Volume 17 No.3

20 February 2007

RELIGION

'Hate the sin, love the sinner' more sentimental than moral?
- Andrew Hamilton
- 27 February 2007
19 Comments
It sounds nice. Until we begin to name names. Adolf Hitler, Jozef Stalin, Pol Pot, Osama Bin Laden. These are monsters. To suggest that God loves them is to sentimentalise God, and to remove any firm basis for morality.
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AUSTRALIA

Mending lives burned and different
- Michael Mullins
- 27 February 2007
Those who are rejected by their peers live their lives on the edge, in much the same way as others whose lives are upturned by bushfires. In the end, they are often richer for the experience.
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AUSTRALIA

Psychology of the PM's Obama critique
- Gill Straker-Bryce
- 27 February 2007
1 Comment
Association is the mechanism used by the advertising industry to sell its products, and we are all susceptible to its influence. We need to understand the psychological processes that inform us as we come to judge not only parties and policies, but individual politicians.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Master mixer of politics and religion
- Frank Brennan
- 27 February 2007
5 Comments
One of Jesuit congressman Robert Drinan's political claims to fame was that he had moved the first motion of impeachment against Richard Nixon. He showed that the mix of politics and religion on Capitol Hill was difficult, especially concerning abortion.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

The crunching surge of Aramoana's surf
- Peter Matheson
- 27 February 2007
1 Comment
I swim the land / And walk the sea, / I breathe these hills / As they breathe me.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Novels' modern characters draw empathy
- Tony Smith
- 27 February 2007
World literature is much richer for the input of Italian Andrea Camilleri, Australian Peter Corris and Scot Ian Rankin. They have mastered the art of presenting modern characters in contemporary situations.
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ENVIRONMENT

Water is our teacher in the school of life
- Clare Coburn
- 27 February 2007
5 Comments
Throwing money at water is not the only way to fix our current problems. Reflecting on some of the meandering and non-linear qualities of water, and seeking to emulate them, may be a starting point for more receptive and sensitive ways of being in the world.
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AUSTRALIA

Afghan action hero's emotional complexity
- Tim Kroenert
- 27 February 2007
2 Comments
As a child in Afghanistan, Hussain Sadiqi idolised martial arts icon Bruce Lee. Today, with two shaolin kung fu Afghani national championship wins under his belt, the 27-year-old's achievements in the ring are nothing compared with the fight he’s faced away from it.
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RELIGION

Ash Wednesday did not begin in 1983
- Kylie Crabbe
- 27 February 2007
5 Comments
For many Australians, Ash Wednesday is synonomous with the devastating bushfires of 1983. But a thousand years before the bushfires, Christians were beginning the season of Lent with Ashes, ensuring a gritty start for the road to Easter.
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ARTS AND CULTURE

Rocky takes on the beasts within
- Tim Kroenert
- 27 February 2007
Four lacklustere sequels and countless parodies and rip-offs have marred Rocky's reputation. Arriving 17 years after the previous incarnation, the sixth and final installment represents much more than a simple return to form.
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ENVIRONMENT

'Polluter pays' a must for global common good
- Sean McDonagh
- 27 February 2007
2 Comments
President Bush and Prime Minister Howard have used scientific uncertainty as an excuse to avoid cutting greenhouse gas emissions. This transgresses the precautionary principle that requires nations to take precautions not to harm other nations.
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AUSTRALIA

Community trust the vital ingredient in refugee resettlement
- Ben Fraser
- 27 February 2007
The recent 'racist firestorm' in Tamworth highlights gaps in the onshore component of the Australia's refugee resettlement program. These deficiencies have a significant bearing on the transition process for newly arrived asylum seekers.
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RELIGION

Capitalism's ingenious immunity to the guilty conscience
- Scott Stephens
- 27 February 2007
9 Comments
Every attempt to curb capitalism's voracious appetite, to ‘humanize’ its world-wide dominion, to place the world economy back in the service of the greater good, and thus temper its lust for unregulated growth, has not only failed, but has been assimilated.
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AUSTRALIA

The other Islamic revolution
- Shahram Akbarzadeh
- 27 February 2007
3 Comments
A quiet revolution is being carried out by ordinary men and women who happen to be Muslim, but are otherwise undistinguishable from the rest of the community. Muslims living in Australia don't have to turn their backs to religion to be good citizens, indeed they're turning to the essentials of their faith to fulfil their citizenship.
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ENVIRONMENT

Triumph of the tree huggers
- Tim Thwaites
- 27 February 2007
In the past six months, climate change has gone from an idea which may have some future relevance to something which is already happening around us. Each region of the world seems to have had its own epiphany over climate change.
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Volume 17 No.3