EurekaStreet - Atheists

Hi guys, yesterday I found myself pondering the bus ads for the atheist convention here in Melbourne “celebrate reason!” they say and heaps of radio interviews about why they are right and smart.  I don’t know if it was their intention to mimic the violent “we have the truth and want to impose it on others” feel of the fruitcake of our faith or the bully’s approach to self esteem ie ”lets gain our identity by bagging others” .  But they did.  Anyhoo this morning I found this more considered and useful reflection than mine in Eureka Street. Enjoy.

Hype undermines atheists’ mission

TIM ROBERTS MARCH 12, 2010

While the so-called ‘New Atheists’ have recently found their voices, the 2010 Global Atheist Convention, ‘Rise of Atheism’, taking place in Melbourne this weekend, suggests that this movement may be in danger of believing its own hype. Judging by the program, the convention aims to increase atheism’s flock by pouring scorn on those whom it should be courting. If that’s the case, the message won’t reach beyond the fans.Some of the speakers at the convention take a pragmatic approach (’reason with opponents’) while others take an idealistic approach (’alienate opponents’). The former approach, while substantially more difficult than the latter, is potentially far more productive.

But it’s unclear whether the convention’s overall aim is to reduce the intensity of religious belief or to crush religion altogether. Though Richard Dawkins and others may earnestly hope for the latter, attempting this will only pick off religious doubters while steeling firmer believers against compromise.

Failing to include debating panels with religious moderates is a missed opportunity. Excluding the religious, of course, probably seemed like an obvious move: after all, one wouldn’t invite creationists to speak at a biology convention for balance’s sake. But inviting representatives from major religions would have prevented the conference from becoming a mere exercise in polemic.

keep reading here

Surrender 2010

Hi Guys,

Have you registered for surrender conference yet? Well get onto it. Good speakers and workshops are the norm, including this year has Dave Andrews “plan be” stuff  and workshops run by the usual suspects of the radical discipleship, social justice and peace  mobs.  Oh and tear are running slum survivor plus the youth night is a fun celebration. So cya there.

What is it?

SURRENDER is a message (and a conference!) that invites and encourages Jesus followers on a journey from believer to disciple. It’s an invitation to follow Jesus among the poor, to influence the broader climate of church opinion and sow seeds for the future of incarnational mission. SURRENDER does this by focussing primarily on inspiring young adults to engage directly with God through the bible, people facing oppression and fellow disciples on the road.

http://surrender.org.au/

The Poor will always be…

Tony Abbott, the poor and Jesus

ANDREW HAMILTON FEBRUARY 19, 2010 Eurekastreet

It is a commonplace to associate Tony Abbott’s politics with his Catholic faith. He certainly refers easily to the Catholic tradition in his speeches. This is helpful because it provides one gate to reflection on his policies.Last week at a meeting of Catholic Social Services he was asked whether he would commit himself to Kevin Rudd’s pledge to halve homelessness in Australia by 2020. He declined.

He expressed the desire to improve the present situation, but said many people chose to be homeless. He also expressed scepticism about the value of large gestures of commitment by politicians to heal social problems, contrasting it with the remark of Jesus, ‘The poor you have with you always’. He set this within a Catholic tradition of realistic social commitment to do what is possible, but not to expect to make the world perfect.

As casual remarks, Abbott’s comments were commonplace. But together they suggested that he does not see homelessness as a major priority. His remarks also provided the skeleton of a Christian justification for that position. So it may be helpful to look in a little more detail at the argument embodied in Jesus’ statement that we always have the poor with us. The phrase has often been used in Christian conversation to diffuse the claim that the poor make on us. But in context it is much richer in meaning.

The phrase, ‘The poor you have with you always’ occurs in a story told in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and John. The story occurs late in the Gospels when the hostility towards Jesus is moving to his arrest and death. A woman comes up to Jesus, breaks open a jar of expensive perfumed oil and pours it over his head. This leads to criticism of the extravagance of the gesture — the jar should have been sold and the money given to the poor. The criticism is variously attributed to bystanders, to Jesus’ disciples and to Judas who, it is noted, was a thief. The critics, plainly, are not the heroes of the story.

Continue reading over at Eureka Street

Lent Bible Studies

Hi Guys

Peter Mallen has put together a Series of Bible studies to help you and your small groups prepare for Easter. The six Bible studies take up some core themes of discipleship. They are based on various readings from

the book of Acts, which forms a companion text to this year’s lectionary readings from the Gospel of Luke.

Acts records some of the exciting adventures of the early Christians but also provides many insights into the

joys and challenges of the Christian life.

• Week 1   People of the Way
• Week 2   Daring to be different
• Week 3   Knowing the story
• Week 4    Living the story
• Week 5   Co‐operating with God
• Week 6   Walking the way of the cross

Download here

PS. Tell me what you think and how they are working with your group(s).

eurekastreet-vigil for slain Indian student

Below is a great reflection from Cara. Thanks and good stuff Cars.

Keeping vigil for slain Indian student

CARA MUNRO JANUARY 06, 2010

They came to stop the violence. Four, maybe five of them, in dark hooded jackets and pale, worn jeans. Hovering uncertainly in the car park. Shadow-like. Haunted.

Wrongly, we assumed they had come to join us. It was 9.30pm, and we were gathered outside the place to which he had come, bleeding, begging for help. We had initiated this gathering: ‘Bring a flower. Bring a candle. Spread the word. Spread the word.’ And so with short notice we had gathered. With short notice, the word had spread.

Now, these newcomers. It was ‘the media’, angling for a statement, that had alerted them: ‘How do you feel about the protests planned for outside Hungry Jack’s tonight?’ Not wishing for violence to answer violence, the small group of Indian students, who introduced themselves as the housemates and friends of Nitin Garg, had come to stop us.

Greg was the first to respond, with a pastor’s face, wise to the inadequacy of words at times like these. Then Xingi, or was it Soph, with long stalks of white roses. Candles.

On the mutual ground of the restaurant car park we explained that we were simply people from the community. Christians, many of us. Concerned. Compelled. Our desire, like theirs, was for the violence to end. We asked them to join us.

continue reading over at eurekastreet

Clipping an angel’s wings

http://cpt.org/

28 December 2009

HEBRON REFLECTION: Clipping an angel’s wings

by Johann Funk

She is the vision of innocence, peering up into the dull eyes of a soldier towering over her.  She can only be four or five years old.  Black slacks with a green striped short skirt fanning out beneath her short black jacket indicate that she is a kindergarten student.  She strains to hand the backpack, which is half her length, up to the soldier who orders her to stop.  He systematically opens every zipper and plunges his hands into each pocket before handing the backpack back.  It slumps to the ground.  The little girl carefully closes the zippers and with considerable effort slings the backpack onto her back; the young soldier, who has moved on to the next search, has already forgotten her.  She stumbles as she hurries to catch up with her friends.  This encounter is a significant part of her education under the Israeli occupying power, which seeks to clip her fragile wings.

I feel helpless, angry and sad all at once.  What can I do?  I observe, I document, I report but it is not enough, it is never enough to change significantly the severity of the occupation, let alone to end it.  I rationalize that what I do is part of a larger struggle but this answer is never completely satisfying.  My angel at Qitoun Checkpoint is still dehumanized as an enemy, invisible to international geopolitics, despite my feeble efforts.  All I can do is reflect, pray and enter into the suffering God must experience when he sees what is done in his name for the sake of Israeli settlers in Hebron.

Lest we forget a cruel act of dispossession

Peter Lewis (many of us know through AboutFace and other places) and Richard Franklin have a remembering article in the Age about the Aborigines Protection Act 1869

It is an odd coincidence of history that the 11th day of the 11th month is a day of several anniversaries of great significance for Australian identity. The first anniversary that comes to mind is Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War - a war where too many young Australian men met their deaths and the legend of the digger was born.

The next most remembered anniversary is the dismissal of the Whitlam government, which brought to an end a dramatic period of progressive government in Australia (if we ignore East Timor and the economy).

It is also the anniversary of the execution - in 1880 - of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly. Kelly was either a villain or an imperfect embodiment of the Irish-Australian radical tradition, possibly both.

But an anniversary that has been forgotten is one that has even more relevance for understanding the ironies of Australian identity.

Eleven years before the hanging of Ned Kelly and 140 years ago this year, the Victorian colonial government passed an act ”To Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria”, more commonly known as the Aborigines Protection Act 1869.

This gave government control of where Aboriginal people could live, of how they would relate to Europeans, of their labour and earnings and of the ”care, custody and education” of all Aboriginal children.

It was this act that created the conditions for Aboriginal containment and assimilation, and its legal platform enabled policies that led to the stolen generations and stolen wages.

For us it raises an interesting question - why have we so rarely included this anniversary in our remembering?

keep reading here

Anti-Poverty Week My Arse

From Diane’s blog:

Alright so, anger and sadness have filled my thoughts for the last couple of days as I had big plans for this week. Anti-poverty Week was suppose to be a time where people bridge the gap, get to know and maybe make a difference in the lives of some people in poverty. There is this carpark ramp at the back of my work, where some people have made their home. During the day their belongings are neatly stored in the cable trays that hang under the concrete slab above, no one would know during the day that anyone called this home. I work long hours and this is how my friends and I met. My plan this week was to make sure that each night there was dinner, or some new blankets, or even something like some flowers. I even thought of doing a painting. Alas … my plans have changed. Monday morning, bright and fresh I strolled down the alley to find a dirty great big roller door stuck on the outside of the building…

Read the full post for the whole story…

Flash Mob Fame :)

Hey guys, here is a bit of pondering about us causing trouble from the transit lounge

Flash Mob Fad - by Meera Atkinson

Fads come and go and, while some conform to social norms, others confront them. The flash mob craze is a case in point: social statement, performance art or childish hoax?

Wikipedia defines a flash mob as “a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse,” adding that flash mobs are mobilised via telecommunications, social media or viral emails. …..

“It’s a spectacle for spectacle’s sake—which is silly, but is also, as I’ve discovered somewhat to my surprise, genuinely transgressive, which is part of its appeal… People feel like there’s nothing but order everywhere, and so they love to be a part of just one thing that nobody was expecting.”….

Whatever the original motives, the flash mob phenomenon is now being employed by those with particular agendas around social justice issues. Adrian Greenwood, Young Adults Discipleship Educator at the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania, was inspired to organise a mob by footage of a ‘freeze mob’ in Times Square in which a huge group of people froze on the spot.

Watching Youtube footage of the event Adrian was struck by an onlooker who walked around the frozen group saying something to the effect of, “What’s going on? I don’t understand. It must be a protest”…..

Read the rest here

Feature Clip - WARNING…. This poem may be to soon for you…

 

Buddy Wakefield - Information Man

Hi Guys this guy is great…. thanks Tim for the tipoff. What do peeps think?

Buddy’s piece “The Information Man” featured at the Individual World Championship Slam 2006, in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

(oh and to avoid the comments this track comes with JJJ styled language warning… )

Next Page »