist and featured a lapsed Episcopalian – we found we had more in common with the other speaker, the Iranian-American author and scholar, Reza Aslan.

While Eric Lax, author of Faith Interrupted, lamented his fall from faith (I believe he’ll be back though), Aslan launched an attack against the new atheists. He described their behaviour as being as fundamentalist as some of the religious people they hate. He also reminded the audience that despite a century of violent secularism, the number of religious adherents  had risen from half to two thirds of the global population.

Aslan was challenged by a few questioners but was able to mount a good defence for God before the brief question section was wound up. He even began his talk by referring to the blogs that had questioned why an atheist, lapsed Episcopalian and Muslim were leading this session, with no Christian authors present. I take it from this, that he has read Utterance!

In the long run, however, there was inability of all panelists to consider a God who is a personal, tangible reality in our lives with the chair Louise Adler asking for a more concrete definition of faith and God. It wasn’t forthcoming and this was because no one had been invited to speak who actually believes in God this way. It was a timely reminder that atheists and agnostics are searching for something to lovingly but powerfully challenge their unbelief.

A good place to start might be to invite New York minister and author Timothy Keller to next year’s Sydney Writer’s Festival. In the meantime, read his book, The Reason For God – Belief in the age of Scepticism. PH

Listen to a short section of Reza Aslan’s defence of God:

Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan.mp3
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Running with Jesus to provide Bibles for schools

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While the battle lines have been drawn over Special Religious Education in NSW public schools, the Bible Society has uncovered a desperate need for Bibles in SRE classes across the state.

Earlier this year the Bible Society sent out a notice to public school scripture teachers in NSW and ACT, inviting requests for Bibles. Anticipating a need for about 10,000 Bibles, the society was instead inundated with requests for 70,000!

‘The few Bibles I have are old, torn and falling apart,’ says Rebecca Mawhinney who teaches scripture at a school with 1,000 students at Beverley Hills.

‘I bring my daughter’s Bible to my class and leave it with them – 23 children have to share it to have a look,’ says Rev Karen Jansson from Stockton.

In response to this need, the Bible Society has joined up with the Jesus All About Life campaign and under the ‘Big Rescue’ banner will field runners in this year’s City to Surf on August 8 to raise sponsorship dollars so they can meet the call for Bibles in schools.

Christians and interested people are urged sign up as City to Surf runners and then visit the fund-raising website Towards the Goal and register individually or as a team. Last year 1200 runners raised $30,000 for the Bible Society and this year they are hoping for 2000 runners to raise at least $60,000.

I am personally considering signing up for the City to Surf so I can help raise funds for Bibles. As it has been some time since I’ve done any running, I need to work out whether this is even humanly possible! Encouragement and promises of sponsorship might just push me over the line… PH

Parents encouraged to switch from scripture

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Trial ethic classes competing with Special Religious Education (SRE) in 10 NSW Schools appear to have caused a drop in SRE attendance of between 30 and 70 percent.

Suburban schools such as Hurstville and Baulkham Hills North are at the higher end of these figures with the explanation that parents at inner city schools had long before withdrawn their children from scripture, while in the suburbs it is a new phenomenon.

As an aside, this is another example of how the intellectualism and ideas of the inner city filter through to the rest of society, by one means or another. This is a good reason for the existence of strong, robust, authentic inner city churches that engage intelligently with their community. Not surprisingly, seven of the 1o schools in the trial are in the inner city with three of these in the electorate of Balmain whose local member is Education Minister Verity Firth.

Bishop of South Sydney, Rob Forsyth, said he was ‘not surprised’ by the result, saying it proves that the ethics classes will be far more contentious in the suburbs than in the inner-city.

‘It proves that the P&C and St James Ethics Centre were wrong when they claimed they were merely providing an alternative to SRE for non-religious parents. This course is genuine competition for SRE. We are losing parents who claim to be Christians but are somewhat ambivalent and easily swayed by the directions given by school authorities,’ Bishop Forsyth told Anglican Media.

He said his most substantive concern is that the Department of Education has been using its authority to encourage parents to ditch Christian SRE in order to recruit more students for the ethics classes.

Read More »

Jesus keeps buzzing around

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Waiting to cross Parramatta Rd, I innocently checked the posters for upcoming bands at the Annandale Hotel.

Tucked away as support band for The Meanies is the triune named Stumblin Jesus Mosquito.

Last week it was Jesus as a giraffe in a contemporary art exhibition, this week… I’m not quite sure…

And then while trying to work out who the Stumblin Jesus Mosquitoes are (rumour says it’s the Wollongong band, Tumbleweed, incognito) I came across an ad for an album by Brisbane band, Violent Soho. The album title – Jesus Stole My Girlfriend (probably not a bad result).

Deep into underground band territory, it’s comforting to find that Jesus is still omnipresent. Just as well he is unconditional in his love as well. PH

No surprise that churches asked to house asylum seekers

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While trendy inner city secularism ardently tries to remove any trace of Christianity from Australian social fabric, it is no surprise that the government has turned to the church to house asylum seekers due to overcrowding.

With facilities at Christmas Island overflowing, Department of Immigration officials have been quietly calling churches to ask if they have facilities to house up to 100 children and families.

It highlights the uniqueness of the Christian Church: a grassroots organisation with branches in virtually every community in the nation consisting of local people of diverse backgrounds who are motivated by common bonds of love and compassion.

Guided by Christ’s parables such as The Good Samaritan and the sacrificial example of the Cross, Christians have throughout history stood out because of their willingness to offer aid to the poor and homeless and even their enemies.

While using the issue to criticise the government, Opposition Immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, could only speak charitably of the churches:

‘ I have no doubt that Christian churches will respond generously, which is their nature,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald. Read the full story here.

Maybe this is one more reason why trying to force out the teaching of Scripture in schools is wrong. It denies the real place of Christian values in our community. PH

Tobacco tax hits the poor hardest

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The increased cost of cigarettes is not just a tax or health issue, it is also one of justice and compassion.

The people hit hardest by the Rudd government’s 25 per cent increase on cigarettes, are the ones least able to afford it and the least able to choose the alternative – giving up.

There is little sympathy for smokers when tobacco is slugged with new taxes, the common cry being, ‘let them give up’.

But if you have grown up with smoking from before birth, had every significant person in your life as a smoker and if you have beaten off various other addictions with only nicotine to beat, that cry is offensive and simplistic. Add to this list social isolation, unemployment, mental illness, poverty and violence, and you might understand better why telling people to ‘just give up’ is not good enough.

I know many people who have, over a long period of time, beaten serious addictions, usually well after these addictions have destroyed their life. In almost every case, smoking is the one thing they cannot overcome.

When you live on a disability pension or minimum wage, are locked into nicotine addiction and with no sensible access to support for quitting, a new tobacco tax may as well be an arbitrary fine levied on you – just for being alive.

That’s why I’m urging support for independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon’s call to other Senators to block the Government’s recent tax hike on cigarettes unless more money raised from the tax is put towards helping smokers quit.

While the tax has already been introduced, it must be ratified by the Senate within 12 months. Senator Xenophon would like to see subsidies for nicotine patches, money for counselling services and more spending on health awareness campaigns.

‘My plea to the Government, to the Opposition, to my colleagues on the cross benches, is that just a little more money – in the vicinity of $100 million over the next four years, two per cent of this increase – could go a long way in assisting people to quit smoking for the Government to achieve its targets,’ he said.

So come on Mr Rudd, Mr Abbott, Mr Brown and Mr Fielding – do something for the least in our society to take another step towards a decent life.

If you put these resources in my hands, I’ll make sure those that really need them get the chance to give up and be free of this destructive habit. PH

Get the jump on hairy panic

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It used to be the respectfully named Umbrella Grass that rolled in on a westerly wind and stacked up against farm houses like a dusty, dry dump of snow.

But a new wispy villain is covering the land, and it’s a grass aptly known as Hairy Panic. While there is some evidence that its seeds were collected and ground for food by the Wemba Wemba people of the Murray River, today it is better known for covering houses and highways and giving over-indulgent sheep the often fatal Yellow Bighead disease – no further details necessary!

Enjoying the west of NSW for a few days, scenes such as the one pictured above are commonplace. And while rural NSW has experienced the best start to a growing season for years, it has now been some time since the refreshing rains earlier in the year and perhaps there is just the first itching of the old hairy panic creeping in for some farmers.

When a big part of the success of what you do is completely outside your control, panic can quite easily roll over your life, cover familiar landmarks and stow away in hidden corners.

Of course, city folk are just as prone to the hairiness of panic and all of us often respond by strictly controlling what we can to help us cope with what we can’t.

Another option is a spiritual and emotional trampoline to put our feet above the panic and provide the joy and freedom of trampling on our hairy foe.

Faith in God is many things and it may just be the trampoline we need to jump-start an overcoming of panic, anxiety and worry, making it small and opening up the sky to hope and possibility. PH

Political leaders to address Christians across the nation

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If your ear is aching, it probably has more to do with a fast approaching federal election than the onset of winter.

But don’t give up now – it’s time to cut through the wordfest and consider seriously how Christians should act as the nation decides its immediate future. If you are passionate about issues ranging from R-rated games to refugees, millenium goals to marriage support – you need to keep your ears and eyes open!

An excellent opportunity to do this has been organised by Australian Christian Lobby who have confirmed June 21 as the date for the Make It Count election webcast. 

Make it Count 2010 will see Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott address Christians and answer questions from Christian leaders in a live webcast to churches throughout Australia from Canberra’s Old Parliament House.

A similar event held before the 2007 federal election saw John Howard and Kevin Rudd address 100,000 Christians meeting at 846 churches across Australia.

ALC hopes to triple those numbers in 2010 – to register your church visit  www.australiavotes.org . PH

Resurrection or the spider web

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The offer is resurrection. The cost is everything. The alternative is a different kind of more of the same; a spider web of possibility in which the more you struggle the less you become.
The worse thing you can do is choose comatose and linger on in a half life, rallying your machines to stave of the change that matters. Death in all its living forms is never easy, we find life just so ingrained.
If there was another way, He would have said so. He searched for it in the garden, but found what He knew already, ‘Unless a seed…’.
You and I know it too but pride and fear gather in shadows around our thinking, fighting hard for they would die also. Be done with the troublesome pair!
Death is not disappearance. He doesn’t want us vanished any more than veneered. It is, in life, a complete laying down, patiently done, in readiness for a magnificent bestowal, undeserved but gratefully and gradually received.
It will take the ‘right to say I’m wrong’ and the ‘weak to say I’m strong’, but either way, today might just be the right time… for our resurrection (‘back where we belong’). PH

Another falling person in Lambert St

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P: ‘He was tall and thin with black fuzzy hair.’

C: ‘That’s right, his name was Hawk and he was visiting someone on the ninth floor.’

He didn’t fly like a hawk this time, unfortunately

P2: ‘You know he drove to the flats before jumping. Who does that, drives somewhere to jump?’

Too many

Read More »

Jesus brought into climate change debate

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Tony Abbott is in trouble for telling Adelaide school students on Friday that the climate was warmer ‘at the time of Julius Caesar and Jesus of Nazareth’ than now. Scientists have retaliated by saying there is no evidence to suggest it was hotter 2000 years ago.

The president of the Australian Academy of Science, Professor Kurt Lambeck, said true scepticism was fine, but required looking at published data with an open mind.

‘To make these glib statements to school students, I think, is wrong. It’s not encouraging them to be sceptical, it’s encouraging them to accept unsubstantiated information.’

What is substantiated is the existence of Jesus. In fact, of the two historical figures mentioned by the Opposition leader, there is far more ancient documentary evidence for Jesus than Julius.

One ancient manuscript that helps attest to the accuracy of the New Testament and reality of Jesus - the Magdalen Papyrus (P64) now dated at sometime between 30 and 70 AD.

Typically, some of those commenting on this report (SMH) are doing exactly as Tony did when they ‘glibly’ dismiss the historicity of Jesus without considering the evidence.

Jesus is referred to in numerous ancient texts aside from the Bible.

Also, the New Testament itself is supported by more ancient manuscripts than most other texts from that era which we are happy to accept as being accurate. Check it out for yourself:

Jesus, archeology, theology and the Bible
Ancient New Testament Manuscripts
Historical references to Jesus aside from the Bible  PH

Fairer chocolate and quicker check ins!

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Catching up: I had my first enjoyable taste of Fairtrade Cadbury’s chocolate today.

Cadbury’s hoped to have all their chocolate in Australia and New Zealand certified by Easter and I have finally caught up on Mother’s Day (thanks Aud!).

The move by Cadbury’s in Australia and New Zealand to seek Fair Trade certification is expected to triple the volume of Fairtrade certified product currently sold. It will mean that farmers in Ghana, where Cadbury’s source their cocoa, will benefit from a guaranteed minimum price (or higher) for their cocoa. This could result in an additional AU$500,000 for these communities. Well done Cadbury’s! Let’s hope that other mainstream chocolate-makers do the same.

Forging ahead: I had the pleasure of startling flight attendants on Friday when I was an early adopter of mobile phone check-ins.

Sitting in my motel room late Thursday evening, I was wondering how I could do an early on-line check-in without access to a printer. Right at that moment (there is a God!) I got a marketing email from Virgin Blue, announcing they had just begun mobile phone check-ins. I quickly visited their site, received a SMS a link to a bar-code which displayed on my phone. This was later scanned at the departure gate, allowing me to board the plane.

Staff were suitably impressed and I did my best to look like I’d being doing such things all my life. However I was so sleep deprived that when one attendant asked me how the mobile process had gone, I spoke two strange non-words, convincing her, I think, that I spoke only Czechoslovakian. My moment of technological dominance was dashed to the tarmac. Nevertheless, it was very convenient. Well done Virgin Blue. PH

Giraffe art for Jesus’ sake

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Christian themes and characters dominate classical European art. Think The Last Supper, Madonna and Child and a thousand other amazing images. And while the treatment and frequency of Christian themes may have changed, artists of all kinds still find themselves returning to the universal impact of the Christ narrative.

A recent example is Jaye Early’s Giraffe Jesus (pictured) which featured at the recent opening of Monstrosity Gallery.

Perhaps he drew his inspiration from the oddly (some would say blasphemously) named ‘Jesus was actually a giraffe’ Facebook page which suitably has a meagre 24 followers. (Jesus has a couple of billion more…)

What this shows, once again, is that whether you are Madonna, or Lady Ga Ga or Salvador Dali or some attention seeker on Facebook, Jesus cannot be ignored. As a result, his name and story are often used for ulterior motives – artistic attempts are the least of our worries in that regard.

So before we feel too much heat about a young artist depicting Jesus as a giraffe, let’s be glad that Jesus is still being discussed and worry more about how we portray Jesus in our daily lives. 

As for Monstrosity Gallery, it is a new contemporary art space ‘nestled between debauched Kings Cross, beautiful Woolloomooloo Bay, and Sydney’s CBD, just 4 minutes walk from the world-famous Art Gallery of NSW’.

‘We are dedicated to championing the cause of young emerging artists working in painting, sculpture, illustration, new media, photography, jewellery, wearables, installation, street art and everything else, by supporting them and bringing them to the attention of the general public.’

For the record, Jesus made giraffes, but is actually the Son of God. PH

Today is a metaphor

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Today is a metaphor…
I’m in transit. I’ve risen early while most still sleep. I’m tired. It was a late finish and an early start with little rest in between.
I’ve carefully packed my things, confident I haven’t forgotten anything. I’ve packed light, just the essentials, as I don’t want to be slowed down by baggage.
I scribble some farewells and leave them in the dark. They seem under done, but they are strong in my heart. Farewells can never really cover the intensity of longing, of love that comes with separations, with endings and awaited beginnings.
I creep outside with dawn still to approach and it’s cold. Not bitterly, but brisk. The freshness of morning breaks through my fatigue; the cool air and faint glimmer of light cast some hope on the day, despite the uncertainty of it.
The taxi arrives right on time and the older Vietnamese Australian driver calls me sir and says the meter is not working and would $35 be ok. I know that’s fair but I wonder if I’m actually in Denpasar or Shanghai or Trivandrum where I have worried about taxis without meters overcharging.
If I thought I had troubles, and I had been, the driver tells me he came here on a boat after the war in which most of his family died. ‘Everynight we go down in a cave because of bombing,’ he says with a clipped accent. ‘Most of my family died in a cave when bombing dropped on top.’ He suddenly grabs his throat with his hand and groans, ‘Ah I don’t want to remember this, it was long time ago.’
There is much to remember and to forget. We can’t choose our feelings but perhaps we can choose whether to live in them or allow them to recede, and move forward.
The decision to pack light pays off, allowing me to glide straight through to the departure gates.
Soon I’m seated on the plane but feel like I have been on automatic pilot, although I believe the plane has a real One. The seat beside me is empty and I realise many trips in life are taken alone, even when surrounded by many. The extra space can seem preferable but then I imagine my wife beside me, and I’m lonely.
Fatigue over takes as the journey continues, it seems I’m so tired that nothing can stir my enthusiasm.
But somewhere over the green blanket which is south east Australia, the ideas and thoughts begin flowing and suddenly I must write these thoughts down. Which I’m doing. Do we take note of those things that strangely move us? They say more about us than we often stop to recognise.
I’ve been to Melbourne airport many times but this arrival is unfamiliar, and so is my destination in Scoresby. Something new, and yet almost to my surprise, everything goes smoothly and I arrive safely. It seems I’m not as directionally challenged as I tend to believe about myself.

Love flows

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Fixed someone up with a new set of clothes
Managed not to step on gangrene toes
Helped two friends avoid coming to blows
Some conversation about nobody knows
Marvellous it is how God’s love flows
PH

God help us: Bali Nine pray

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Having sat on the floor in the steamy visiting room of Kerobokan Prison with Andrew Chan and others of the Bali 9, any news of their faith and well-being holds a special interest. While the media rarely comprehends their faith, or the nature of their ordeal, today’ s report in the Sydney Morning Herald gives some insight.

Christians in Bali (including workers from our own church) work hard to support the Bali 9 and Schapelle Corby. Please continue to pray for them. Check out today’s report: God help us: Bali Nine pray.

Noah’s Ark claims highlight shift in global church

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The Chinese-Turkish Noah's Ark team

Who claimed to find Noah’s Ark this week is almost as interesting as what they found.

The team is described as being led by ‘Chinese and Turkish evangelical Christians’. Neither country is renowned for freedoms given to evangelical Christians and yet here they are – exploring Mt Ararat, conducting press conferences and influencing Christian and world agendas.

It is a reminder of how the burden of Christian faith has moved from the west to the east. While the western church languishes in its past glory, the churches of Asia and even the Middle East are rapidly growing, fiercely faithful and increasingly see their mission to the world. But that’s a blog for another day. What of Noah’s Ark?

Christians are understandably nervous of mention of Noah’s Ark discoveries as the world’s press and scientific communities love nothing more than to pour scorn on poorly researched and prematurely declared discoveries. Perhaps the journalists and scientists are so ready to pounce because if a valid, scientifically-sound discovery is reported, they will all be forced back to their Bibles…

It is early days for this latest claim and Christians are among those that are wary of it.

In case you missed it, a Chinese-Turkish team from Noah’s Ark Ministries International held a press conference on April 25 in Hong Kong to present their findings and say they were “99 percent sure” that pieces of wood found at above 4,000 metres elevation and dated as 4,800 years old were from the biblical Noah’s ark. Read More »

‘I was born blind… because he love me so’

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Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu’s album, Gurrumul, is one of the most significant Australian recordings of recent times.

Blind since birth, he plays right-handed strung guitars left handed and sings with a clear, pure voice in Gälpu, Gumatj, Djambarrpuynu and English.

Also known as Gudjuk, he is from the Gumatj nation, his mother from the Gälpu nation, first nations peoples from North East Arnhemland.

Listening to the album again today, these words encouraged me from the song Gurrumul History:

‘I was born blind, and I don’t know why
God knows why, because he loves me so
as I grew up, my spirit knew…’

Gurrumul hopes that ‘Yolngu people enjoy and celebrate these songs forever, and Balanda (non-indigenous) not only enjoy but learn from them.’ PH