Category: Writing


The shame of abortion

Filed Under: Ethics, Letters to The Editor by Jodie — Leave a comment
3 November, 2004

In all of today’s major daily newspapers there is a sea of letters about abortion. It is a divisive issue, and not without reason.

On the one hand, there are those who claim that it is a woman’s choice, and that men have no right to preach morals. On the other hand, there are people like me who believe that the epidemic of 100,000 abortions per year is shocking evidence of an enormous social evil.

In response, I submitted this letter to the SMH, The Age and The Australian:

“I predict that by the end of this century our society will hang its head in shame at the slaughter of our unborn children from abortion. Like slavery and genocide, our children’s children will struggle to comprehend how a civilised society such as ours could have allowed such a crime against humanity.”

It’s hard hitting… but it’s how I feel. Furthermore, I know it is how God feels about the killing of his created children.

PS: Letter was published by The Australian on 4th November.

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Media watch Philip Jensen

Filed Under: Media, Sydney Anglican Diocese by Jodie — Leave a comment
26 October, 2004

Many of you would be aware of the recent media coverage of Philip Jensen’s talks in the UK. It started with a report in The Guardian, with the headline “Evangelicals call Williams a prostitute” (13 Oct), which formed the basis for a spate of media reports throughout the world, for example this article in the SMH.

Since his return from the UK, Philip has given his own perspective on the events during a speech at the Sydney Anglican Synod.

Last night this story was featured on ABC TV’s Media Watch program. However, it seems that even this self-appointed media watchdog is not without its own bias.

It was perhaps reasonable for David Marr to say to Philip that he “hasn’t produced a shred of evidence that you were misreported by the Guardian”, since transcripts of the talk have not been published. Yet, viewers were left with the impression that this absence of evidence damned Philip and exonerated the journalist. Indeed, David Marr ended his piece by saying to Philip: “to get yourself out of a pickle, you defamed the journalist, denounced the Australian media and set out to bamboozle synod.”

Clearly, the Media Watch was biased against Philip and towards the journalist. The fair and balanced way to end the piece would have been to acknowledge that the lack of a transcript leaves the truth inconclusive. Yet, unfortunately, the journalist was treated as innocent until proven guilty, whilst the priest was considered guilty until proven innocent.

For further reading, view the discussion on sydneyanglicans.net here

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True tolerance in The Leader

Filed Under: Letters to The Editor, Religions by Jodie — Leave a comment
5 February, 2004

Today my local newspaper (the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader) printed an article entitled “Muslim faithful get immersed in festival” (Feb 5). I submitted this letter to the editor in response:

“Thank you for the helpful and positive article on the current Muslim celebrations (‘Muslim faithful get immersed in festival’, February 5). In particular, I was impressed to see that it included a concise explanation of what Muslims believe.

In this age of religious pluralism it is refreshing to see such a clear and balanced representation of a religious position.

Yet, as we present these views it will become apparent that these positions will often disagree with each other in important matters. For example, the Koran states that Jesus was not crucified, a statement in clear disagreement with what the Bible records as history. Thus, it is foolish to suggest that Islam and Christianity are both true.

Notwithstanding, it is a great privilege that in this free, peace-loving democracy we can disagree with each other without fear. For true tolerance protects the right for people to not only hold contradictory truth views, but allows them the freedom to preach them and defend them.

May The Leader continue to show leadership in this vital virtue of true tolerance.”

I’ll let you know if it gets published.

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Letter published in The Age Newspaper

Filed Under: Letters to The Editor by Jodie — Leave a comment
9 January, 2004

Read the letter (and others) here http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/08/1073437407148.html. You might also like to see the letters on the following day to see the ongoing debate http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/09/1073437470905.html. The original article can be found at http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/06/1073268031323.html.

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Resist secularist pressure to censor religious teaching in our schools

Filed Under: Letters to The Editor, Religions, Theology by Jodie — Leave a comment
7 January, 2004

So Tony Wilson thinks it’s OK for schools to teach that God doesn’t exist, but not OK for them to teach that he does (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/01/06/1073268031323.html). If he was genuinely committed to atheism then he would welcome the opportunity for his world-view to compete with the other philosophical and religious “truths”.

If we want to provide our children with a balanced and well-rounded education, then we need to resist the secularist pressure to censor religious teaching in our schools.

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