the cost of climate change

Australia is currently engaged in (or suffering under?) a political debate on how we should address the issue of climate change. It isn't so long ago that many conservatives did not believe the scientific evidence that earth is warming at an alarming rate, and this will have disastrous consequences within a century. Then the argument shifted to whether the predicted changes were human-induced. Now we seem to be arguing about how much we should change our way of life, and how much we should pay, to address the problem. But the fact remains that Aussies, per capita, are among the world's biggest contributors to global warming.

are we entering a 'post-secular' age?

"There are many problems in today’s society that cannot be resolved by the application of reason, logic or medical science." So says Professor David Tacey of La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. "We are emerging from a long period of materialism and rationality," he says.

Is this true? Is it good, or bad? And why does he think this?

one hundred years ago, this day

One hundred years ago, this day, my father was born in Richmond in Melbourne.

osama, obama and jesus

The death of Osama bin Laden is now old news. The US Government's wish to eliminate him is understandable. Whether it will change the terrorism equation much is questionable, but beyond my ability to answer. But what should be a christian's response to these events?

libya: stop the crackdown

Unless you've been under a rock, you know that there's a lot of anti-government unrest across North Africa and the Middle East right now. Libya is especially volatile, with the dictator, Colonel Qaddafi, reportedly unleashing significant weaponry on protesting civilians.

Avaaz is an international human rights organisation protesting this repression and calling for UN intervention to stop the killing. If you want to sign an online petition in support, you can do it here.

Read more about Avaaz here and here.

illegal immigration?

an old post (November 2009) revived to support my post yesterday

Photo: MorgueFile

For many years now, Australia has been the destination of "boat people" - refugees or would-be immigrants from troubled lands to the north and west. Decades ago they were from Vietnam, more recently from the Middle East, Afganistan and Sri Lanka.

And for the same period, debate has raged in Australia between those who want to keep out the "illegals", and those who want to offer help to people in distress. Elections have been fought over the issue, and opinions are highly polarised.

politicisation of asylum-seekers

Australia is a relative rich and peaceful country. Elsewhere in Asia there are many countries which are either poor or not peaceful for some inhabitants (Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, etc). Migration to Australia, sometimes by the hazardous route of long sea voyages in often unsuitable boats, provides an option for a better life for many people. But it also provides a political and ethical problem for Australians.

diary of hope?

Recent events in Egypt offer hope of a better future, hopefully.

forgiveness

It is natural to want to strike back when attacked and hurt, whether by violent words or by violent actions. But christianity has always taught the importance for forgiveness and many non-christians are finding it an important part of their lives as they struggle to recover from the effects of deep hurts.

who needs god?

The western world is in the process of deciding that it doesn't need God. Well, most of us that is, or at least, most of the time. But here's one atheist who thinks other people truly need God, even if he doesn't.

where is god in natural disasters?

Yesterday I posted some information on extreme weather events which seem to indicate that global warming is having an increasing effect. But these natural disasters also raise the question of where is God at these times, and why does he allow them?

extreme weather

Australia has been experiencing some extreme weather lately.

In December, the first month of summer, we had a heat wave in Perth, with some bushfires, light snow in Tasmania, a cool Christmas in Sydney and torrential rain and flooding in Queensland.

the rich get richer and the poor get the picture?

We all know that there is a wide gap between the world's richest countries and the world's poorest. For a while that gap was widening, but in the past 50 years, many of the formerly poor nations, especially in Asia, have been catching up. The big challenge remains Africa, where many of the poorest nations are, because while more people around the world are getting a fairer share of the pie, things haven't improved much for them

This excellent short video sets it out graphically.

does religion cause terrorism?

It's a common charge these days. Nobel Prize winning Physicist and atheist Stephen Weinberg said: "for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." And this atheist certainly seems to thinks so: "we see religion regularly used for war, mass murder, terrorism, and even genocide"

Are there any facts on the subject?

It turns out that there are.