Though a significant minority across the world enjoy the gross material benefits of a prodigiously productive global economy, our planet is at the same time beset by escalating system-level crises. Deep economic inequality is intensifying both between and within national polities. Ecological degradation is calling into question the future of the earth as we know it, with disruptive climate change only the most prominent issue. Global (dis)order is stoking increased militarisation, including the possession of…
I am a priest in the Anglican Church in Melbourne. I think of myself as an orthodox Christian who in good conscience recites the Nicene Creed each Sunday at the Eucharist. My interest as a priest includes seeking to give an account of the kind of world in which we live, not only in terms of various accounts that are in circulation but also in terms of the 'divine economy' for the whole universe from…
The Catholic Social Welfare Commission stated for all to hear that applying the Goods and Services Tax to food makes it far more difficult for poorer Australians to get the essentials of life, and that this is an offence to human dignity. The response from politicians and media commentators was to indignantly make themselves the good guys and the others the bad guys, to tell the churches to keep out of party politics and to…
A Christian response to Richard Dawkins and militant atheismRecently I attended the Atheist Convention in Melbourne and found myself with 1500 people in something like a revivalist meeting, with speakers larger than life on giant screens, well-groomed hosts, stamping of feet, cheering and ecstatic interjections. This was strident, militant, self-confident atheism in full voice and on the move to make everyone atheists. One speaker noted the irony that they were meeting for a weekend to…
