Category Archives: Politics
remixing romans 13: overcoming imperial zombification
1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that
exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Following the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and my subsequent reflections, I was confronted with numerous comments and questions regarding the above passage from Romans 13. One friend commented that, in light of this passage, he thought armed intervention was completely within the scope of government as taught the New Testament.
What I offer here is not a criticism of my friends, but a challenge to the way we read passages like Romans 13. Read the rest of this entry
refu-jesus
It seems that in the last couple of days the Australian position on asylum seekers has moved backwards by about 10 years.
What has been most depressing to me (and there is much to be depressed about) is the attitude of those who claim to follow Jesus in regard to these, some of the most vulnerable people in the world. Read the rest of this entry
nonviolence wins
India’s government ordered up strong anti-corruption legislation on Saturday after a 73-year-old activist went on a four-day hunger strike and inspired a nationwide protest movement against graft.
I know this is a month old, but since nonviolence has been a major theme on this blog in recent weeks, I thought I would post it since most people would not have had a chance to hear about it.
In India, 73-year-old Anna Hazare began a hunger strike aimed at seeing government anti-corruption legislation passed. more details can be found below:
Hunger Strike Focuses Anger on Indian Corruption
Activist Ends Fast as India Pledges to Fight Graft
Hazare’s campaign has garnered support from all over India and the world:
Beautiful.
Powerful.
MCA
are human rights only for those born “here”?
The asylum seeker incidents currently occurring around the country have no doubt caused a great deal of angst for many Australians. This has been made clear to me in a number of personal exchanges over the last couple of days.
“They should be more grateful!” some have said, while others have stated, on an apparent whim, that we should deport many detained asylum seekers for their “criminal activity”. This is, sadly, the apparent position of the political spokespeople for immigration in both major political Parties (see Chris Bowen’s comments and Scott Morrison’s comments).
But there is a deep irony with this kind of position Read the rest of this entry
creation needs more than a tax
I have written previously on the Federal Government’s carbon tax, and if you were to read those posts you would know that I am a supporter of the levy.
However I want to set the record straight and state that I don’t believe a carbon tax is enough to deal with the climatological problems we are experiencing in our world.
Is this a political rant? A scientific one? No; if anything it is theological.
While a carbon tax/ETS could potentially help the world inasmuch as citizens of different nations are encouraged to adapt their carbon habits, it seems to me somewhat misguided to think that a market band-aid can truly heal an open sore that has been created by humans abusing the same market; more on that in a second. Read the rest of this entry
ju-liar: an “extremist’s” female dog?
There is something wrong with this picture…
“Bob Brown’s Bitch”?
“Ditch the Witch”?
Such are utterly inappropriate ways of referring to any Prime Minister of Australia, though unfortunately these were not the most slanderous banners at today’s anti-carbon tax rally outside Parliament House…
Some will defend such a display, reasoning that Gillard broke an election promise by proposing a carbon tax.
Newsflash! Gillard is not the first politician to break a promise; I suppose we should level a series of profanities at every politician who lies (or perhaps changes their mind…)? Read the rest of this entry
carbon tax creates some warming of its own
The Gillard government’s carbon tax has, over the past few weeks, caused some warming of its own.
Mostly the heat generated by the carbon tax issue has been around the increased cost of living for families when it is implemented. The focus of the debate is of course on the government’s plan; the Coalition’s plan has flown mostly under the radar because it is at this point not being discussed as a reality in Parliament.
Annabel Crabb’s Tuesday article on The Drum website made an apt observation, namely that climate policy always seems to be fought on the enemy’s lawn; keep the focus on them and you will prosper. This is certainly the Coalition’s plan, and in a way it is successful. Read the rest of this entry
there’s something about pauline
Pauline Hanson is back! (in the news…)
This time she is running as an Independent in the NSW state election (Australia). Whether you agree or disagree with Hanson, no one can deny her apparent ability to rise from (political) death occasionally (even if she is shot down almost immediately).
Some of the more memorable events in Hanson’s political career include:
1. her co-founding of possibly Australia’s most controversial Party, One Nation, which was widely labelled as harbouring racist policies (1997),
2. one of the most memorable maiden speeches in Parliament , which was also widely labelled as racist (1996),
3. her recording a video for her supporters in the event of her assassination (1997),
4. her being convicted of electoral fraud (2003, though it was soon overturned).
How is it then that such a controversial figure in politics, whose reappearance in public life has spawned even more accusations of racism, can still capture the imagination of such a decent percentage of the population?* Read the rest of this entry
go and get fact!
I was in a discussion the other day about politics. My friend and part-time opponent utilised no actual policy criticisms, but rather simply referred to the leader of said party with a set of unflattering names.
Such name-calling was additionally supported by false accusations and misunderstandings about complex issues and historical trends.
Now, I’m quite aware that this story is ambiguous at best, and a straw man at worst. It would, of course, be quite rude and untrustworthy for me to divulge any more details.
Most of us have, I suspect, been in such a discussion though at some point. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be a personal conversation, politicians blatantly lie all the time, like the Liberal Party here in NSW, Australia, who are claiming that the government’s proposed carbon tax will cost households $500 dollars annually – this figure is completely made up! (The tax, after all, has not even been formulated yet.)
I don’t really have a point here (I just want to get this off my chest), though perhaps it is a lesson for all that people should really stop lying when they argue politics, religion, science, or anything else.
Please give me, to the best of your ability and understanding, real facts and not rumours you heard off your friend the other day.
Please give me well thought out opinions, and not some drivel with words you don’t actually know the meaning of.
And please do not give me plain lies just to try and win an argument; you just look silly!
Rant complete.
MCA
it sucks to be a leader
My time working in a local church taught me that many people in contemporary Australia have little or no respect for leadership.
This is regardless of the quality or personality of such leaders. Church leadership is far too often seen as simply another consumptive item that can be thrown away whenever one has grown tired of it. I saw such attitudes replicated in both my church and many others.
This is not to say that leadership never makes mistakes, nor that it always deserves to retain its position; some leadership is poor and cruel. As I have said however the apparent distaste for leadership in many spheres of contemporary Christianity is seemingly indiscriminate.
Such a trend is not, of course, restricted to the Church in Australia. Christians seem to have inherited such an attitude from the world around them (it wouldn’t be the first time…).
We only need look at our political leaders to observe the way Australians are utterly disrespectful towards their national leadership Keep Reading…
