Quakers, Climate change, and the BBC

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/sep/07/bbc-we-get-climate-change-coverage-wrong-too-often

Religion or Culture ... and then there is friendly and peaceful co-existence

Australia has been going through a great deal of political turmoil lately ... or should I say that the Liberal Party of Australia, currently the political party of government, has been going through a great deal of turmoil lately. 

There is a new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison commonly referred to as ScoMo.  Sco-Mo is a Pentecostal Christian - which is a bit of a shock for most Australians - and he wears his religion on his sleeve.  For most of Australia's political history, the Prime Ministers from the Liberal Party would usually be Anglican, Presbyterian or Methodist.  Malcolm Turnbull, who ScoMo recently ousted, is a Catholic convert ... although his wife, Lucy, is from a Catholic blue-blood family.

So there is an interesting article in the Fairfax papers today giving rise to the question - Religion or Culture.  The write of the article says there is a difference.  In addition to the points made, Australians have always considered themselves a secular nation without national adherence to one particular religion.  However, the reality was that most Australians, if pressed, would nominate a religion even if they never darkened the door of a church or were "Easter and Christmas" Christians. 

Along with all this, Australia has always thought of itself as the nation of the "fair go".  This concept has been sorely tested in recent times with the influx of people from the African continent. 

Editor's Note:  When I was growing up in 1950s Australia, there was no such concept as "interfaith" - and there was not the dispersion of faiths that there is to-day.  Even Christians found it difficult to collaborate with one another.  

From The Golden Sufi Center: Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations --- available now on Podcast

The Golden Sufi Center August 29, 2018 Dear friends, Warm greetings from late Summer in Northern California. Super Soul Sunday has just released a podcast of the interview with Oprah Winfrey and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. Please feel free to share with those who might have interest. With best wishes, The Golden Sufi Center www.goldensufi.org

New Podcast:  Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Sunday Interview with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee    Oprah Winfrey invited Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee to have a conversation with her about Sufism, the ancient wisdom of the heart. Under the oaks at her California home, they discuss love, longing, mysticism, the search for something real, along with addressing the source of true happiness. This interview premiered on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) in Spring 2012.

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Friends Journal .... a Quaker perspective ... September 1, 2018

Support Independent Quaker Media

​​​​​​​ A Quaker Perspective on Hope by Kate Davies Oné gloomy fall day in the early 1980s, I was on a tour of the infamous toxic waste dump in Love Canal, New York, with government officials from Canada and the United States. The dump’s contaminants were leaking into the Niagara River, and hence into Lake Ontario, the source of drinking water for 40 million Americans and Canadians. Needless to say, this was causing widespread alarm on both sides of the border, and, as an environmental policy analyst for the city of Toronto, my job was to prepare an appropriate response for the city council. By that time, all the local residents had been evacuated, and there was a high chain link fence surrounding the site with large warning signs every hundred yards proclaiming “DANGER: HAZARDOUS WASTE AREA. UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT” in big red and black capital letters. Looking through the fence, I could see rows of boarded up houses and empty streets. The silence was palpable, and I felt overwhelmed as I looked at the poisoned earth and the uninhabited neighborhood. The knowledge that the children were most seriously affected, combined with the fact that there were hundreds of other abandoned sites leaking contaminants into the river and the lake, became too much to bear. Looking back... Read More

Kate Davies is a member of Whidbey Island (Wash.) Meeting and author of Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously in Troubled Times. She is also senior fellow at the Whidbey Institute and professor emeritus at Antioch University. Share:     Related reading  Say the Wrong Thing: Stories and Strategies for Racial Justice and Authentic Community By Dr. Amanda Kemp. Joy Will Come Press, 2016. 46 pages. $20/paperback; $9.99/eBook. Turn a corner these days, and you will run into a new book on racism. Many of them will offer you a thought-provoking ride. What makes Amanda Kemp stand out in the heart and mind of this… A Quaker Argument against Gun Control When good intentions have unintended consequences. PODCAST AVAILABLE. Quaker House at the United Nations Imagine you are in the living room of your home. Now imagine the same scene, except that in addition to you, the room is filled with diplomats from around the world who represent their countries at the United Nations. I don't have to imagine this —I see it on a…

Living the change : faithful choices for a flourishing world : GreenFaith-ARRCC-Cultural Infusion-URI-Religions for Peace Australia

Jewish Christian Muslim Association of Australia - Jewish women's Mikvah, Succah in St Kilda Synagogue + Jewish Museum (Grandmothers exhibition)

Following a threat from Donald Trump, UN agency helping Palestinian refuges is denied US funding

 More

US ends funding to UN Palestinian refugee aid agency, following up on Trump threat

Updated earlier today at 6:57am

PHOTO: The UNRWA helps those who fled since the 1948 war that led to creation of the state of Israel. (Reuters: Mohammed Salem)

RELATED STORY: US withholds $82 million in Palestinian aid after Trump threat

RELATED STORY: Australia ends direct aid to Palestinian Authority

RELATED STORY: Israel passes controversial 'Jewish nation-state law'

The United States has halted all funding to a UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees, in a move likely to further heighten tensions between the Palestinians and the Trump administration.

Key points:

• UNRWA says it helps around 5 million Palestinian refugees across the Middle East
• The US had withheld $82m of funding in January, pending a review
• The UN has called for other countries to fill funding gap, with Germany already offering to help

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the business model and fiscal practices of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were an "irredeemably flawed operation."

"The administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA," she said in a statement.

Ms Nauert said the agency's, "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries is simply unsustainable and has been in crisis mode for many years."

UNRWA rejected the criticisms, with spokesman Chris Gunness describing it as "a force for regional stability".

Speaking in Jordan, where more than 2 million registered Palestinian refugees live, including 370,000 in 10 refugee camps, Mr Gunness said: "It is a deeply regrettable decision … some of the most disadvantaged, marginalised and vulnerable people on this planet are likely to suffer."

PHOTO: The UNRWA supports thousands of Palestinian refugees including those who have fled to war torn Syria. (AP: UNRWA)

Read more here

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference rejects reporting of sexual abuse disclosed in the confessional

Read more here

Faith Communities Council of Victoria - FCCV - September 2018 Newsletter

FCCV SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWSLETTER
	NEWS | EVENTS | HOLY DAYS
2018 VICTORIAN INTERFAITH NETWORKS CONFERENCE: REGISTRATION NOW OPEN Registration is now open for the 2018 Victorian Interfaith Networks Conference to be held Sunday, November 18th 2018 @ St. Albans Community Centre.
MEHREEN FARUQI TO BECOME FIRST FEMALE MUSLIM SENATOR AMID FRASER ANNING OUTRAGE Mehreen Faruqi, who will on Wednesday become Australia’s first female Muslim senator, has slammed Fraser Anning as a “merchant of hate” who has “spat in the face of our successful multicultural society”.
A FAITH COMMUNITIES PERSPECTIVE ON THE ISSUE OF REFUGEES IN MANUS AND NAURU There are around 1,650 asylum seekers and refugees, adults and children, currently in Manus and Nauru. These are people who arrived by boat after 19th July 2013 and are still awaiting resettlement.
AUSTRALIA'S DROUGHT CRISIS: SIKH FARMERS FIGHT TO SAVE THEIR CROPS On the New South Wales mid north coast, time is running out for a group of farmers from the Sikh community to save their crops.
NEW JEWISH WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED IN CANBERRA A new national war memorial has been unveiled to remember the 341 Jewish servicemen who laid down their lives fighting for Australia, 100 years to the day since Monash was knighted on the battlefield.
LIVING THE CHANGE: FAITHFUL CHOICES FOR A FLOURISHING WORLD For those who have not heard, a diverse range of faith communities around the world are awakening to a fresh opportunity to help create a safer climate future.
UNIONS SEEK TO END RELIGIOUS BODIES' RIGHT TO DISCRIMINATE IN HIRING Australia’s union movement will lobby for churches and other religious organisations to lose the legal right to fire some workers on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity.
SCOTT MORRISON - AUSTRALIA'S FIRST PENTECOSTAL PRIME MINISTER Australia has its first Pentecostal Prime Minister with Scott Morrison elected Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Australia.
LORD IT'S COLD OUTSIDE: THE HOMELESS PEOPLE SLEEPING IN CHURCHES It's 7pm on a Wednesday and, good Lord, it's cold in the Melbourne suburb of Heathmont. If Glenn wasn’t sleeping inside (the heated) Heathmont Baptist Church tonight, he would be shivering in a pitch-black Vermont water tunnel.
THE KORAN VERSE SPLITTING IMAMS ON DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Some imams in Australia still teach that the Koran permits husbands to beat their wives, with police reporting Muslim men are citing scripture to justify abuse. Now a new generation of faith leaders is working to undo the damage.
2018 NATIONAL RELIGIOUS SHORT FILM PRIZE WINNER ANNOUNCED Charles Sturt University (Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture) announced the winners of the 2018 Religious Short Film Prize at a special ceremony in Canberra on Wednesday 8 August.
BENEDICTINE ORDER TO JOIN BUDDHISTS AS SOUTHERN TASMANIA TO BECOME HUB OF MONK BUSINESS An order of Catholic monks famous for their six-day silent retreats and chanting have bought a property in southern Tasmania that they hope will become their new Australian base.
SWEDEN MUSLIM WOMAN WHO REFUSED HANDSHAKE AT JOB INTERVIEW WINS CASE A Swedish Muslim woman has won compensation after her job interview was ended when she refused a handshake.
POPE FRANCIS CONDEMNS CHURCH SEX ABUSE IN RESPONSE TO NEW REVELATIONS IN US Pope Francis has issued a letter to Catholics around the world condemning the "crime" of sexual abuse committed by priests and demanding accountability.
THAI CAVE RESCUE: RESCUED BOYS COMPLETE TIME AS NOVICE BUDDHIST MONKS With their heads bowed and wearing orange robes, the members of the boys' soccer team rescued from almost three weeks trapped in a cave in northern Thailand have completed their time as novice Buddhist monks.
HOW ONE MOVIE IS SPARKING A CONVERSATION ON BEING BAHA'I: AN INTERVIEW WITH ‘THE GATE’ DOCUMENTARY CREATORS Ask most people what the Bahá’í faith is, and you will get puzzled looks. It is one of the relatively newer religions and has around five million members around the world. The documentary 'The Gate' is trying to change that.