Creation - the movie...

This year, marked the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin - the man who is well known for perhaps the most controversial and influential scientific theory in modern history. In such a year, it is fitting that a movie has been made about his life and his discoveries. This movie is called "Creation".



The Damaris group have got involved in this and will be putting together some resources so that people can meaningfully engage in it and the big life questions that it might raise. Damaris are a good bunch. I really like the materials they put out. They are thoughtful and balanced and good for a broad audience. I hope the movie comes to Australia (Damaris is based in the UK). It would be great to see the creation / evolution relationship played out again this year. On and around his actual birthday earlier in the year, there were a number of articles, interviews, discussions etc about Darwin. I've included some of the ones I came across if you're interested:

• Darwin and Australia - Tom Frame (CPX)
  
• Darwin's Moral Compass - John Collee (The Australian)
• Origin of Darwin's Theory in Dispute - Jack Grimston (The Australian)
  

Shalom...

Go Therese, Go...

I was interested to read the article on Therese Rein (Mrs Kevin Rudd) in The Weekend Australian magazine over the weekend. In it, she talks about her Christian faith...

"When I went to university I really needed to sort this out for myself," she says. "At that point, I personally committed to Christ. It's fundamental to my calling, to my values, and there are two particular pieces of scripture that hsout to me from the rooftops. They are about freedom for the captive and recovery of sight for the blind. They are all about inclusion, being there to feed the hungry and house the homeless."

The report goes on... Her worship is not confined to Sunday services, which she attends regularly for communion and "some quite time for me". She prays often and she sings. "Faith is a living thing."

I was really encouraged by this. Rein is committed to causes like homelessness, indigenous literacy, disability, teenage mental health etc etc... This seems to fit with the verses that she has referred to above, where Jesus tells his listeners, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

In my mind, it also fits with someone who has really grasped the core of the message of the gospel of Jesus. She understands that in accepting Jesus for herself, she accepts living out the priorities of Jesus as the norm for her life. And being Australia's "first spouse", she is in a wonderful position to do some great things on his behalf.

In an earlier post entitled, "Muscular Christianity", I questioned whether it is possible for Christians to be in politics and maintain their integrity? I also asked why Christians in politics almost always seem to be promoting the rights of Christians to do things they want to do, rather than to use their power and influence for the benefit of the marginalised and disadvantaged? I also wondered why we don't ever hear about the "Christian left" in politics? Having read this article, I'm wondering if in Therese Rein, there is some kind of answer to all those questions... And not only Therese, but maybe in Kevin Rudd as well. I know he comes across a pompous nerd to many; a man who uses too many big words and chucks tantrums if his inflight meal is not as he likes it. But, he is also the one who insisted that the parliament apologise to the stolen generation; signed the Kyoto agreement; relaxed tough policies on asylum seekers, introduced social inclusion units into government departments, and sought to tackle a number of other important social issues as part of his government's priorities. This is much more than our previous government was willing to do. (I have it from someone who knows someone who worked very closely with John Howard that his Christianity was quite nominal)...

Maybe there is hope for Australian politics. Maybe there is some room for a little optimism. Maybe God's good work can be done through the world of politics and politicians... (but maybe that's taking optimism just a little bit too far)... :)

Shalom...

PS - On Kevin Rudd and his own professions of Christian faith. Have a read of this article he wrote for The Monthly magazine in 2006 (before he was PM). It is called "Faith in Politics" and is a very interesting read...

Happy 500th Birthday John...

Yes, John Calvin turned 500 on the 10th of July (although he has been dead for most of this time). Who is John Calvin, I hear you ask? He is up there with Martin Luther as the major players in what most would call the "Protestant Reformation" in the 1500s. He was very bold in his challenges to the mainstream Roman Catholic Church of the day and had a lot to say against beliefs and practices that he believed to be false.

Love him or hate him, Calvin was an amazingly influential figure. Such was his influence, that a whole branch of Christian theology called "Calvinism" was developed, based on his teachings. The most well-know tenets of Calvinism are probably the amazing grace of God and the election or pre-destination of Christians. There is even a theological approach to life called "Hyper-Calvinism" (and I include that piece of information here soley because I love the name). Some say that Calvin's ideas even contributed to the development of capitalism and democracy in the West. He wrote heaps on his ideas in various letters, treaties and commentaries and preached many, many sermons - most which are still available for us today.

Why am I bringing John Calvin to your attention? Mainly because he was one of most significant religious people in modern history and his life is currently being remembered across the planet because of his quincentenary. I think that its good to know a bit about these things if you're interested in the kind of private/public spirituality issues that this blog goes on about. Also, if you're a Protestant, then you are probably influenced in some way by Calvin and Calvinism, but you might not have ever known that. I think its good from time to time to look at this thing called Christianity that some of us are trying to live out and ask how much of it is "pure" Christianity (if we can ever discover such a thing), and how much of it is Christianity based on a particular theological, geographical, denominational influence. These kind of questions help us to keep our own truth claims in check , to keep ourselves humble, and to allow ourselves to be open to the views of others.

For more information on John Calvin, you could simply google his name and go for your life, or have a look at some of these sites:

• Wikipedia - John Calvin
  
• History Learning Site
  
• New Advent - Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Australian - Decline of John Calvin

I listened to an interesting podcast about John Calvin on the ABC Radio National program, "The Spirit of Things". Host, Rachael Kohn, interviewed Randall Zachman (a "Calvin Scholar" - who knew you could be such a thing?) about the life, teachings and influences of John Calvin. It is worth a listen if you're into such things.

Anyway, "Happy Birthday John Calvin" and I hope the rest of you have a nice day too...

Shalom...

No Kissing Please, We're Christians...

My mother sent me this. I'm not sure what she's trying to say to me (surely she knows I've kissed Megan by now. After all, we are married with two kids)...

Anyway, Sy Rogers, a Christian speaker who specialises in talking about sexuality, has come out and made a statement about kissing. Apparently, he said that single young people shouldn't kiss, because it could lead to sex outside of marriage. The news headlines have read, "Kissing is bad"; "Kissing leads to sex"; "No Kissing please, we're Christians" etc etc... You can have a look at the newspaper story by clicking here and you can check out how the "This Afternoon" show ran their segment by clicking here.

It is not unusual for Christians to make statements about chastity (IE - no sex before marriage). This would be a pretty standard Christian line to take. Nor is it unusual for Christians to be wary of where the first, then second, then third steps of the sexual escalator could take them. But Rogers takes this a step further than most have by suggesting that there should not even be kissing before marriage. His idea is that if you're not going to finish off the ride (so to speak), then why get on the escalator at all. The media had a bit of fun with this. This is not surprising. For them, Rogers' comments are yet another example of an out-of-touch Christian, spruiking their crazy, out-moded ideas into a world that has well-and-truly moved on. "No kissing" would not remotely reflect the general community standard in this area and this is reflected in the street interviews in the "This Afternoon" show's segment.

So, what do you think? Has Sy gone too far, or is he onto something for those who are trying to keep themselves "chastised"? Has he made a fool of himself or is he being made fun of because he is talking up "God stuff" out there in the world and people just don't want to hear it?

I'm interested in your thoughts...

Shalom...

Richard Holloway: Shaking the Kaleidoscope

Richard Holloway is an interesting man who has been on an interesting journey. He used to be a Bishop in Scotland, but resigned about 10 years ago after a Bishop's conference that got a bit nasty around the issue of homosexuality. Since then, he has written over 5 books that deal with issues of spirituality, religion, morality and ethics. His latest book is called, "Between the Monster and the Saint", and his best known book is called "Godless Morality". Holloway describes himself as a "Christian agnostic". He is part of a church community and preaches in his church occasionally, although he isn't sure that God actually exists.

Interesting, as I said...

Last month, Holloway spoke at the Sydney Writer's Festival about his thoughts on the different approaches to religion that are apparent in today's society. This talk was called "Shaking the Kaleidoscope" and revolved around four particular approaches he has identified: strong religion; weak religion; after religion; and no religion. Simple, and yet profound...

The ABC has a short interview with him and the full recording of his Writer's Festival talk. This is really worth a listen to and you can access the audio and/or the transcript by clicking here. You won't be sorry. This is 50 minutes you'll be glad you spent (I've listened to it 3 times so far)...

Just two tiny spoilers / tasters...

In his opening statement, he refers to Paul Gauguin's 1897 painting entitled, "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" Gauguin painted this picture after receiving the news that his daughter had died. Holloway got me in right from here - a dramatic story interwoven with some of THE most important questions that people can ask about life, the universe and everything...

And then in his final "PPS", he says, "When I am actually kind of up against the cosmic wall, there is another philosopher I love who has given me a way of responding to this agonised, kaleidoscopic, shifting, churning complexity. And I want to leave you with this great swashbuckle of a quote. It comes from the great existentialist philosopher, Miguel de Unamuno, and he was quoting a Frenchman when he said these words:

'Man is perishing that may be,
But if it is nothingness that awaits us,
Let us perish resisting,
And let us so live that it will be an unjust fate.'

And I like the idea of living as though the universe did mean something - and if it doesn't, we'll show it that we are better than it."

Very cool. Do yourself a favour and tune in. By the way, I was a "weak religionist". What are you?

Shalom...

No Atheists in Foxholes...

On the weekend, I went camping with my 3 year old son, his best mate, and his best mate's dad. It was a heart warming experience (watching our little ones play together, collect fire wood, chase cows and eat toasted marshmellows etc) even though it was freezing everywhere else. We put on the camp fire at 2:30pm rather than at 6pm as we had originally planned, because our 3 layers of clothing were not enough to keep out the cold, even at that time of day.

My grown up companion and I got talking around that campfire (because that is what camp fires are for [as well as for toasting marshmellows]) about life, the universe and everything. At one point he said that he didn't really believe in God, but that he did this one time when his dog went missing. In his panic, he cried out to God to help him to find his canine friend and to make sure that he was safe. We both smiled at this, knowing the truth of the saying, that "there are no atheists in fox holes"; that when the trouble starts, the God we might not normally have too much time for in our day-to-day life, suddenly becomes our primary source of help and hope in times of trouble and helplessness.

The problem of course is: Where does God go in the times between our crises What does he do with himself? Does he slip back into non-existence or does he inconveniently persist in being real? Maybe these crisis calls are good reminders to us that God might just actually be there - all the time. And he might actually want more from us than to be the 000 calll receiver... Not that he minds that part. The Bible says in Psalm 50:15, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; and I will deliver you..."

Anyway, here is a cool music video that my friend Francis sent to me, called, "Laughing with God"... I hope you enjoy it.



Shalom...

God is Back...

My old friend, The Weekend Australian, published an article on the weekend entitled, "Nations Prosper with God on their Side." It was essentially an edited abstract from a new book called, "God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World". The book is written by John Micklewait (editor-in-chief on The Economist) and Adrian Wooldridge (Washington bureau chief of the London-based weekly magazine) and looks at the reasons why spirituality and religion have persisted in the modern world when many predicted that it would die off in a puff of well-reasoned secularism.

The book seems to be social/cultural/historical examination of the relationship between religion and modernity, and traces two histories of the development of modern culture in Europe and America, and thier two very different approaches to religion. The European idea is that you can't become modern while holding onto religion, and the American idea is that you can become modern and still find a place for religion in public life. There is much more to it, but that seems to be the main thrust.

Anyway, read the article or buy the book... (I've read the article but will have to ask my wife whether we can spare $60 for the book)...

At the end of this article, the authors say, "The basic message of our book is a profoundly liberal one. Unevenly and gradually, religion is becoming a matter of choice - something that individuals decide to believe in (or not). Secularists need to recognise that the enemy that "poisons everything" is not religion but the union of religion and power and believers need to recognise that religion flourishes best where it operates in a world of free choice, that, as that doughty free thinker Benjamin Franklin once put it, "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one."

There are two points that particularly interest me here. The first is that "religion flourishes best where it operates in a world of free choice". The reason this interests me is because of my role in SU Qld in developing state school chaplaincy. What a lot of people don't realise with Chaplaincy, is that Education Queensland defines Chaplaincy - not SU Qld. Chaplaincy is an Education Queensland program that SU Qld is accredited to deliver on their behalf, not an SU Qld program that we deliver in Education Queensland schools. As such, Education Queensland policy says that, "Programs of chaplaincy services are [must be] compatible with policies and practices that apply to delivery of any service in a multi-faith and multicultural state school community". This is not a situation that many Christians would be, or are, comfortable with. They would rather that state governments were a theocracy; that Christians ran the show in relation to Chaplaincy and Christian ministry in schools; and that Christians had preferential access to schools and the kids in them for evangelistic purposes.

What "God is Back" seems to suggest to us, is something that many of us have suspected for awhile. And this is, that the situation we have in Queensland schools, with all faiths and worldviews "getting a seat at the table", is the best situation that any religious group could hope for. Not only does it make the most sense in a modern, pluralistic, multi-faith and multi-cultural society that this would be the case, as it turns out, it is actually the situation that best promotes spirituality in a society. It could then be argued that the best and fairest thing for Christians to do in such a society, is not to fight for "Christian" access to schools, but to continue to fight for the access of all faiths and religions to schools. It is in this environment of "choice and competition" that real faith and spirituality seems to flourish.

The second point that interests me is found in the quote from Benjamin Franklin. That, "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. The presence of Christians in schools should result in people being able to see that the "God things" in life equal the "good things" in life. If our faith is any good, then we shouldn't need to ask the government for preferential treatment and access to kids to promote the Christian cause (however we understand this). Schools should be knocking down the doors to get Chaplains and churches into schools because they know that their children, young people, staff, families and whole school community, are going to be better off from the association.

Happily, this is that case in many situations. And where it is not, let's hope that the Christians are asking themselves why?

Shalom...

Stranded in Neverland

My friend Carmen let me know about this article on Consumerism in our society and in many churches. It is a great article that is well worth a read.

Click here to read it...

Thanks Carmen.

Shalom...

Tim Costello on the ABC's Talking Heads Show

Last night, Tim Costello was in the spotlight on the ABC's Talking Heads show. He talked about his life, decisions he has made and the reasons why he made some of them. He speaks very easily and eloquently about his faith in Jesus and how this has been the driving force behind his life.

The video is downloadable from here and a transcript of the show is available here

I hope you enjoy it.

Shalom...

Radical Domesticity

It has been a few weeks since I have written something for this blog, and my aim has been to make two posts per week. But quite frankly, with a newborn baby in the house, it isn’t easy to find the time and mental space to check out what is going on in the world, think about it and write something mildly coherent on it. Babies take time and energy!!! (a huge news flash I know)…

Megan and I were talking a few weeks ago (as I said, it has been busy) about how difficult it is to feel like a radical disciple of Jesus when you are in the role of mother, father, husband and/or wife. Some friends of ours have started a spiritually themed art competition called “Mark My Words”. The idea is that participants in the competition create art pieces based on their reading of the gospel of Mark. Inspired by this competition, Megan decided to read Mark and had only got a few chapters into it when she voiced her question, “how am I supposed to live this amazing, adventurous, radical life of following Jesus, when I’ve hardly got enough energy to get through the night and the day?”

I thought it was a good question (hardly having any energy myself for anything beyond family and work life of late). When we read the gospels, we read of Jesus and his disciples travelling around the countryside, creating a stir just about everywhere they went with their preaching, robust discussions, healings and exorcisms. Then for most of the rest of the New Testament, we read of Paul and his missionary friends travelling around the countryside, creating a stir just about everywhere they went as well. The picture is one of high adventure on the open road; living on the edge to advance the Kingdom of God in this world. Well, bully for them…

I feel about as radical as wet tea towel in the kitchen sink these days, and the book of Mark doesn’t help me feel any better about that one bit. Where are the house wives and soccer mums in Mark? Where are the books in the Bible dedicated to how ‘Muriel of Bethlehem’ lived out her faith in her home and daily life? I know that there are a few references to how to be a good husband, wife, father and mother in the Bible, but not the vast amount of literary real estate allocated to the high flying, “on the edge” missionaries. Surely these are the kinds of people who made up the majority the churches these heroes were setting up on their travels, and who make up most of the people in the church today. Where are our stories?

Well, Megan and I are about to redress this terrible wrong in the Bible… We are setting out to write a book called “Radical Domesticity” – celebrating the stories of the husbands, wives, mothers and fathers who are seeking to follow Jesus in radical ways in their domestic circumstances. We’ll also have a crack at articulating some key ideas on how to live a radical life in a domestic role. That is about as far as we’ve got so far.

We’re looking for submissions for the book. And stories – any ideas – will be welcome…

Shalom…