tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17190964494021363062024-03-13T17:31:23.076+11:00SubversiveVoicesReflections on politics, public policy, theology and culture...
Informed by the radical tradition of Christian witness...
Encouraged by the subversive trajectory of the Gospel.Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.comBlogger412125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-48931316504185985962013-05-26T16:34:00.003+10:002013-05-26T16:36:14.503+10:00Teaching doctors to kill?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the implications of euthanasia is that it involves teaching doctors to take life. Margaret Somerville argues that:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3fbfd; color: #005f79; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We also need to consider how the legalisation of euthanasia could affect the profession of medicine and its practitioners. Euthanasia takes both beyond their fundamental roles of caring, healing and curing whenever possible. It involves them, no matter how compassionate their motives, in the infliction of death on those for whom they provide care and treatment. ...</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3fbfd; color: #005f79; line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can we imagine teaching medical students how to administer euthanasia - how to kill their patients? A fundamental attitude we reinforce in medical students, interns and residents is a repugnance toward the idea of killing patients. If physicians were authorised to administer euthanasia, it would no longer be possible to instil that repugnance. Maintaining this repugnance and, arguably, the intuitive recognition of a need for it, are demonstrated in the outraged reactions against physicians carrying out capital punishment when laws provide for them to do so. We do not consider their involvement acceptable - not even for those physicians who personally are in favour of capital punishment. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/05/24/3766685.htm">What would we lose by legalising euthanasia?</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this a problem though? The following discussion of the study of the experience of killing in war by Stanley Hauerwas is to say the least thought provoking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think it is a mistake to focus - as we most often do - only on the sacrifice of life that war requires. War also requires that we sacrifice our normal unwillingness to kill. It may seem odd to call the sacrifice of our unwillingness to kill "a sacrifice," but this sacrifice often renders the lives of those who make it unintelligible. The sacrifice of our unwillingness to kill is but the dark side of the willingness in war to be killed. I am not suggesting that every person who has killed in war suffers from having killed. But I do believe that those who have killed without the killing troubling their lives should not have been in the business of killing in the first place.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society</em>, Lt Col Dave Grossman reports on General S.L.A. Marshall's study of men in battle in World War II. Marshall discovered that of every hundred men along a line of fire during a battle, only 15 to 20 would take part by firing their weapons. This led Marshall to conclude that the average or healthy individual, that is, the person who could endure combat, "still has such an inner and usually unrealized resistance toward killing a fellow man that he will not of his own volition take life if it is possible to turn away from that responsibility." Lt Col Grossman observes that to study killing in combat is very much like the study of sex: "Killing is a private, intimate occurrence of tremendous intensity, in which the destructive act becomes psychologically very much like the procreative act." <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2013/04/24/3744623.htm">Telling the truth about the sacrifice of war</a></span></div>
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Essentially what euthanasia requires is that doctors will be asked to undertake the sacrifice of overcoming societal norms and undertake the task of taking human life. If we wish to take the step of legalising the taking of life we need to be clear about the human implications of what we are doing and who will bear the burden of this. </div>
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Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-13208176676830281572013-04-15T18:43:00.000+10:002013-04-15T18:43:09.644+10:00Protecting People not Borders, or Vica Versa?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I had the opportunity recently to see the documentary “Between
the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” <a href="http://deepblueseafilm.com/">http://deepblueseafilm.com</a>
on its recent National Tour. I found viewing it a confronting experience, with
its interviews with asylum seekers in Indonesia, because I had to watch the
faces and listen to the voices of real people, whose fate I was to learn at the
end of the documentary. At the end of the documentary I wandered out into the
sunshine, wiping the moisture from my eyes reflecting on the meaning and moral
significance of the term “border protection” in current political debate. Why
aren’t we concerned with protecting people rather than borders? Why do
“borders” need “protecting” anyway?<o:p></o:p></div>
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There is I know a verbal ambiguity in the phrase “border
protection”. In current political rhetoric it carries the connotation that
borders protect us, the citizens of Australia, though exactly what we are being
protected from is never made explicit. The phrasing suggests that if borders
are crossed by people without our prior permission, the border is therefore
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threat. What damage is done, or threatened by the crossing of the border is
never clearly explained, merely hinted at. <o:p></o:p></div>
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This ambiguity in the usage of the term “border protection”
has a whiff of the sacred surrounding the phrase. The “border” offers “protection”
and at the same time must not be violated and therefore stands in need of
protection. The ambiguity is consistent with the attachment of a sacral
character. You can’t define the sacred or it will no longer be sacred and lose
its power. How are then to ‘protect’ the “border’, and at the same time
ourselves?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lo we have solved the problem, and protected the sacredness
of the border from profanation by redefining what counts as the border of
Australia for certain categories of persons, specifically those seeking asylum.
It has been decreed by the passing of a law that the borders for certain
purposes cannot be crossed by asylum seekers, because the map has been drawn to
exclude Australia from having a border that asylum seekers could cross, while
at the same time the border for all other purposes remains in existence, and is
therefore “protected”. Ye verily this is as great a magic as ever has been exercised
by the wizards, the defenders of the sacred character of the state, known as
lawyers. The border is protected and its sacred character is saved from profanation
by those who might seek to cross it in search of asylum from persecution.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Borders are clearly of human invention, though attracting
the character of the sacred in political rhetoric, and media commentary. They are
without feelings, passions and bodies. Asylum seekers on the other hand are of
flesh and blood, capable of being killed, tortured, starved, made to feel fear
and pressed to act against conscience with respect to matters of political
belief, faith commitment and practice.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Why do we wish to “protect” borders, or be protected by
borders, which are when stripped of their sacral character simply legal
creations set up to assist human flourishing and well being at the expense of
causing suffering to actual human beings by not welcoming those in search of
freedom from persecution? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Christians and church communities need to answer this
question with reference to the life and teaching of Jesus if they wish to give
substance to their identification as his followers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who or what would Jesus “protect”? A reading of the Gospels
with an eye for this theme makes it abundantly clear that Jesus did not have
much time for ‘borders’ whether they were of geographical, legal, or religious character
where they were inimical to human well being and healing. Jesus had much to
say, of a critical character about the privileging of laws at the expense of
human beings under the cover of religion. The Sabbath he observed was made for
humanity not humanity for the Sabbath. He commented pungently on the use of
legal definitions by the well off to enable them to reinforce that privilege
and he regularly transgressed the borders that that were used to keep society
“safe” from “dangerous” and “different” people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Christians to take a stand on this issue will probably
result in our coming put into conflict with a majority of Australians for whom
the sacredness of borders overrides other moral claims that arise for
Christians from their commitment to following Jesus. The call to discipleship
means that we cannot get out of difficult situations by ignoring his teaching.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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There is another consideration here that reinforces the
point I am trying to make that can be expressed in terms of the primary
identity for Christians that arises from their baptism. Baptism inducts us into
a community broader than the nation state. The borders of the community into
which we enter through baptism are not coterminous with those however legally
defined and manipulated of the Australian state. Immigration and refugees admit
of no policy package that will solve the problem. The issues are structural and
rooted deeply in the dynamics of global capitalism and the exercise of
neo-imperial power by a range of nations. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Christian church has little choice, I would argue, as to
what its priority should be if it is to take its transnational character and
the expansion of its borders through baptism seriously. People need protection
not borders. Baptism, properly understood is a subversion of the borders of the
nation state. Christians should be prepared to live out that subversion in
refusing to acknowledge the claim to the sacredness of borders at the cost of
the lives and wellbeing of flesh and blood people. People need protection, not
borders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Doug Hynd<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
PS. My thanks to Jessie Taylor, those responsible for the
documentary particularly the asylum seekers who shared their stories and to
Michael Budde for his collection of essays reflecting theologically on the
Christian Church and globalisation, <i>The
Borders of Baptism: Identities, Allegiance and the Church</i> (Cascade Books,
2011).<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-79717093446029788612012-12-30T20:47:00.000+11:002012-12-30T20:48:10.883+11:00Feast of the Holy Innocents<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some great references to public liturgy and preaching on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Going to see if I can record the links here for my own benefit.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://smoyle.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/holy-innocents-peace-procession-2012-reportback/">Peace procession Melbourne</a><br />
<a href="http://www.peacebus.com/HolyInnoc/121228Report.html">Report on Melbourne event</a><br />
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Here's my friend Graeme aka <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/Peacebus"><s>@</s><b>Peacebus</b></a> reporting back on yesterday's <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a> Peace Parade: <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.peacebus.com/HolyInnoc/121228Report.html" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/Ftu5l9Wv" target="_blank" title="http://www.peacebus.com/HolyInnoc/121228Report.html"><span class="invisible">http://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">peacebus.com/HolyInnoc/1212</span><span class="invisible">28Report.html</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible"> </span>…</span></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23war&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>war</b></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nonviolence&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>nonviolence</b></a>
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It seems to me that the only time there is an outcry from America is when <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GunViolence&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>GunViolence</b></a> takes place in "inappropriate" places. <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a>
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168 children have been killed by drone strikes in Pakistan... but where is the outcry for THESE children? <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GunViolence&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>GunViolence</b></a>
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I wonder if there were people who said, "I'm tired of people politicizing Herod's massacre of the <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23holyinnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>holyinnocents</strong></b></a>"?
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<a target="_blank" class="twitter-timeline-link" href="http://t.co/1RmXONob">The Holy Innocents</a>
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<p><a target="_blank" class="twitter-timeline-link" href="http://t.co/1RmXONob">Today, the fourth day of Christmas, falls the feast day of the Holy Innocents. It is the day the Church remembers the story, told in Matthew’s Gospel of the appalling cruelty and wickedness o...</a></p>
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"But he is with a million displaced people
On the long road of weariness and want." Malcolm Guite
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<a class="tweet-geo-text" href="//maps.google.com/maps?q=40.88065485%2C-73.16678094&z=15" target="_blank"><i class="sm-geo"></i>from St. James, NY</a>
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" data-feedback-key="stream_status_284641248004952064" data-item-id="284641248004952064" data-mentions="MatthewSRose Fr_Melly" data-my-retweet-id="285315465927094272" data-name="Fr. George Mabura" data-screen-name="Fr_iMabura" data-tweet-id="284641248004952064" data-user-id="36885732">
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RT <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/MatthewSRose"><s>@</s><b>MatthewSRose</b></a>: Remember the lives of your little ones Lord, and break the sword of the oppressor. <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23holyinnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>holyinnocents</strong></b></a> <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/Fr_Melly"><s>@</s><b>Fr_Melly</b></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Catholic&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>Catholic</b></a>
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Preached from the fire in my gut at the Eucharist this morning <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a>
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On <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a> Day we pray for victims of such violence today & those (like the Holy Family) whom it makes refugees: <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://childrenssociety.org.uk/epiphany" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/51wLpc5I" target="_blank" title="http://childrenssociety.org.uk/epiphany"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="js-display-url">childrenssociety.org.uk/epiphany</span><span class="invisible"></span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible"> </span></span></a>
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<span title="11:42 PM - 27 Dec 12">11:42 PM - 27 Dec 12</span>
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" data-feedback-key="stream_status_284595186498146304" data-item-id="284595186498146304" data-mentions="prolifestudents" data-name="Fr James Bradley" data-screen-name="frjamesbradley" data-tweet-id="284595186498146304" data-user-id="16148598">
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Today of all days I recommend you follow <a class="twitter-atreply pretty-link" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/prolifestudents"><s>@</s><b>prolifestudents</b></a> as this great new organisation gets running. <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23prolife&src=hash"><s>#</s><b>prolife</b></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23holyinnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>holyinnocents</strong></b></a> Please RT.
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Is this how we wage 'war on terror'? Drone Strikes Are Causing Child Casualties -- 178 So Far | Alternet <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.alternet.org/world/drone-strikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/9F5lxQfo" target="_blank" title="http://www.alternet.org/world/drone-strikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far"><span class="invisible">http://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">alternet.org/world/drone-st</span><span class="invisible">rikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible"> </span>…</span></a> <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a>
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<span title="11:17 PM - 27 Dec 12">11:17 PM - 27 Dec 12</span>
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At least 178 children killed by US Drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen... so far <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a> <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://www.alternet.org/world/drone-strikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/DKdFAbJD" target="_blank" title="http://www.alternet.org/world/drone-strikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far"><span class="invisible">http://www.</span><span class="js-display-url">alternet.org/world/drone-st</span><span class="invisible">rikes-are-causing-child-casualties-178-so-far</span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible"> </span>…</span></a>
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A reminder of what results from the legislation of wicked rulers. <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23HolyInnocents&src=hash"><s>#</s><b><strong>HolyInnocents</strong></b></a> "Can wicked rulers be allied… <a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://bible.us/Ps94.20.ESV" dir="ltr" href="http://t.co/B9Ym2j8P" target="_blank" title="http://bible.us/Ps94.20.ESV"><span class="invisible">http://</span><span class="js-display-url">bible.us/Ps94.20.ESV</span><span class="invisible"></span><span class="tco-ellipsis"><span class="invisible"> </span></span></a>
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Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-59954051191135332682012-12-30T20:37:00.000+11:002012-12-30T20:37:30.662+11:00Rendering to Caesar<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The misunderstanding of the significance of Jesus' saying "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and the things that are God's is rampant.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px; font-family: Helvetica;">Jesus could not have been suggesting that there is a realm of religion, separate from the realm of politics. No distinction existed in his time between the "religious" and the "political". Caesar's claim to rule rested on his divinity. As a good Jew Jesus was expressing the understanding embedded in the law and the teaching of the prophets, that God's call on us to live lives of justice and compassion have priority over conflicting claims by any other authority, Caesar included.<br /><br />Jesus was not a "spiritual" teacher distant from the politics of his time. He preached and practised a radical political option that was subversive of the economic injustice and oppression of his time. That was why he was crucified, a punishment handed out to those that Rome saw as challenging its claims to empire.<br /><br />If you give priority to God's claims to seek justice and love mercy, thus rendering to God what is God's, then what is left for Caesar? Not too much I would reckon.</span></div>
Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-85964781374015524002012-11-27T20:16:00.000+11:002012-11-27T20:16:43.644+11:00Doing evil to achieve good?Reflections on the moral calculus of the Australian Government’s policy on asylum seekers, or should the Government get into the business of taking hostages?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Christians seeking to find their moral compass in a time of
fear created by both major political parties in their race to the bottom as to
who can devise the “toughest”, translation “cruellest” policy, need to return
to the teaching of Jesus to get oriented. Reflection on the Parable of the Good
Samaritan will provide a bracing and challenging point of departure to guide us
in our approach to current debates over the treatment of asylum seekers. If we
wish to dismiss it on the grounds that it is not “practical” then we should
reconsider our decision to describe ourselves as followers of Jesus. In the
longer term it may be the most “practical” approach there is. But that’s an
argument for another time.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The recent announcements by the Australian Government on the
treatment of asylum seekers <a href="http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191883.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #074de6; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;">http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191883.htm</span></a> and <a href="http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191155.htm"><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #074de6; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;">http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/media/cb/2012/cb191155.htm</span></a><span lang="EN-US"> </span>has
been accompanied by much hand wringing over the moral difficulty of needing to
be “tough” to save lives and prevent people from risking their lives on
dangerous boat journeys and to send a “signal” to people arranging the boat
travel, a group otherwise referred to, as “people smugglers”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Government policy seems to be directed almost
exclusively at the “people smugglers” if you listened to the exchanges on a
recent episode of Q &A. If the “people smugglers” would only go away the
suggestion is that the “problem” would be solved. And perhaps as viewed by the
political parties it would. The continued arrival of refugees is a reminder
that there is a world out there that we in Australia are part of. Indeed they
remind us, should anyone care to think about it, that Australia is deeply
implicated through its involvement in warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan as an
ally of the United States in the creation of the circumstances that is the
source of much of the flow of refugees. </div>
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Out of sight, out of mind seems to be
our motto, and so we can continue the path of denial of responsibility as long
as those pesky refugees don’t keep turning up to disturb our bubble of comfort.
As Jack Waterford from the Canberra Times observed: <i><span lang="EN-US">What shames me most, I guess, is that a good many of these refugees have
fled to places such as Australia only because of the miseries we Australians
have heaped upon their countries in the name of liberating them from tyranny.</span></i><span lang="EN-US"> </span><i><span lang="EN-US">http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/leaders-wallow-in-gutter-20121124-2a0qy.html<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Leaving aside the reality that policy debate has focussed on
a symptom, “people smuggling” rather than the central issue of the humane and
effective handling of asylum seekers throughout South-East Asia, the moral
assessments of the policy changes need more analysis than they have so far
received.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Let me see if I can unpack the government’s logic of
deterrence: 400 people seeking refugee status are held on Nauru in detention,
that is by coercion, not because they have done anything wrong, but to try and
influence the behaviour of people unknown, to try prevent them undertaking an
activity that is grounded in international la, seeking asylum. Holding people
under duress to try and influence the behaviour of other actors normally falls
within the category of an activity that we would normally label hostage taking.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What the Government is saying in its policy of deterrence is
that we are going to cause cruelty to people, to try and save the lives of
others. So what are the harms that the Government will cause by this policy,
and what are the evils that they wish to prevent?<o:p></o:p></div>
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The evil they wish to prevent are the deaths of some unknown
proportion of people who take a risky and dangerous voyage to Australia to seek
asylum from persecution.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So on the one side of the ledger we have if the policy is
successful, a reduced number of deaths in transit. But notice something
interesting here; the choice taken by people who risk their lives is their
choice, presumably taken with some knowledge of the risks. The Government
without knowledge of their specific circumstances is seeking to substitute its
judgement as to the balance between the risks of loss of their lives and the
risks that they face if they do not take the boat journey. The government is
essentially saying, we know better than you how much risk you should take. The
government policy is based on a presumption that nothing bad will happen to
them if they do not take the risk of the sea voyage. The judgement from an
air-conditioned office in Canberra as to what that calculation looks like may
be very different from the point of view of a refugee.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On the other side of the ledger we have some information
based on experience in recent years as to the harms that will be done by the
Government’s policy. We can expect a number of suicides, attempted suicides and
mental health problems for those detained on Nauru and Manus Island, that will
affect many individuals and their families for the rest of their lives. The
inability to work for those on the Australian mainland while waiting for the
granting of protection will have similar affects on self esteem and self
confidence as well as creating an alienated economically deprived group within
Australia over the longer term. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To knowingly cause mental health problems that may lead to
suicide and self harm, and to actively prevent by force of law people from
exercising their human vocation to work and to contribute to family livelihood
and to the community welfare as well as to actively maintain people in abject
poverty are all outcomes which are evil. The Government and opposition are both
committed to these outcomes as a matter of policy. How do these weigh in the
balance against the objective of saving people’s lives? What we are saying to
asylum seekers who come is that you must pay the price in your bodies and
family lives to try and prevent other people making a choice that might result
in the loss of their life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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On its own terms, that is a somewhat doubtful moral
position, in that we are putting in the balance certain harm to some people
against an uncertain number of deaths that are prevented if the policy is
successful in its goals. But what if the policy does not succeed in preventing
people from taking the risk? In that case we will have succeeded in being cruel
for no possible, even vaguely arguable moral gain. We will not have stopped the
deaths of those in transit, and the admitted cruelty to those refugees will
have been undertaken without any arguable moral benefit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What is the evidence to suggest that the policy will
be successful? The only study that I can find was undertaken back in 2009
suggested that push factors tended to override pull factors in driving people
seeking asylum by boat. The Pacific solution did not stop the boats from
coming. The author explains that … <i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;">it diddled the stats by redefinition. Boats still made the attempt to enter
Australia – which is a point worth noting as many of the proponents of Pull
Factors cite reducing the risk of death from reducing the number of people
attempting the voyage by boat, as one of their key rationales. Yet we know that
SIEV(s) 5,7,11 and 12 in 2002 attempted to make the journey and were returned
to Indonesia while SIEV(s) 4,6 and 10 actually sank. That was in very late 2001
through late 2002. In 2003 we know that boats were still attempting to make the
voyage such as SIEV 14, but were again towed back from whence they came.</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;">The</span></i><a href="http://www.unhcr.org/47ac3f9c14.html"><b><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #538b00; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> UNHCR</span></i></b></a><i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;"> estimates that 1600 people
were diverted throughout the time of the Pacific Solution, but hard numbers are
difficult to come </span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #262626; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: JA;">by.</span><a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2009/10/19/push-vs-pull-asylum-seeker-numbers-and-statistics/">http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2009/10/19/push-vs-pull-asylum-seeker-numbers-and-statistics/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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In summary, the policy is an attempt to use a form of
hostage taking and causing a range of cruelty and harms to people with the
intention of trying to discourage people from making a choice that involves the
risk of death in pursuit of asylum. If the policy works we have a situation in
which the most vulnerable have borne the burden of the Government’s achievement
of its policy goals. If the policy doesn’t work and the odds are against it,
then the Government will have caused substantial harm to a vulnerable group of
people for no outcome at all. Evil will have been done for no good at all. On
any moral calculus you like that is a big risk to take.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In the meantime the implications for Christians of the
Parable of the Good Samaritan are pretty clear. We need to get involved in
those community groups that will do what they can to act as neigbours to the
vulnerable strangers in our midst. We can also begin to conduct a guerrilla
warfare of polite, respectful correspondence with our local members and
political leaders on the moral and policy incoherence of the policy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-14814346976608969072012-11-26T22:11:00.002+11:002012-11-26T22:11:45.035+11:00Wendell Berry on Homosexual Marriage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Wendell Berry's views on the issue of "homosexual marriage" displays an anarchist approach to the issue, that is a questioning of the role of the state. Homosexuals he argues, (perhaps paradoxically given the history of state involvement that has been significantly to the disadvantage of homosexuals):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
.<i>.. have invited the government to make a public judgement about people's sexual behaviour, which ought to be none of the government's business, so long as the behaviour of the people is not abusive of other people. Government approval of anyone's sexual behaviour is as inappropriate and as offensive to freedom as government disapproval. The government's interest in people's living arrangements should go no further than "domestic partnerships" which ought to give the same legal protections to widowed sisters or bachelor brothers or friends, or "partners" living together as married couples. Justice, and (with luck) compassion, should be the government's business. Let sacraments, such as marriage, be the business of religions and communities.</i> ("Letter to Daniel Kemmis" in <b>The Way of Ignorance and Other Essays</b> p.145)</blockquote>
Cultural meanings, Berry is suggesting should not be the business of government. This is an issue which has not yet been seriously debated. Neither those in favour of government legislation for homosexual marriage, nor the churches who wish to cling to their situation of relative legal privilege in their opposition to this initiative with respect to marriage and its meanings seem to have explicitly addressed this issue.<br />
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Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-76346824542797657852012-11-18T17:00:00.000+11:002012-11-18T17:00:19.711+11:00Exploring Child Abuse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Australian Government announcement of an inquiry at the
national level through the establishment of a royal commission into child
abuse caught many of us by surprise. In case anyone has been hiding in the middle of the Simpson desert since then, here's an update with links to some of the more thoughtful commentary and a couple of early questions about the problems about the conduct of such an exercise.</div>
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It will probe a wide range of organisations from the Catholic Church and
other religious organisations, through state authorities to the Scouts and
sports groups. <span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/child-abuse-inquiry-reaches-wide-20121112-298kg.html">http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/child-abuse-inquiry-reaches-wide-20121112-298kg.html</a> There is an ecumenical openness here that tries to ensure that the exercise is not and is not perceived to be a sectarian affair. The question has also been raised as to whether the terms of reference will include allegations relating to minors in the Australian Defence forces and refugees in care. </span></div>
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The inquiry into institutional responses to abuse will not
just deal with instances of abuse, but will also explore how institutions
responded, or failed to respond to reports of abuse and will also look at how
the police have responded to the problem. The Government is currently drawing
up a detailed terms of reference for the inquiry and making decisions on its
timeframe, resourcing and the identity of the Royal Commissioner, or
Commissioners. Given the potential scope of the inquiry they may well have difficulty getting people to agree to participate. It will take a strong sense of vocation to commit yourself to an inquiry that may well run for at least five years.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Commentators have suggested that the likely scope of the
inquiry will be similar to that of the inquiry in Ireland that ran for over
nine years. While a Royal Commission is inquisitorial in character and has
wide-ranging powers, it will report back to government with findings that set out
what it has established about the extent and character of child abuse, as well
as making recommendations to address the problems that it has explored.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Its truth seeking and policy recommending functions are
central to the Commission’s character and activities. The commission has no
judicial functions, however and any criminal activity that it identifies will
need to be referred to the police for investigation and prosecution.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The announcement has attracted a good deal of comment from a
variety of interested groups. See the links at the Age: <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/abuse_inquiry">http://www.theage.com.au/national/abuse_inquiry</a><span class="MsoHyperlink"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The previous experience of such inquiries in Australia has
raised concern about whether the expectations of victims and their families
might not be realistic. While there is a feeling of encouragement by victims
that the truth will be established and the reality of their experience, long
denied, will now be made public, there is also frequent referral to justice and
healing being achieved. This may be more than the Commission can achieve. There
are some previous inquiries of a similar character that suggest the need for a
more tempered set of expectations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Stolen Generation inquiry, achieved some success in its truth
revealing function, in creating a much wider community awareness of what had
happened, in re-restablishing family connections and in going some way to
address outstanding policy issues in the child protection services. It did
little, however, to address the issue of justice and compensation for those
affected. There have been very few successful court cases for compensation by
victims of the policy of removal of indigenous children from their families, despite
the Inquiry’s report. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The former Royal Commissioner for Aboriginal Deaths in
Custody, for example, has cautioned on the need for care in the terms of
reference and for a realistic expectation about the extent to which the Commission
can deal with individual cases. <span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/former-royal-commissioner-warns-of-potential-heartache-20121113-29ai0.html">http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/former-royal-commissioner-warns-of-potential-heartache-20121113-29ai0.html</a> He is certainly in a position to comment on this issue.</span><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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The background to the establishment of this inquiry has been
a long running series of court cases against priests and staff in Catholic
institutions and a widespread perception that there has been a greater concern
by institutions with their reputation than in addressing the complaints raised
by the victims. In a helpful account Jack Waterford, editor at large for the <i>Canberra Times</i>, has pointed out that the
issues faced by the Catholic Church in Australia with respect to child sexual
abuse, are parallel in timing and character to those identified in research
into the experience of the church in both Ireland and the United States. He has
also expressed the view that the Commission might reveal that other significant
institutions in Australia have failed in their responsibilities in dealing with
instances of child abuse that has so far been hidden by the focus on the
Catholic Church’s failures. The failures may have as much to do with the extent
to which evil can be embedded in institutions as much as it can be found in the
actions of individuals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/pms-inquiry-will-bite-many-20121113-29apk.html">http://www.canberratimes.com.au/opinion/pms-inquiry-will-bite-many-20121113-29apk.html</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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While Cardinal Pell, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, has
so far displayed a somewhat pugnacious defensiveness in his acceptance of the
establishment of the Commission, other clerical leaders have displayed a more
thoughtful response driven by compassion and a willingness to deal openly with
the Church’s failures. Stephen Crittenden suggests the issue for the Catholic Church relates to a <a href="http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/restoring-the-faith/477/">failure of leadership.</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=34114">http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=34114</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/11/13/3632146.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/11/13/3632146.htm</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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This is going to be a long painful journey for many, not
only for the victims, though they must be first in our considerations. There
will be a need for confession by and healing of the perpetrators, as well as
for those managers and leaders in institutions who put the reputation of the
institution ahead of the cry for justice by the most vulnerable and who
according to Jesus had the greatest claim for judgement to fall on us if we cause these "little ones to stumble".<o:p></o:p></div>
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Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-5292135900225030112012-11-18T16:38:00.002+11:002012-11-18T16:38:43.524+11:00Moral status of refugees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Some comments from Scott Stephens a couple of weeks ago on refugee policy resonate powerfully for me:<br />
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<div style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
The real problem with asylum seekers is that their claim is an irreducibly moral claim; both their desperation and their dignity are inseparable from their bodily existence. As such, their claim cannot be comprehended by either a merely proceduralist or a political response: their presence demands recognition, humility and even joy. This is why the Christian conviction about the<em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sacramental</em> character of the refugee remains so potent, especially when the dehumanising logic of deterrence is the only game in town. As the Catholic Church's document on the care of migrants, <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/migrants/documents/rc_pc_migrants_doc_20040514_erga-migrantes-caritas-christi_en.html" style="border: 0px; color: #6d4f80; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Erga migrantes caritas Christi</a></em>, beautifully puts it: "In the foreigner a Christian sees not simply a neighbour, but the face of Christ Himself, who was born in a manger and fled into Egypt ... Welcoming the stranger is thus intrinsic to the nature of the Church itself and bears witness to its fidelity to the gospel."</div>
<div style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
I am not, of course, claiming that the State is required to bear the same ethical yoke as that placed upon the Church. But Labor's moral bankruptcy and the humanitarian exhaustion now everywhere apparent in the West are ample demonstrations that politics is running out of moral resources on which to draw. In his 1987 encyclical <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis_en.html" style="border: 0px; color: #6d4f80; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sollicitudo Rei Socialis</a></em>, Pope John Paul II anticipated that the undeniable reality of the plight of others would increasingly impose itself on the consciousness of the developed world:</div>
<blockquote style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 3em; quotes: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
"The fact that men and women in various parts of the world feel personally affected by the injustices and violations of human rights committed in distant countries, countries which perhaps they will never visit, is a further sign of a reality transformed into awareness, thus acquiring a moral connotation. It is above all a question of interdependence ..."</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
He believed that the unavoidable temptation would be to limit our response to the suffering of others to "a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far." But, the pope insisted, what would be required is authentic <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">solidarity</em> - that:</div>
<blockquote style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px 3em; quotes: none; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
"firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual ... [It is] a commitment to the good of one's neighbour with the readiness, in the gospel sense, to 'lose oneself' for the sake of the other instead of exploiting him, and to 'serve him' instead of oppressing him for one's own advantage."</blockquote>
<div style="background-color: #0a385c; border: 0px; color: #005f79; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font: inherit; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">
Grappling with the problem of asylum seekers has always been politically costly. But to defer that cost onto those least able to pay it is to deny that politics is capable of serving any higher end than its own advantage. One suspects that, under Julia Gillard, Labor has already resigned itself to this base reality. If so, then so be it. But then the least they can do is abandon the pretence of occupying the moral high-ground, especially on asylum seeker policy.</div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/11/05/3626029.htm">The politics of asylum: Thuggery in humanitarian drag</a><br />
<br /></div>
Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-54110567576039139662012-07-14T13:29:00.003+10:002012-07-14T13:29:39.541+10:00Wendell Berry speaks at a time of grief<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
On the day of the funeral service for my mother, after I had led the service, I came across the following poem from Wendell Berry's collection <i>A Timbered Choir": The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997 </i>that spoke to me.<br />
<br />
<i>A gracious Sabbath stood here while they stood</i><br />
<i>Who gave our rest a haven.</i><br />
<i>Now fallen, they are given</i><br />
<i>To labor and distress.</i><br />
<i>These times we know much evil, little good</i><br />
<i>To steady us in faith</i><br />
<i>And comfort when our losses press</i><br />
<i>Hard on us, and when we choose,</i><br />
<i>In panic or despair or both,</i><br />
<i>To keep what we will lose.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>For we are fallen like the trees, our peace</i><br />
<i>Broken, and so we must</i><br />
<i>Love where we cannot trust,</i><br />
<i>Trust where we cannot know,</i><br />
<i>And must await the wayward-coming grace</i><br />
<i>That joins living and dead,</i><br />
<i>Taking us where we would not go - </i><br />
<i>Into the boundless dark.</i><br />
<i>When what was made has been unmade</i><br />
<i>The Maker comes to his work.</i><br />
(<i>A Timbered Choir": The Sabbath Poems 1979-1997, II 1985</i>)<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-29867472668130853452012-07-11T10:19:00.002+10:002012-07-11T10:19:30.761+10:00Gay marriage?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have long been promising myself, and anyone else interested in my views to attempt to think through my confusion on the "debate" over "gay marriage". Two deaths in the family in the past month, my mother and my father-in-law, have meant that I haven't had the time or energy to deliver on that promise.<br />
<br />
By way of a place marker for my thinking that opens up the public policy questions is the following observation by Symon Hill in a recent column on the <a href="http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/16726">Ekklesia website</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>At the Ekklesia thinktank, we have long argued that celebrating marriage
and making commitments should be separated from the (arguably less
important) process of gaining legal recognition. This would mean that
people could carry out ceremonies with personal, social and – if
important to them – religious significance, with legal registration
being a separate process. This would allow supporters and opponents of
same-sex marriage to act on their beliefs, to promote them, to publicise
them and to seek to persuade others, without being able to use the law
to enforce their views on those who disagree. </i></blockquote>
</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-10170324804362785062012-06-24T11:58:00.004+10:002012-06-24T11:58:40.490+10:00Producing outrage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Reading an essay by the sociologist of religion Robert Wuthnow on <i>Producing the Sacred: An Essay on Public Religion </i>I was struck by the following comments:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In an otherwise secular society the church must in fact be different. It must do strange things to provide a place where the voice of God can at least be imagined if not actually heard. Clergy do well when they make outrageous statements and love and forgiveness, and congregations do well when they make the even more outrageous attempt to put these statements into practice. (p.58)</i></blockquote>
</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-6419617468581933952012-06-21T21:19:00.001+10:002012-06-21T21:19:07.363+10:00Update on High Court decision<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Interesting commentary on the High Court decision - from the legal and policy perspective George Williams <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/chaplaincy-ruling-casts-doubt-on-federal-programs-20120620-20ocb.html">discussion</a> in the <b><i>Age</i></b> highlights the potential shift in commonwealth/state relationships. An interesting discussion from an <a href="http://newmatilda.com/2012/06/21/victory-common-sense-atheism">atheist perspective</a> is provided in <i><b>New Matilda </b></i>which concludes with the following comments:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 15px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Lucida, 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Australia’s proud history of having a commonsense attitude towards church and state relations remains untarnished. While law nerds scramble to come to terms with a tweaked understanding of Executive Power, the New Atheist crowd can pat themselves on the back for their almost completely pointless legal victory.</span></span></blockquote>
</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-40199904591712967232012-06-20T14:36:00.003+10:002012-06-20T14:48:26.412+10:00High Court Decision and the National School Chaplaincy Program<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
The High Court has named down its judgement on the constitutional validity of the National School Chaplaincy Program (NCSP). For news reports see: <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/school-chaplaincy-program-is-constitutionally-invalid-high-court-20120620-20n2d.html">the Age</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-20/high-court-upholds-chaplaincy-challenge/4081456?WT.svl=news1">the ABC</a>. The full judgement is <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2012/23.html">available here.</a> Summary <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/97611491/High-Court-ruling-on-school-chaplains-funding">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The first thing to note is that the High Court was unanimous in rejecting the appeal to Section 116 of the Constitution as grounds for ruling the program to be invalid. The Court by implication upheld the previous lines of interpretation of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_116_of_the_Constitution_of_Australia">Section 116</a>. This would seem to close down any possibility of moving towards the United States jurisprudence on this issue.<br />
<br />
The Court found the program is unconstitutional because it exceeds the Commonwealth's funding powers. According to the report in the <i>Age</i> ...<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>One of Australia's leading constitutional lawyers George Williams said the implications of the case were massive and could potentially affect any program directly funded by the federal government.<br />This would include the local government Roads Recovery program and even direct funding of private schools.<br />''This sets down very significant limits on the ability of the Commonwealth to spend money,'' Professor Williams said.<br />''I suspect this decision will embolden people to challenge Commonwealth expenditure in other areas.''<br />Professor Williams said that, while the Commonwealth could still provide funding, it may have to be through the states, rather than funding programs directly, which had been its preference.<br />''This may lead the Commonwealth to engage in a major rethink of its budgetary processes - what it spends money on and how it does that,'' he said.<br />"This is very likely to be the biggest High Court case of the year." <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/school-chaplaincy-program-is-constitutionally-invalid-high-court-20120620-20n2d.html">Age</a></i></span></blockquote>
I have not yet read the judgement, and may change my mind after I have done so, but I would have thought that an alternative way of providing a basis for expenditure on such activities would be for grants programs in future to be authorised by legislation. This judgement has profound implications for public policy development and implementation that extend way beyond the specific program that was the subject of the High Court appeal. No longer can Government simply make a decision in Cabinet, make an announcement and have the public service prepare program documentation for a quick roll out.<br />
<br />
Whether it be a matter of developing a legislative framework, or of negotiation with the states and territories the time frame for the roll out of new grant programs is likely to be substantially extended. This decision is a real "game changer" in the field of public policy and public administration.<br />
<br />
As for the chaplaincy program, my guess at this early stage is that both possible routes to further funding have attractions and problems. Transfer of funding to the states and territories, under for example a National Partnership Program would put the program beyond the reach of further constitutional appeal but would open the program to possibilities of cost shifting and reduce Commonwealth control over the structure of the program, plus possible delays while the transfer is negotiated with the states and territories. Legislation to authorise the program could be fast tracked and would be likely to have support from the Opposition.<br />
<br />
Watching the decision making on how the Government handles this decision and how quickly it makes changes to grant programs will be interesting to watch. In the meantime the comments by the interested parties on both sides of the chaplaincy case display a degree of naivety as to what the case really establishes. Mr Williams might quickly find that the Chaplaincy program is re-established on a basis that makes it highly likely that it will be entrenched even more firmly than it was. Comments by Jim Wallace from the ACL that the decision is merely a technical one, shows a blithe disregard for the complexities that may result for groups seeking funding under this program in future as a result of this decision. </div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-59633640564294379842012-04-30T20:49:00.001+10:002012-04-30T20:49:38.945+10:00Remembering Anzac Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
There has been much discussion across all forms of the media about "remembering Anzac Day", or was it "remembering" the soldiers who died and were wounded, firstly at Gallipoli and then World War 1 of who died for their nation, or who paid "the ultimate sacrifice". Note the theologically loaded language here. Christians should have problems with this term. It brings us back within whispering distance of attempts to explain the significance of Jesus' death as political victim of non-resistant messianic encounter with the Roman imperial power.<br />
<br />
But I digress. All in all last week while there was a great deal about "remembering", much of it fairly vague until the consensus about who and what we were "remembering" was brought under question. First Nations peoples wanted to "remember" those of their nations who were killed in the occupation of this country and in the frontier wars. They were firmly ruled out of the official process. Previously women's attempts to" remember" those who were victims of rape in war were also excluded from participation in the official public ceremonies of "remembering". So who gets "remembered" was contested, though the apparent official guardians of the scope of our "remembering", the RSL, ensured that the boundaries were suitably policed.<br />
<br />
But what are we doing in our "remembering"? There was, to judge from letters to the editor of the Canberra Times, very little clarity, or community agreement about the significance and meaning of the public ceremonies of "remembering". And this is interesting because it makes clear that the whole controversy relates to a public process, or ritual. Individuals after all can stop on any occasion of significance to them and "remember" those of their family and friends who were killed or suffered in war without official sanction. This "remembering"at an individual or family level involves a bringing someone to mind, and grieving for their suffering, that they did not go on to live life to its full extent, in some way or another, and that for those who were known personally to us, that we have been deprived of their presence.<br />
<br />
But controversy there was about meaning. For some it was a moment to affirm the horrors of war and say "never again". For others it was about affirming the significance of the "sacrifice" of those who were killed and acknowledging how much we "owed" them, how we should be prepared to offer ourselves to our country in gratitude. The language used was religious to its core. It made very clear that as William Cavanaugh has argued that "the holy" has migrated from the church to the nation/state.<br />
<br />
Christians should take note of this migration and be prepared to assess the claims of the state when they come clothed with the aura of "the holy" and the language of sacrifice. After all according to the earliest Christians, Christ's death meant the end of sacrifice and its claims on human life. The primary "remembering" to which Christians are called is to the meal shared which celebrates Christ's life, death and resurrection and the end of sacrifice, a meal in which the barriers that would divide those who are "holy" from the "profane" are broken down as we recognise Jesus in the sharing of bread with the stranger.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-64122976954638869092012-04-25T19:09:00.000+10:002012-04-25T19:09:00.132+10:00Reflections on Anzac Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
...A few useful reflections on a variety of perspectives that dug through to varying degrees the prevailing largely unself-critical accounts of Anzac Day.<br />
<br />
Stanley Hauerwas in <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/04/24/3487363.htm?WT.svl=featuredSitesScroller">The Sacrifices of War</a> though not directly about Anzac Day provided a good many insights into the character and language of Anzac Day. He makes the important observation that<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #005f79; line-height: 18px;">... it is a mistake to focus - as we most often do - only on the sacrifice of life that war requires. War also requires that we sacrifice our normal unwillingness to kill. It may seem odd to call the sacrifice of our unwillingness to kill "a sacrifice," but I will argue that this sacrifice often renders the lives of those who make it unintelligible. The sacrifice of our unwillingness to kill is but the dark side of the willingness in war to be killed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #005f79; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We are, Hauerwas acknowledges ... f<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #005f79;">ated to kill and be killed because we know no other way to live. But through the forgiveness made possible by the cross of Jesus we are no longer condemned to kill. A people have been created who refuse to resort to the sword that they and those they love might survive. They seek not to survive, but to live in the light of Christ's resurrection.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #005f79;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Bruce Skates in a comment piece in the Age, <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/gallipoli-a-global-calamity-20120424-1xj8o.html" style="color: #005f79;">Gallipoli is a global calamity</a>, argues that </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The futility of war is best acknowledged by mourning the suffering of all nations, not just our own and draws attention to some of the silences in our celebration.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"></span></div>
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>As we approach the centenary of the Great War, we should remember that Gallipoli was a global calamity, one that claimed the lives of soldiers across the British Empire and the world. And we should go further than that. As the Anzac Correspondent knew all too well, battles don't end when the guns stop firing. In the 1920s, and for decades later, Australia and a dozen other combatant nations lived in the shadow of war. It was not just that war visited grief on countless thousands of communities. The trauma of war was not confined to the battlefield or the casualty lists.</i></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Now is the time to broaden our focus and examine the plight of families and communities who cared for the legion of crippled, blind and insane. ''War-wrecked men'' they were called, and they carried the conflict home to their communities. Sadly, (as Marina Larsson's haunting study of repatriation shows) domestic violence, poverty and alcoholism were as much the legacy of war as the legends many celebrate today. Finally, what of the broken promise of Gallipoli? The men and women who served were told the Great War would be the war to end all wars. What a Great Lie that has been.</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>It is time to see Gallipoli for what it was: pointless and obscene. It is time to look beyond that narrow beachhead at Anzac Cove, acknowledge the futility of war and mourn the suffering of nations other than our own. The Anzac centenary offers the opportunity for new forms of remembrance that are balanced and inclusive: ''bigger'' and ''more historical'', as our veteran put it.</i> </span></blockquote>
Jeff Sparrow doubts that the new forms of remembrance that Skates suggests is not likely. In <a href="http://overland.org.au/blogs/new-words/2012/04/anzac-day-celebrates-forgetting/">Memory and the Anti-Politics of Anzac Day</a>. Sparrow explains why. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Conservatives, and most liberals, tell us that Anzac Day stands above
politics. That’s true, in a fashion. But the event’s not apolitical so
much as anti-political.</i></blockquote>
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 17px;"><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Where Carl von Clausewitz defined war as the continuation of politics
by other means, Anzac celebrates the battlefield as a realm entirely
removed from political life. The Great War spurred an unprecedented
degree of social polarisation in Australia, and yet the obsessive
retelling of the Gallipoli landing never corresponds to any equivalent
interest in, say, the populace’s remarkable rejection of conscription in
two ballots in 1916 and 1917. The Bush/Blair/Howard War on Terror
rendered that period more relevant than ever, since obvious parallels
can be drawn between the hysterical patriotism of the ‘Freedom Fries’
days and the jingoism during which most Australian cities renamed their
streets (if you live in Victoria Street, there’s a pretty good chance it
was once called Wilhelm Road), while the state-sanctioned suspicion of
Arabs and Muslims after 9/11 corresponds to the widespread persecution
of Irish and Catholics in the wake of the Easter Uprising, and the
unparalleled freedom granted to security agencies echoes Billy Hughes’
promulgation of the open-ended War Precautions Act.</i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Yet Anzac Day functions not to celebrate but to prevent that kind of
history. It lauds bravery yet allows no room for what Bismarck called
‘civil courage’, a trait that many non-combatants showed in abundance
when, against all the newspapers, politicians and mainstream political
parties, they opposed the slaughter in Europe.</i></blockquote>
</span></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-51515489968687109512012-04-16T19:46:00.003+10:002012-04-16T19:46:45.288+10:00Preaching at Easter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I listened to two sermons this past Easter. Both for different reasons left me disillusioned and as distant as ever from clerically structured religiosity. Both were from different theological strands within the Anglican church in the diocese of Canberra and Goulburn. I haven't got to write up my observations earlier, because for the rest of the weekend I was out listening to wonderful music at the National Folk Festival and being reminded once again of the importance of discipleship, communities of practice and handing on a tradition. All matters that are of foundational importance for the Christian movement. and for the week after I was teaching an intensive for distance education on Christianity and Australian Society.<br />
<br />
Let's start with the sermon on Easter Friday. The setting was an extended reading of the passion narrative from the Gospel of John. The account of the meaning of the crucifixion in the sermon was set out in terms of the penal substitution account of the atonement. What we have in this account of the atonement is a God whose wrath is appeased by Jesus stepping in as the substitute to meet the punishment we deserved. The difficulty here is that we end up with a two-faced God. We have the God of wrath and we have Jesus who according to the Gospels reveals the character of God. Two quite different Gods.<br />
<br />
What we have here in the sayings from the cross, notes Stanley Hauerwas in his mediations on these sayings, <b>Cross-Shattered Christ, </b>is a God who who refuses to save us by violence.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>... God's love for us means he can only hate that which alienates his creatures from the love manifest in our creation. ... the Son of God has taken our place, become for us the abandonment our sin produces, so that we may live confident that the world has been redeemed by this cross. </i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>So redeemed, any account of the cross that suggests God must somehow satisfy an abstract theory of justice by sacrificing his Son on our behalf is clearly wrong ... there is no god who must be satisfied that we might be spared. We are spared because God refuses to have us lost. </i>(pp.65-66)</blockquote>
Simon Barrow unpacks this issue at greater length:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #303030;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">... how, we may ask, can wholeness, deliverance and healing possibly flow from a state execution resulting in the unjust, violent death of a good (if deeply subversive) person - one in whom his friends and followers felt they had met, not just a fine human being, but divine love at its most tangible and engaging?</span></span></i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Some Christian theologies have sought to render the conundrum of the death of Christ through elaborate theories about the sacrifice of innocent blood to expiate or propitiate the righteous anger of a holy God who demands a 'price' for sin. Indeed this kind of explanation - though morally repugnant to very many (quite rightly, in my view) - is probably still the majority interpretation in most conservative Christian circles.<br />... the problem with 'penal substitutionary atonement' theories is that they end up turning God into an abuser, they posit judicial murder as a divinely sanctioned method of redemption, and they propose an account of divine justice that is at complete odds with the unconditional love that Jesus exemplifies and exalts in his parable of the Prodigal Son (for example).</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>In fact judicially-patterned ideas of atonement (ways of effecting at-one-ment between imperfect human beings and the perfection of God) historically arose, in the era of St Anselm and others, in contexts where the forensic 'satisfaction of honour' was a strong cultural norm. It was this problem, rather than one intrinsic to nature of God, that they sought to resolve.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Similarly, the New Testament language of 'blood satisfaction' around Christ is bound up with the need to resolve ancient religious patterns of sacrifice in terms of a fresh understanding arising from the community that encountered, and was profoundly changed by, Jesus of Nazareth. So the Epistle to the Hebrews, for example, pictures Jesus' death as sacrificial precisely in order to argue that in his 'one, perfect sacrifice' the entire sacrificial system of blood-for-honour has been abolished and applies no more. Forgiveness is no longer dependent on sacrificial offerings.</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The logic of this construal is that we should henceforth cease to interpret Christ in terms of patterns of sacrifice. On the contrary, we should recast our notions of sacrifice in terms of Christ - as self-giving and other-healing, not as an external burden requiring the suffering or death of another. </i></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #303030;">That the wisdom of God requires us to reflect on a judicial murder at the very heart of our faith; that we are bound by baptism to Jesus the criminal (Mark Thiessen Nation); and that we are enjoined to "take up our cross" alongside the victims of wrongdoing, neglect and injustice in this world ... these are hardly matters of comfort or convenience. They are, personally and communally, extremely difficult. But they cannot be avoided - whether the challenge they present is one of intellectual wrestling in the face of scepticism, lifestance re-imagining in the face of a loss of hope, or verbal re-orientation in the face of loosely-worded piety.</span></i></span> <a href="http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/14623">"What sense does it make to say "Christ died for us"?</a> </blockquote>
The second sermon on Easter Sunday morning was frustrating in a different way. The preacher did not attempt to address the Gospel reading, the account from Mark 16. This is a striking text in many ways yet the sermon did not address the strange disturbing quality of the text and its implications for our discipleship, indeed it hardly addressed the text at all.<br />
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<i>When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8 ESV)</i></blockquote>
Note here that the women are the witnesses, those who were called to announce the good news, though it seemed strange and terrifying to them. The other significant issue is that the announcement of the resurrection is the call to discipleship, to return to Galilee to take up again the call to follow Jesus. As Ched Myers has observed this is really scary as the disciples knew what the result of following Jesus entailed, a confrontation with the "powers that be".<br />
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<i>An invitation to follow Jesus- again. To resume the Way, the consequences of which we now know all to well. Suddenly from deep within us, form that unexplored space beneath our profoundest hopes and fears roars a tidal wave of ecstasy, and terror, all at once (16.8). We race out of that tombs if we had just seen a ghost. And so we have: In Jesus' empty tomb there is nothing but the ghost of our discipleship past and our discipleship future. (<b>Who will Roll Away the Stone? Discipleship Queries for First World Christians</b>, 412)</i></blockquote>
Mark's resurrection narrative is not calling us to look for a heavenly, spiritualising Jesus, but a Jesus who will meet us in the earthly path of discipleship, back in Galilee, in a specific geography, a specific social and economic location. The geography of Easter is not other worldly. To respond to the invitation to discipleship is to join Jesus where he already is, on the way, not in the comfort of our peaceful churches but amid the storms of life.<br />
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</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-63218933794169276322012-04-04T11:07:00.003+10:002012-04-04T11:07:50.483+10:00Confronting our own frailties<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Rowan Williams in his reflection on the trial of Jesus in Luke draws our attention to the need to confront our own frailties.<br />
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<i>Mark's account of the trial makes us think about the difference of Jesus in terms of God's alienation from almost all our language of meaning let alone success. In this court we are being cross-examined on our readiness to reduce God to a provider of meaning and usefulness in the terms with which we are comfortable. Matthew's trial probes the degree to which our religious fluency blocks out the divine Wisdom and it begins to ask us what we make of those who are left out, or left over by the systems we inhabit. Luke takes us a step further and challenges us not only to stand with those left out and left over, but to find in ourselves the poverty and exclusion we fear and run away from in others - to find in ourselves the tax collector in the Temple, the woman in Simon's house, and both sons in the parable of the Prodigal, with their different kinds of exclusion, guilt and fear. </i>(pp.69-70)</blockquote>
</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-41377384437680431502012-04-03T12:04:00.004+10:002012-04-03T12:04:58.774+10:00From the point of view of the victim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A quote from Rowan Williams discussion of the trail in Matthew's Gospel.<br />
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<i>... God's wisdom is 'kenotic'. It defines itself in the self-forgetting, self-emptying love of Christ the eternal Word, whole lives a human life for our sake and is obedient to the point of death. Such Wisdom will always be an exile, a refugee, in a world constrained by endless struggles for advantage, where success lies always in establishing your position at the expense of another's. The first step in acquiring God's Wisdom is therefore to search for what one recent writer has called 'the intelligence of the victim' - not because it is good or holy in itself to be a victim, far from it, but because looking at the world from the point of view of those excluded by its systems of power frees us from the need always to be securing our own power at all costs. The victim is the person left over or left out after a system has done its job, and is there fore an abiding challenge to the claim of any system to give a comprehensive solution to human needs and problems.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> {Public servants and politicians take note.} </span></blockquote>
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<i>Standing with the victim means adopting a questioning stance towards such claims. In addition, as we try to move to where Jesus stands at his trial, we are challenged to listen to what we ourselves are saying. We use the language of God's unconditional love, of God's action submitting itself to be worked out in the history of weak and sinful people, of God's wisdom made flesh in the pain and failure of Jesus' death. "The words are your own' says Jesus. If you means them where do you stand? </i>(pp.45-46)</blockquote>
</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-72484261849865217882012-04-02T12:37:00.000+10:002012-04-02T12:37:40.114+10:00The difficulty of speaking about Jesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Rowan Williams' <i>Christ on Trial: How the Gospel Unsettles our Judgement </i>is my pre-Easter reading this year. It is challenging and evocative.<br />
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He commences with an account of Mark's retelling of the trial of Jesus framed by a question about the difficulty of speaking truthfully about who Jesus is.<br />
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Williams reminds us that <i>... the world Mark depicts is not a reasonable one; it is full of demons and suffering and abused power. How in such a world could there be a language in which it could truly be said who Jesus is? Whatever is said will take on the colouring of the world's insanity; it will be another bid for the world's power, another identification with the unaccountable tyrannies that decide how things shall be. Jesus, described in the words of this world, would be a competitor for space within it, part of its untruth. </i>(p.6)<br />
<br /></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-48863381316486440582012-03-24T12:21:00.000+11:002012-03-24T12:21:23.541+11:00AFL and the Lake Wobegon syndrome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Perusing the commentators prognostications on the eve of that important religious festival, the commencement of a new AFL season I am reminded of Garrison Keillor's sign off line at the end of his weekly monologue from Lake Wobegon, "where all the men are strong, all the women are beautiful and all the children are above average".<br />
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According to the commentators virtually all the teams in the competition this year are "above average" in that I can find looking at the suggested trajectory for each club that hardly any club is tipped to move backwards down the ladder. This is going to be wonderful to watch. All the "above average" teams levitating up the ladder, while no-one goes backwards.<br />
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<br /></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-9295395766991126172012-03-19T17:35:00.002+11:002012-03-19T17:35:53.017+11:00Should communities of faith be safe?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The previous blog did not do full justice due to the length of the post to the issue of how the church deals with issues of sexual abuse and power, one of the issues that the Declaration process for people exercising leadership in parishes was designed to address.<br />
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Some of the processes developed by denominations to deal with failings in this area seem to me to be clearly appropriate, particularly those are targeted at training people exercising responsibility for teaching, training and leadership of the vulnerable, particularly children. The Diocesan leaflet <i>Safe Communities of Faith</i> highlights some of the basic requirements and processes.</div>
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The concern to prevent sexual and emotional abuse of the vulnerable and the unconscionable abuse of power by those in leadership in the church is absolutely right. The use of the language of safety in an unqualified way runs the risk that it can become overriding and culturally shaped in a way that occludes some elements of the characteristics of discipleship and community that are not, in the terms of the prevailing culture, safe. Let me see if I can unpack my concerns.</div>
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The leaflet commences with reference to the two great commandments of loving God with all our heart, soul and mind and loving our neighbour as ourselves. It then goes on to say:</div>
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<i>These commands guide our behaviour in our relationships and provide the basis for the establishment and exercising of safe activities and events, run in safe environments in an abuse-free Christian community. We seek to build and maintain safe communities of faith by:</i><br />
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<li><i>fostering relationships between members and those of the wider community based on the teachings of Jesus Christ;</i></li>
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<li><i>providing a safe and secure environment where all people can feel respected;</i></li>
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<li><i>providing responsible and loving Christian leadership and management practices built on a scriptural base; and </i></li>
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<li><i>ensuring that cases of alleged abuse, neglect or ministry misconduct are handled in a consistent, unbiased and thorough manner.</i></li>
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The language of "safety" carries the obvious meaning of freedom from harm, and abuse of power, particularly by those claiming to be motivated by love of God and neighbour. The term carries the wider connotation of freedom from danger that is wider than the particular issues of abuse that are being addressed and carries a wider cultural connotation that we ought to be able to ensure control over all our circumstances and that nothing should go wrong. </div>
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Rather than safety being the term of choice, should the Christian community be concerned to develop a community that is characterised by mutual accountability and trust, so as to accept the responsibility to call one another to account and to be able to rely on each other's presence as in the process outlined by Jesus in Matthew 18? The problem with the language of "safety' in a community called to follow Jesus is that he seemed to think that following him would not be a safe process and was more than likely to bring one into conflict with family and the broader society.<br />
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Kimberley K Smith in the context of reflecting on Wendell Berry's discussion of the significance of 9/11 to Americans gets close to what I am trying to argue for here when she comments that .<i>.. the world is not and never will be a safe place. We must learn how to live awfully human life in a dangerous and unpredictable environment - not by seeking godlike control over the conditions of our existence but by cultivating those virtues (moderation, prudence, propriety, fidelity) that allow us to live gracefully in the presence of fear.</i> (p.49) ("Wendell Berry's Political Vision" in <i>Wendell Berry : His Life and Work</i> edited by Jason Peters)<br />
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</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-55858733194385135362012-03-16T15:58:00.001+11:002012-03-16T20:10:24.461+11:00Bureaucracy, Law and Grace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Episodes that exemplify a relationship of tension between churches and 'the powers that be', of bureaucracy, law and community expectations are not always of the clear dramatic character of Luther appearing before the Diet of Worms, with his "Here I stand, I can do none else." They often surface in much more subtle ways in which the tension between the claims of the Gospel on the church and the bureaucratic demands associated with being an institution is often not immediately clear. One of those episodes that brings the tension to the surface drifted into my view this week through the medium of the Parish Leadership Statutory Declaration that accompanied in the pew sheet from the local Anglican parish the call for nominations for the positions of Warden and Members of the Parish Council.</div>
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Undoubtedly many of the institutional churches have had a sorry record in recent times of dealing with issues of the misuse of power and sexual abuse, and are working to deal with the fallout of those events and the consequent lost of community trust. Is there a risk though that some of the processes being set in train to ensure trust is rebuilt, such as through this declaration, may have unintended consequences that undermine some of the basic elements of the character of the church, and are in potential conflict with its fundamental "good news"?<br />
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A look at the "Parish Leadership Statutory Declaration" that has to be filled in by those nominating for positions of parish councillor and warden for parishes within the Anglican Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, raises concerns that the Diocese might be moving into such a space. Let me try and unpack some sociological and theological questions that emerged for me as I thought about the contents of the declaration that I reproduce below. I should declare at this stage that I am of Brethren background and Anabaptist theological commitments, but have churched with Anglican communities for extended periods of time over the years, have many friends there. I offer the following reflections out of concern for the implications of the Declaration.<br />
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I tried to scan the declaration in but it would not remain stable when published on the blog. I have typed the contents in without trying to duplicate the format too closely.<br />
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<b>I ....... (name) of .... (address) do solemnly and sincerely declare that:</b><br />
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<b>1. This declaration is made in support of my nomination for the position of church warden/parish council member (</b>delete whichever is applicable)</div>
<b>2. I was born on ...</b><br />
<b>3. I am a member of the Anglican Church of Australia and not a member of any church that is not in communion with that Church and I attend public worship at .....</b><br />
<b>4. I declare I am 18 years or over and have been a communicant member of this ministry unit for at least 12 months.</b><br />
<b>5. I declare that I am not a disqualified person in that I am not:</b><br />
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<li><b>An undischarged bankrupt, or</b></li>
<li><b>A prohibited person, or</b></li>
<li><b>A person who, if they were resident in NSW would be a prohibited person, or</b></li>
<li><b>A person in respect of whom information has been entered on the National Register, or</b></li>
<li><b>A person who has been convicted of an offence punishable by more that 10 years imprisonment, or</b></li>
<li><b>A person who has been convicted or found guilty of a sexual offence.</b></li>
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<b>6. I further declare that I am not mentally incapacitated.</b></div>
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<b>7. I understand that checks may be made to verify the above and hereby give permission for any police checks that may be necessary.</b></div>
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<b>8. If there are any changes in regard to the above I will notify church authorities.</b></div>
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<b>And I make this declaration conscientiously believing ti to be true and in accordance with the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959.</b></div>
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Signed at: ..... this day of .... year .....</div>
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Signature: ...........</div>
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Rector: Name: ......... Signature: ........</div>
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<b>Notes:</b></div>
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i. If your rector is not available to witness you signing the form, please contact the Diocesan office for a list of people before whom a Statutory Declaration may be made.</div>
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ii. A prohibited person is a registrable person as defined in the <i>Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000</i> or who has been convicted of the following offences:</div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>murder of a child;</li>
<li>serious sexual offence, including carnal knowledge;</li>
<li>child-related personal violence offence (an offence committed by an adult involving intentionally wounding or causing grievous bodily harm to a child;</li>
<li>indecency offence punishable by imprisonment of 12 months, or more;</li>
<li>kidnapping (unless the offender is or has been the child's parent or carer);</li>
<li>offences connected with child prostitution;</li>
<li>possession, distribution or publication of child pornography;</li>
<li>attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit the above offences.</li>
</ul>
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iii. <b>Mental incapacity</b> means a person who has a mental incapacity within the meaning of the <i>Mental Health Act 2007 (NSW)</i> or M<i>ental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2004 (ACT), </i>or a person who is a managed person within the meaning of Chapter 4 of the <i>NSW Trustee and Guardianship Act 2009 (NSW)</i> or a person for whom a guardian has been appointed because the person has an impaired decision-making ability within the meaning of the <i>Guardianship and Management of Property Act 1991 (ACT)</i>.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It is clear that the declaration is intended</span></span> to provide legal coverage for the Diocese to prove that it has taken all reasonable <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">precautions in the case for future legal action on the grounds of sexual abuse by people in leadership</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> positions </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">in the parish</span></span>. The Diocese is thus functioning in a manner that is completely consistent with corporate requirements, and has acted on the basis of legal advice, to ensure the survival of the diocese as a corporate entity by minimising the risk of it being sued out of existence. Is that responsible? Well from a perspective shaped by risk management it is. But for an organisation that claims to be shaped by the mandate of the Gospel there may be more to say or at least more tension between a range of differing claims on the church.</div>
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Let me start with the sociological issues raised by the processes involved in the operation of the declaration, before moving on to the theological issues that I think are raised by this process.</div>
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Sociologists use the term 'isomorphism to describe what happens when an organisation is reshaped in its practices and vision by the process of engaging with another differing form of organisation and reshaping itself to conform to that organisation. The risk suggested by this process is that the diocese, and parishes, will become conformed in character and understanding to the bureaucratic and corporate patterns of self understanding and institutional survival that have shaped these legal requirements.<br />
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Now it could be argued that the Anglican church in its fundamental ecclesiological understanding and structures was profoundly shaped by the Christendom settlement through its engagement with the civil powers and its accompanying sense of responsibility for supporting the maintenance of social order as a whole. It certainly has been shaped by this and still carries that particular DNA deep into its worship and life. The risk I think is that the process of implementing this further corporate, bureaucratic process will continue to powerfully shape the self understanding of the church through its pattern of limiting who and how can be members of the parish leadership. The result will be that the church will simply become, even more that it is at the moment, a chaplain to, and sustainer of the social order and a paragon of middle class, social respectability.<br />
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On the issue of conformity of the church to corporate life more generally, its worth taking a look at the issues raised by Michael L. Budde in "The Rational Shepherd: Corporate Practices and the Church" <i>Studies in Christian Ethics </i>(2008) when he states that:<i> </i></div>
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<i>... I am persuaded that, while the church has a great many problems, more managerial expertise and rationality as exemplified by for-profit corporations are not the solution for most of them. Rather, given its considerable formative powers – its capacity to shape attitudes, dispositions, and ways of inhabiting the world – managerialism threatens to transform the church more than serve it, accelerating the already deep accommodation of the church to the non-Christian world in ways detrimental to the gospel and way of life it establishes in the world. (99-10</i></blockquote>
The next stage in my argument or perhaps probe into the implications of the declaration involves another sociological speculation this time linked to a theological concern. The requirements spelled out in the declaration that a person has to meet to become a member of the leadership in a parish can do nothing but reinforce the perception and reality that the Anglican Church is the preserve of middle class respectability. In short, parish leadership places a series of hurdles to leadership with which the Pharisees would have been completely comfortable. In saying that I am not trying to take a cheap shot at the Pharisees. The Pharisees of the New Testament period were zealous for faithfulness to the Law and seekers of holiness in everyday life, not just the Temple, and were concerned for separation from anything that would defile the faithful. That said the Anglican Church is instituting here, for all the most worthy reasons, a filter that will enforce a new form of purity code that embodies social respectability at its heart. </div>
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Leaving aside the issue of child abuse for a moment. The drawing of the lines against those who are not eligible to stand for parish leadership is interesting. Why the limit restricting from standing those who have been convicted of an offence punishable by more than ten years imprisonment rather than say eight years or 15 years? The problem with getting into this sort of quantum setting as a basis for ensuring the worthiness of parish leaders is that the length of imprisonment related to specific offences shifts over time, depending upon political pressures and social values. This is something that lawyers feel comfortable with, but is difficult to justify on theological terms. The church is here setting its standards for participation in leadership on a very shaky, and inevitably shifting, community standard. The basis for restricting office to those who have been convicted of offences related to sexual behaviour is at least clearer and consistent. If, for other offences, a person has served their sentence, sought reconciliation with the victim(s) and forgiveness within their faith community why should they not be eligible to serve in leadership if they are acknowledged to be appropriately gifted?<br />
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Here the theological issues start to surface. At the heart of the "good news" of the Jesus movement was not respectability, purity codes, or social conformity but a grace which opened up the door to those who were impure, marginal and lacked respectability. Jesus' ministry was characterised by the offer of grace, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is clear on just about every page of the Gospels. The Gospels' accounts of Jesus point to a deep conflict between him and those to whom he was closest in so many ways, the Pharisees over precisely this issue.<br />
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What the requirements for the declaration imply is that those who are impure, fallen and sinners, even if they are welcomed into the church's life, are not going to be welcomed into leadership, even if their gifts testify to the working of the Spirit in their lives and this has been confirmed by the community of the faithful. The legal requirements that prevent this taking place are set up for the protection of an institution and its holdings of property. Now there is one way to get around this limitation and that is to argue that the gifts of the Spirit can be exercised outside of and in parallel to the formal leadership structure and the conversations that shape parish life are conducted outside the formal processes. That's an interesting argument, but what it implies is that the formal leadership structure of the church may be fenced off from the actual exercise of the gifts of the Spirit in the community. I don't know that Anglicans given their ecclesiology would want to go in that direction.<br />
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I don't have a solution to offer, and you might be right to be wary about advice from someone of my ecclesial views but I think there is a real issue there which needs to be thought further about.<br />
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To return briefly to the issue of protection of vulnerable people, particularly children and young people, I agree that the issue is a serious one and my questions on the Declaration are not intended to downplay the seriousness of them. I am not clear though that a declaration process relating to parish leadership goes to the heart of the pastoral and gospel issues that are at stake. A declaration process related to leadership is not of itself going to necessarily prevent abuse by people within the life of the church who do not seek leadership positions.<br />
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On the gospel side of the equation, welcoming those with behavioural problems who do want to be part of a community of disciples, while protecting the vulnerable is an issue that has to be faced by any church that wishes to be truly evangelical. There are some really difficult questions to be faced by church communities who wish to be a truly "inclusive" church and this process does not help the issue. It is hard to interpret this set of procedures as being about anything other than institutional self preservation. For a starting point on thinking about the issues that are at stake here I would recommend the article by Carol Penner "How inclusive is the church?" in the anthology <i>At Peace and Unafraid: Public Order, Security, and the Wisdom of the Cross</i> edited by Duane K. Friesen and Gerald W. Schlabach. (Herald Press, 2005)<br />
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Perhaps I am being unfair. Perhaps, but the document is clearly sternly legal in character and shows few signs that it has been influenced by reflection on the ecclesiological implications of going down the track of bureaucratic compliance.<br />
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On a somewhat unrelated issue that relates to a different element in the declaration that in addition to being a member of the Anglican Church of australia, the person must guarantee that they are not a member of a church, that is not in communion with the Anglican church of Australia. I have one suggestion, that might assist people filling in this part of the Declaration and that is that the Diocese provides a link to an authoritative list of churches with whom the Anglican Church of Australia is not "in communion". There is a list that I found under Anglicans Online, of churches that are not in the Communion of the Anglican Church, which may, or may not, be the same thing as the declaration has in mind. I'm not sure. I have some friends who are experts in the finer points of Anglican ecclesiology who I am sure will be happy to give me, as one of the detested anabaptists as the Thirty Nine Articles puts it, an explanation of the issues at stake. The advice should be readily accessible by way of explanation if people are to make an informed declaration. That is one of the risks of going down this very formal legally structured path. You have to go all the way, or else you run the risk of people raising legal issues if they think the process has not been properly followed. Once you embark on such a path you are constrained to follow it to the end.<br />
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Beyond that issue, some guidance on what is intended by this question would be particularly useful in a time in which denominational loyalties are no longer what they used to be and many people have been in the habit of worshipping in a range of wildly differing ecclesial contexts during the course of their life.<br />
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</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-89559321979633872582012-03-04T10:08:00.000+11:002012-03-04T10:08:05.784+11:00The DNA of Christendom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Attending an ordination and induction service at an Anglican church yesterday evening, I was struck by the extent to which the DNA of Christendom is still powerfully embodied in the liturgy of the service and the self understanding of the structure of the church.<br />
<br />
What do I mean by the DNA of Christendom? Not having an established church tied to the state, but rather the imprint of assumptions about relationships of power and structured order that church received during the Christendom period and that it has continued to carry with it even when the politico-legag settlement has been untangled. The Anglican church carries this imprint with it in its governance, appellate tribunals, canon law, ecclesiastical structure and its liturgy.<br />
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If you examine the language of the ordination liturgy it carries within it still the implicit assumption of a structured order in which priest is placed 'over' a geographically limited group of people, who have a lesser level of biblical and theological knowledge and may not even be very spiritually committed. There was no assumption of mutual learning together under the guidance of the spirit, no sense of mutual accountability and a strong sense of institutional maintenance rather than mutual commissioning for ministry among a group of fellow disciples.<br />
<br />
The 'top down' character of the role to which a priest is being commissioned is perhaps made clear by the language of the commissioning service I attended at a Baptist church recently, where the incoming minister was commissioned to join in the ministry currently being undertaken by the congregation. Very different understanding and relationship.</div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-36557588899381871322012-02-12T14:29:00.000+11:002012-02-12T14:29:13.307+11:00Can anything good come out of San Francisco - theologically speaking?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Encountering Jesus in 21<sup>st</sup> century
San Francisco: a story of conversion and discipleship that has something in it
to disturb and possibly upset almost everyone.</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> Some comments on:</span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ShH_9YzhT_NeKmedAKBrvassPH6kMvJ-tpe88to7D-A68zStzqFjfTfZ-dHTdau5OjlD-8IG3f4jo_KVaSAybLuBvHLPdymX-sIEDqItKesO2atbju-Cu_IO90QVoklkOtNeOeP7LYG9/s1600/42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ShH_9YzhT_NeKmedAKBrvassPH6kMvJ-tpe88to7D-A68zStzqFjfTfZ-dHTdau5OjlD-8IG3f4jo_KVaSAybLuBvHLPdymX-sIEDqItKesO2atbju-Cu_IO90QVoklkOtNeOeP7LYG9/s1600/42.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></b><i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14pt;">Take this Bread: A Radical Conversion</span></i><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 14pt;"> by Sara Miles, <span> </span>(Ballantine Books, 2008) </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOX3FoG4ReQxtobXRmMX6-h7qB9RORdEOlyG-nvbfUZzdoh9D0748kDbcnLcHYjf1EN6xufvZSUGKnMmGFn6xJ1Xmy4V6H-AfCpgz89PefZuWDG9WiOsuW3Yq3LWS5bFf2NeVxdz2LNgdf/s1600/45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOX3FoG4ReQxtobXRmMX6-h7qB9RORdEOlyG-nvbfUZzdoh9D0748kDbcnLcHYjf1EN6xufvZSUGKnMmGFn6xJ1Xmy4V6H-AfCpgz89PefZuWDG9WiOsuW3Yq3LWS5bFf2NeVxdz2LNgdf/s1600/45.jpg" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 19px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus freak: feeding, healing,
raising the dead</i> by Sara Miles (Jossey-Bass, 2010)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p><br /></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The story of a conversion, told in the first person, is a genre that has
largely, though not exclusively, been owned by evangelicals. The
focus in the structure of such conversion stories on an encounter with Jesus
has also been typical of the genre. I know, I know, I can think of exceptions - Augustine's <i>Confessions</i> comes to mind. But I had in mind accounts from people who were not theologians, more at the level of popular church culture. Anyway ...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Sara Miles books might seem on first glance
to comfortably fit into the evangelical frame, yes she experienced a striking
conversion, and yes she is pretty hung up on Jesus and indeed uses the term ‘Jesus
freak’ as the title of her second book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At this point, however, the tracks start to diverge and a variety of theological sacred cows precious to evangelicals and Episcopalians, respectively seem
to have been ignored by the Spirit along the way, if not directly slaughtered, in the account that she provides us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The starting point of her conversion came
through wandering in to an Episcopal church in San Francisco out of sheer curiosity and receiving communion simply because she happened to be there.
It was not a matter of responding to the preaching of the word, the revivalist, altar call sermon, the typical
pattern for evangelicals. It all happened through eating a piece of bread. Are we moving into Anglo-catholic territory here?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Well no as it happens. Indeed, the whole episode is highly irregular in therms of that tradition from start to finish. She should not
have received communion, as someone who had not been baptised. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a word, according to all the rules, what
Miles experienced, a radical refocussing of her life shouldn’t have happened because she would not have received communion at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">And then to raise the improbability level a
couple of notches there is Miles herself, a lesbian, left wing journalist and
war correspondent, living in a committed relationship with a female partner, and parenting her daughter from a failed marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">What Miles discovered as she engaged with the
church community of St Gregory of Nyassa was a faith that centred on real food
real hunger and real bodies. Her story, of how she experienced her conversion and what it led her to do in the opening up of a food pantry at the church, is written with honesty, vigour, humour and a reflective awareness of how her life was being changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">As I said there is plenty here to disturb those of us who come from an evangelical tradition and understand the importance of conversion. The question Miles' story raises is whether what we expect from conversion has more to do with the process of conformity to certain a certain account of middle class conventional morality? </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">For those of a liberal theological persuasion Miles' account seems to yield too much ground to a fundamentalist/ evangelical style at a time in the United States when that theological stance has become closely associated with the political right. Miles' account of feeding people through the food pantry is traced out in strongly theological and ecclesiological terms rather than in a conventional framework of social justice and is subversive of the church's conformity to the institutional culture of bureaucratised helping agencies.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">Secularists will be aghast that one of their own who knows what is wrong church and why intelligent people should be atheists should have strayed so far from the path of righteousness.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">Miles's is passionate about the church but as event, while sitting lightly on its attempt to control the workings of the Spirit. Those committed to the church as institution will be aghast at her free wheeling, passionate commitment to discipleship and her open inclusive approach to sharing of the sacraments. She </span><span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">raises a number of critical
theological and ecclesiological issues that are critical as we move beyond
Christendom. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria;">The case Miles is arguing is that
communion should be an open meal that witnesses to the catholicity and
inclusiveness of Jesus’ life and ministry, that it is evangelical in character
and that baptism should come at the point at which people take on the
responsibility of committing themselves publicly to the path of discipleship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>And Miles is passionate about food and cooking. "Foodies" will find much in this story to enjoy, including her accounts of her early years working in restaurants. It is at this point of celebration of food and the bodies of the poor and broken who become part of the community that runs the food panty at St Gregory's, that I think Miles, without directly making the point in theological terms has put her finger on one of the deepest difficulties of the Christian community - that it has retained against the deepest logic of its own founding story, the reality of the incarnation, too much of a residual gnosticism that is uneasy with the body and the goodness of the created order. Miles testimony of conversion through food and through remembering the body of Christ represents even if indirectly a powerful challenge to that residual, unidentified gnosticism. For that at least I would want to unreservedly thank her.</o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p>For the rest of the disturbance of my residual evangelical sensibilities, I will have to accept that as part of my own ongoing conversion, and acknowledge it as a price well worth paying for the encouragement I have received from Miles' lively account of a very radical conversion.</o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment--></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1719096449402136306.post-18697083123517573652012-01-27T15:32:00.002+11:002012-01-27T15:32:35.839+11:00Australia Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A couple of interesting reflections on the significance and meaning (not?) of Australia Day by Kym at <a href="http://larvatusprodeo.net/2012/01/25/invasion-dayaustralia-day-unitydisunity/">Larvatus Prodeo</a> and Peter Chambers at <a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/2012/01/25/celebrate-australia-day-3-99/">This Blog Harms</a>.<br />
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Both reflect on some of the changes to the character of the day and the celebrations over recent years. Kim first:<br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> </span>think everyone of a certain age can also remember a time when “Australia Day” was pretty much a nothing day. A moveable feast that made a long weekend, where some obscure ceremonies involving firing salutes would take place, and where a few history re-enactors would have their One Day of The Year .... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">It was, of course, always a day when The Great Forgetting moved into overdrive, and Indigenous people, rightly, sought to remember and remind by renaming it Invasion Day and marching, and being visible.</span></span> </i></blockquote>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">But it wasn’t a day when people who – in any way – departed from The Great White Australian Male Norm – had to observe bunches of drunks with Australian flags draped over their shoulders marauding about, demanding people kiss said flags, and generally harassing anyone who visibly departed from said Norm. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">And chanting “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!”.</span></span> </i></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">But what are we left with? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">Sermons and worthy speeches about unity. But a strange unity between the Official Symbols (Flag, Governor-General, military flyovers, and so on) and the appropriation of those symbols by a minority of nativists who believe that they “grew here” ... </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; line-height: 22px;">This is not unity. It’s actually disunity wrapping itself in the flag of Nation and unity.</span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"> </span></blockquote>
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Peter draws attention first of all to the oddness of the day. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Australia Day is an odd selection for a national day. I mean, most nation-states celebrate independence: independence that they fought for, or won, or were given. I suppose this is impossible in Australia, seeing as we effectively refused it when given the opportunity. Nonetheless, the obvious choice is Federation, which was on January 1, 1901. It would be the technically correct choice, since before that, ‘we’ weren’t a nation, just a bunch of self-governing British colonies. But it would also be the hungover choice, given that it’s also New Years Day… in Australia. Scotch that.</span></i></span></blockquote>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But it gets weirder as soon as you ask what Australia Day actually purports to commemorate. I mean, the arrival of a bunch of stinking prison hulks full of transported convicts, mostly men, and their introduction of smallpox to the local Aboriginal populations… Well, it doesn’t seem like our finest moment. Convict origins, shit food, barely potable water, various types of pox, no toothpaste, insufficient opportunities for conjugal bliss… it seems like an experience that most peoples would prefer to forget.</span></i></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Then he puts his finger I something that I had been partly conscious of but not got round to fully articulating - the extent to which national identity is now being expressed as consumerism, identity without history and detached from memory. this shifting to a consumerist focus has happened increasingly over the past decade, but has been really noticeable during the past two or three years.</span></div>
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<i>This is a picture of an Australia Day merchandise stall at a Woolworths.<a href="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/2012/01/25/celebrate-australia-day-3-99/merchandise/" rel="attachment wp-att-3991" style="color: #57973e; line-height: 1.22em; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="alignright size-full wp-image-3991" height="320" src="http://blogs.crikey.com.au/this-blog-harms/files/2012/01/Merchandise2.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; line-height: 1.22em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="240" /></a>No doubt you’ve seen it at yours, if you’re a shopper (and how could you not be, if you’re Australian). When I look at this rack, I see nude capitalism: the emptying out of everything. Rack upon rack of cheap, tacky, Swanston St-quality merchandise, whose only uniting factor is the flag (on which, weirdly, the flag of the colonist still looms large). Check just around the corner at bigger stores, Woolies are also pimping be-flagged boogieboards. Ten years ago, Australians would have laughed at gullible tourists for buying this crap… now, judging from what I’ve seen on the Mornington Peninsula and at the tennis, we’re lapping it up. ... Australia Day has become something irredeemable, full to the hat brim with its own emptiness. But, as I see it, there’s a way through this. It’s the difference between celebration and remembrance.</i></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">All this before the actual media event of the Prime Minister and tony Abbott retreating for the Lobby Restaurant and the protest by people attending the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy at the comments by Tony Abbott. The two episodes were overlapping, but not identical, but that's to the issue here. What the overlapping episodes showed was that political leadership in Australia has no sense of the importance of truthful remembering about this nation's morally complex history.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Christian "remembering" on Australia Day is going to be even more complex because what we are remembering here involves placing the story of church here in the context of its identity as a pilgrim people, that cannot own the claims of our nation as final and determinative of who we are but place ourselves in a longer and broader story. The <i>Epistle to Diognetus</i> reminds us of some of the tensions of this location for the task of remembering:</span></div>
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Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric lifestyle....While they live in both Greek and barbarian cities, as each one's lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship.</blockquote>
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"They live in their own countries, but only as aliens; they participate in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign country is their fatherland, and every fatherland is foreign. </blockquote>
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</span></div>Doughttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15682125015622743887noreply@blogger.com0