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Keywords: Moral Theology

  • RELIGION

    Kevin Rudd and the problem of evil

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 23 April 2009
    25 Comments

    With uncharacteristic vehemence, Mr Rudd said people smugglers could rot in hell. This kind of language echoes the tabloid characterisation of people who have done foul deeds as monsters. The Christian view of evil is more complex.

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  • RELIGION

    The Pope, condoms and AIDS

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 26 March 2009
    20 Comments

    The Pope's criticism of condoms was forged in a Western context, but reflects an aspect of the African experience of AIDS. There, a value-free Western strategy has been inadequate because it does not deal with important cultural factors.

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  • RELIGION

    Human rights without God

    • Frank Brennan
    • 27 February 2009
    3 Comments

    Professor Martha Nussbaum's recent book Liberty of Conscience provides a rich textured treatment of the place of religion in the public square. If God is taken out of the picture, it may be difficult to maintain a human rights commitment to the weakest and most despised in society.

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  • RELIGION

    Obama's challenge to the Church

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 26 February 2009
    22 Comments

    The standard by which the most vocal Catholic Bishops judged Obama was his position on abortion, same sex marriages, and on the use of embryos for research. Obama has done the churches a favour by stealing their clothing.

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  • RELIGION

    Putting the flame to blame

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 12 February 2009
    12 Comments

    A compulsive fire lighter sets fire to a few leaves. The fire grows and ends up causing many deaths. While it is momentarily satisfying to find someone on whom to fix blame for the fires, it is unhelpful to be fixated in blame.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Dissident bishops and the case for church unity

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 02 February 2009
    19 Comments

    Pope Benedict's decision to lift the excommunication of four dissident Bishops has caused controversy. The decision raises wider questions about the unity of the Catholic Church, which bear on a current conflict within the Church in Brisbane.

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  • MEDIA

    Ethics of a hoax

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 28 January 2009
    9 Comments

    On first reading how Quadrant was deceived into publishing a spurious article, I laughed. My laughter, however, turned into sympathy, and even to apprehension. I recognised how vulnerable Eureka Street could be to such a high class sting.

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  • MEDIA

    Henson nudes not 'revolting', but demand reflection

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 15 January 2009
    5 Comments

    The controversy surrounding art photographer Bill Henson's images of nude pubescent children reveals how strongly in our culture runs anxiety about child abuse. As a media event his art has been confused with the commercial exploitation of children. (June 2008)

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Economic troubles will not ease climate pain

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 17 November 2008
    4 Comments

    As individuals, we can make a difference through symbolic actions that embolden governments to take big steps. The financial crisis and the urgent needs of threatened island nations need to be factored into a calculation that ensures burdens fall most heavily on those most able to bear them.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The fear detective

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 13 November 2008
    3 Comments

    The Edmund Rice Centre's Phil Glendenning is is the ordinary gruff Australian bloke abroad - a Merv Hughes or an Ian Chappell, not naturally articulate but enduring and not to be fobbed off with smooth talk. His silent listening is the moral centre of this powerful SBS TV documentary about returned asylum seekers.

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  • RELIGION

    Moral relativism's extreme close-up

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 16 October 2008
    2 Comments

    Two people embrace on a verandah. The camera pulls back to disclose a housing estate, with couples embracing on each verandah. Relativism works like the move from close-up to broad perspective in film, by seeming to deflate the significance of what we have just seen.

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  • RELIGION

    Educating leaders for the contemporary Australian Church

    • Frank Brennan
    • 06 October 2008

    'Lee and Christine Rush are your average Ozzie couple, except that their teenage son Scott is on death row in Bali having been convicted of being a hapless drug mule. It will not go down well on the streets of Jakarta if Australians are baying for the blood of the Bali bombers one month and then pleading to save our sons and daughters the next month.'

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