Tuesday 31 July 2018
From The Golden Sufi Center
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Monday 30 July 2018
Wednesday 25 July 2018
Asalha Puja (also known as Dharma Day) approaches - 5 August, 2018
Find out about Asalha Puja here
To find out more about Theravadin Buddhism,
Phra Ajan_Jerapunyo
Abbot of Watkungtaphao
Djap Wurrung Embassy and the Islamic Khutbah Prayer
For the past few years, there has been strong community effort to try to prevent or redirect the Victorian Government's plans for widening the Western Highway to four lanes.
Locals have done their utmost but still the Victorian Government
fails to listen and fails to acknowledge the historic and environmental significance of place,
and - in particular - the ancient Red Gums that are being destroyed.
In recent times Aboriginal people have become active in the campaign.
Now it is good to see people of faith - the Islamic faith - in support.
Please send loving thoughts and prayers to this vital campaign.
Saturday 21 July 2018
The commemoration and remembrance of sadness and disasters within Jewish communities
From Emanuel Synagogue in Sydney.
Tisha B'Av services including the chanting of Eicha (the Book of Lamentations)
and kinnot (elegies) sung by the community choir.
July 21 2018 - 6.15pm-7.30pm
at
Emanuel Synagogue
7 Ocean Street
Woollahra, NSW 2025-2025
Friday 20 July 2018
Alan Tudge's proposal for a migrants 'values test'
The video below is from The Drum this afternoon on Australia's national broadcaster, the ABC.
As further background to what is being discussed in Australia, please go here.
LARK, Yom Kippur, and paying it forward
From The Editor:
Through my interfaith activities, I have a dear Jewish friend - Av. This morning, I have received this message and flyer from him through a mutual interfaith friend who is a Sikh, Aunty Jessiee Kaur Singh.
Through my interfaith activities, I have a dear Jewish friend - Av. This morning, I have received this message and flyer from him through a mutual interfaith friend who is a Sikh, Aunty Jessiee Kaur Singh.
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Shalom to all, especially Rosa,
I felt it might be good if I sent out this reminder that Rosa's 3-days of LARK begin today, Friday, 20 July. the flier is again attached...
A Very Little LARK... G-d works in mysterious ways
I would like to share my LARK moment of yesterday... thought I would start a day early (but still share it today!)
- I found myself in a little family-owned cafe that I rarely frequent (2 staff, 3 when busy)... and the shop was having a busy moment.
- I ordered 2 coffees and a pastry for me and a friend, handing them a $20 note.
- I wasn't sure - but guessed the total bill would be maybe $14-16 - so I expected about $5 change
- The shop assistant handed me all 3 items, and some $12 change, which whilst carrying my shopping, I didn't count!
- I had already walked out the shop, when I looked at the change, and thought to myself
- There seems to be too much change
- I recalculated what I'd ordered - and was sure I'd received too much change!
- I will be honest - for a moment I tried to rationalise & tell myself "this is my lucky day!" & should I keep going down the street...?
- Funds continue to be lacking in my life - I could buy 2 more coffees later...
- At that moment, I remembered Rosa's LARK project...
- I went back into the shop and politely pointed out the situation
- Yes, they'd forgotten to charge me for the pastry, thanked me for being honest, and corrected the change
- I felt strongly the LARK message all around...
- Later on... I told this story at my usual cafe... and there the staff and I got immersed in a conversation about ethics... which got us discussing all manner of ways to be honest... debating scenarios like what if it happened in bigger shops like Coles... what if a vending machine overpaid... etc.
- I believe these other people will now spend their next few days thinking about honesty, ethics... and passing the conversation forward...
The moral perhaps - We can "Pay It Forward"... Even When We "Pay It Back"!
Shabbat Shalom,
Tsom Kal (Fast Effectively - to those that fast this Saturday night/Sunday)
Avraham
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Postscript from The Editor:
Our Jewish friends have been in the midst of Yom Kippur
which explains the fasting reference in Av's greeting.
Thursday 19 July 2018
Wednesday 18 July 2018
Monday 16 July 2018
NAIDOC WEEK 2018 - Because of her we can
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Nick Wight, East Coordinator of Indigenous Ministries Australia and coordinator of Indigenous engagement at SURRENDER, celebrates the endurance, perseverance and resilience of Aunty Margaret Little.
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Resilience… this is the current that runs strong and unbroken through Aunty Margaret’s life… endurance, perseverance and incredible resilience.
Aunty Margaret Little is a proud Noongar woman from south-west Western Australia now living and ministering alongside her husband Greg amongst the Indigenous community of WA’s third largest city, Bunbury.
Aunty Margaret was just 16 years old when she first heard about Jesus. Her decision to follow him was almost instantaneous, but only two years later she walked away from her faith. Soon after she married her husband Greg.
It wasn’t until their eldest son Alan was around 14 that Margaret and Greg renewed their faith – in the early 1980's – and immediately jumped straight into a ministry role further north in Port Hedland.
Aunty Margaret and Uncle Greg then faced four years of very dark times. They were tested physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Aunty Margaret can testify to the very real spiritual forces at work during this time. The terror was real. Uncle Greg ended up with an alcohol addiction and it placed untold pressure on their relationship, the community and with God.
The only consistent thing through this dark time was prayer.
The inner voice of the Spirit would speak to Margaret saying, ‘Jesus Christ is stronger than satan’ over and over, year after year. Margaret’s faith and solidarity with Jesus saw her stand with Greg and believe in God’s goodness and His offer of healing in their lives. In 1998 they experienced God’s enduring grace and strength through it all, as He led them to relocate to the remote community of Warburton in outback WA. Here Greg entered a time of healing from his addictions.
Their faith and ministry journey continued, including time back in Greg’s home community of Pingelly, and eventually God brought them to Bunbury in 2000 where Greg accepted a position as an Indigenous Support Officer in the local prison. It's incredible how God would reveal His heart for young Aboriginal people to Margaret and Greg even in the midst of their own very real struggles. They continued to be faithful to the vocational call of ministry and after the death of Margaret’s pastor, brother Len, they moved into leadership of the Bunbury church. Here Margaret’s infectious spirit and hard work has been a bedrock of the activities of the church – Easter conventions, 12 years of work in the local Djidi Djidi Aboriginal school, mentoring of emerging leaders, young ex-offenders living in their home, and an ongoing tireless ministry of hospitality.
Aunty Margaret Little is an Elder who we can say because of her… her resilience, her faith, her love, we can!
– written by Nick Wight.
Share Aunty Margaret's story:
'One Way'
Shaliece Farmer
Nations: Noongar (WA)
Lives: Perth
Throughout this week we are sharing artworks from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists who are part of The Grasstree Gathering network. These artworks are currently on display at Newtown Mission in Sydney, available for public viewing this coming weekend. These artworks are being shared with permission of the artists, and are not to be copied or reproduced. If you would like to purchase an artwork from the artist please email grasstree.gathering@gmail.com.
This email is part of our NAIDOC Week series "Because of her, we can!" celebrating Aboriginal Christian women who have shaped our lives, our churches and our nation.
Religion among the conservatives in modern Australia
One would think the last thing Malcolm Turnbull needs is a new round of the culture wars - this one over whether extra protections are needed for religion - just as he’s coming up to next year’s election.
But that seems likely when the government finally releases the Ruddock report on religious freedom.
The review was set up essentially to salve the hurt of those in Coalition ranks on the losing side of the same-sex marriage debate. Unfortunately in politics, short-term gestures can come back as longer-term distractions.
The government won’t be putting out the report before the July 28 byelections, and that tells us something. There are concerns about how this issue – the detailed carriage of which is with Attorney-General Christian Porter - will play in the public domain.
We don’t know what former Howard government minister Philip Ruddock and his panel have found – in particular what they’ve recommended about legislation to protect religious freedom.
But cabinet minister Dan Tehan has fired an early shot in the battle with his St Thomas More lecture, delivered in late June and run in The Australian last Saturday.
Tehan targeted two fronts: what he called “the creeping encroachment from the state on religious belief” and the “the use of political correctness to marginalise and silence the religious perspective”. A modern problem, he said, is “where religious freedom rubs against laws written to protect other rights”.
He’s concerned about what he sees as inadequacies in the present state and federal legal framework; he urges a Religious Discrimination Act to protect against discrimination on religious grounds and ensure other laws, such as state sex-discrimination acts, don’t restrict religious freedom more than is required.
In this debate, the onus is surely on the advocates of change to establish that present protections aren’t adequate. Tehan’s evidence (such as a complaint against Catholic anti same-sex marriage literature that was withdrawn) seems slight. Liberal senator James Paterson, who supports legislation, also was light on convincing examples when interviewed this week.
But it is the second part of Tehan’s argument that is more disturbing.
“The reality for Australians today is that there is another threat to religious freedom and it does not come from the application of various laws,” he said. “Rather, it comes from what former prime minister John Howard describes as ‘minority fundamentalism’ – which he calls, ‘the assumption that long-held custom, practices and beliefs represent or implies an attack on those who do not support it’”.
Tehan said: “We have woken up in a nightmare where the value of your contribution to a debate depends on what you claim to be a victim of.
"When the forces of political correctness continually marginalise and dismiss contributions to debate informed by a reasonable religious belief it sends a very clear message: you are not welcome here, your views are not welcome here, and your religion is not welcome here’”.
He gives the examples of the boycott of Coopers Brewery after its involvement with the Bible Society in the same-sex marriage debate, and the backlash against rugby union’s Israel Folau after he denounced homosexuality.
“There is more disrespect directed at people who share their faith publicly,” Tehan maintains.'
But what are we looking at here? We can condemn retaliation against a business that has engaged in some well-motivated political act, but we’d surely not want to curb the right of people to protest in this way (provided it’s done peacefully).
And in talking about “political correctness” let us remember this can come in very different stripes, from the right as well as the left, and can be subjective.
When young Muslim activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied posted her “LEST. WE. FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine …)” she was pilloried - not just criticised robustly - for expressing a provocative and disrespectful view. Her most ferocious attackers, including high-profile Liberals, approached her post from what some might characterise as their own school of “political correctness”.
Tehan fears the decline in the proportion of Australians who profess themselves Christians. Citing census figures, he said that while “Christianity remains the most common religion, practiced by 52% of the population”, the proportion is falling, especially among the young. The trend will lead to the day when “the Australians who are part of any religion will become a minority."
"In preparation for that day, we need to consider how we will defend religious rights in this country from political correctness”. He exhorts people of faith to stand up for their views, but this is not enough. “Given the changing nature of the law in Australia, and including the flow towards increasing secularism, we need a Religious Discrimination Act”.
Of course believers should fight for their causes. But a fall in Christian adherence does not make a case for a new law to protect a religious minority – who often might have split opinions anyway.
The legalisation of same-sex marriage was an exercise in democracy in our secular society; the plebiscite’s result reflected how views had changed over a few years. Church voices in opposition were not suppressed - they just lost the argument and so failed to garner the numbers.
There is no credible reason to believe the opportunity for religious views to be put on various issues will be stifled in the future. It may be that they will be rejected, but that is completely different.
From the government’s point of view, there is little upside in the coming debate.
Talk of a Religious Discrimination Act would trigger calls for a wider bill of rights – somewhere the government won’t be going.
And there is always a risk with such legislation of unintended consequences – witness the fallout around some terms in the Racial Discrimination Act’s section 18C.
The strong proponents within the Coalition of this new protection are coming from a Christian point of view. But protection for religion would extend across faiths, potentially raising issues about practices of some non-Christian religions that, while not contravening Australian law, mightn’t fit so well with Australian values. Do we want to get into that mire?
It’s hard to see the religion issue being a vote-changer for Turnbull. The Liberals might hope to wedge Labor, but the ALP has proved skillful at dodging wedges. There could be a greater danger of it dividing Coalition MPs.
The most sensible course would be to put the issue on pause. But that’s not how these things go.
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