Baggas’ Blog

Australian Democrats Survey

The Australian Democrats are a left-wing minor party in Australian politics whose clout has been steadily waning in recent years. However they are still not without some small degree of influence. Their latest target is the relationship between church and government, and they are waging a campaign which is aiming (or so it seems to me) to eradicate any form of government funding for church organisations, remove religious education and influence from schools, and discourage people of faith from having any influence on the political process. The above survey is their attempt to canvass community views on the subject, but as you may see the questions make their bias quite evident. And holding a survey on the Democrats’ website is not exactly going to provide a truly representative result is it, since most of the users of that site would be Democrat voters who generally adhere to the same secular-liberal ethos.

So, in the interest of democracy, I’d encourage everyone to head on ever there and answer the survey. Fortunately it’s fairly short and quick - will only take you a minute. And fellow Aussie Christian bloggers may want to help spread the word on their blogs to get more people to do their bit for democracy (I found the survey at Craig’s blog). You can do the survey here…

Work today is just like the weather. It’s been raining on and off all day with sudden bursts of showers. And it’s been very slow at work, quite a few patients not showing up or coming very late but when they do arrive they tend to all arrive at once. Consequently it’s been quite frustrating - periods of boredom and inactivity punctuated by flurries of rush when suddenly I find myself with 4 people waiting to see me.

Actually on rainy days like today there’s nothing I like better than being at home in a quiet house (no kids preferably) watching the rain through the window. Recently I took the cover off our pool and I’ve found it’s very soothing just watching the water and the rain, even if it’s too cold to swim. Now why can’t someone pay me to have a lifestyle like that? (I just read Scot McKnight’s blog account of an average day, and I am most envious!)

Just finished reading an essay by Amanda Lohrey entitled Voting for Jesus : Christianity and Politics in Australia. This piece looks at the supposed increasing influence of Christian groups such as Hillsong on the political process in Australia, and especially the connections between Christian groups and Right wing parties. She started off with a lot of promise, giving a fair handed interview of some Hillsong youth and then a relatively balanced evaluation of that church, but ultimately Ms Lohrey couldn’t adequately suppress her leftist, secular bias and the essay descended into conspiracy theorizing about the secret political influence of conservative Christian groups and how the Liberals are happy to use them as “fundamentalist attack dogs.”

Not content with discussing politics alone, Lohrey also points out perceived flaws in mainstream Christian belief itself. She dismisses the concepts of Jesus as saviour, original sin, justification by faith, and the “strict-father” model of religion as being “fundamentalist” doctrines with a range of negative consequences for individuals and society, whilst viewing a watered down “nurturant” teacher Jesus in a more positive light. The problem is that Lohrey fails to see that Christianity is a “broad church” so to speak, with a continuous spectrum of views from extreme fundamentalists to extreme liberals, and of which a sizeable majority would hold to some form of the “negative” doctrines she critiques in such an unnuanced way. She is quite happy in this book to attack not only Hillsong and extreme groups like the Exclusive Brethren, but the views of Catholic and Anglican leaders also. Perhaps if Ms Lohrey could have kept her focus on politics and stayed away from theology then this essay might have been of greater value, but sadly that was not the case.

One thing I did find of value, albeit in a depressing way, was the comments in the book from Tasmanian academic Phil Dowe. This is a former evangelical Christian who used to run student Christian groups at the university but is now an “informed agnostic.” His stated reasons for leaving the faith should give us all pause for thought, both as individual Christians and churches :

“But even more to the point was a strikingly practical - one might even say scientific - test that this philosopher applied to himself and those around him. The acid test of fundamentalist Christian faith was this : did it make you a better person? Dowe asked this of himself and others, including church leaders, and came up with a negative. “There is a hard-core belief in justification by faith alone as essential to being a Christian. There’s a whole theory of the individual being inhabited by the Spirit and how it’s supposed to make you a better person. But,” he says, in his quiet and emphatic way, “it doesn’t. Teachings were being applied but they weren’t working, they weren’t making a difference.”

This sort of comment is something we need to take seriously. If we as Christians honestly look at ourselves and Christians in general and apply this sort of “test” we must acknowledge that there is truth in Dowe’s observations. However the response to that should not be to doubt the essential validity of the gospel as Dowe does, but rather to look out ourselves to try and work out why we are going wrong in our theology, personal discipleship and ultimately our praxis. A more in depth look at this subject (from the point of view of someone who identified the same problems but who remained committed to biblical Christianity) is The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience by Ronald Sider. These are serious issues that need consideration.

Spent the night up in Perth last night which was good, and then spent much of today in the city shopping, at least after 12pm when the shops opened (I’ll never understand why Western Australians seem to like these limited shopping hours?)

Anyway we ended up spending a big chunk of our time in Borders Bookshop, which opened recently. It’s about time Perth had a seriously large bookshop and I was not disappointed. Two large floors containing a massive range of books, CDs, and DVDs, as well as a Gloria Jeans cafe.

In terms of range, they are like nothing else in Perth. For most authors in the fiction section there was a very comprehensive selection of books. For example they had the most complete range of Patrick O’Brian books I’ve seen, including a few rarer books I’ve not seen elsewhere (I picked up his early novel Hussein.) This was true of many writers, although there were a few disappointing exceptions (only one book each from Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn, and only a few from C S Lewis) In general though a very comprehensive range, with many books I’d never seen before - I could easily have found something to interest me on almost every shelf.

Going downstairs to the non-fiction section, we were amazed even further. A massive smorgasbord of books as far as the eye could see - a most satisfactory range on almost every topic - history, social sciences, philosophy, parenting, cooking, childrens, classics and many more. I must say though I found the Religion section very disappointing, in particular the Christianity shelves - not only was it about a quarter of the size of either the “Self help” or “Body, Mind, and Soul” (ie New Age Spirituality) sections, but it had a decidedly sceptical, “liberal” slant to it. Sure there were a few obligatory copies of The Purpose Driven Life and some other conservative/evangelical offerings represented by the likes of Joel Osteen and Left Behind (sad that that’s the best they could do) but these were far outnumbered by Da-Vinci code inspired books on the “Historical Jesus”, the grail, his bloodline etc, and a range of other sceptical books. They had a whole shelf devoted to Bishop Shelby Spong and not a single book from the prolific and much more credible Bishop N T Wright. Spong even outnumbered C S Lewis (Narnia books aside). Comparing between sections, in the Philosophy department I was impressed to find nearly two shelves worth of books by and about Friederich Nietzche but this far outnumbered the number of copies of the Bible that the store held. I’m not sure how the books to be stocked are chosen in these type of stores but there is a definite editorial bias, in the religious department at least. If they had a better range of books appealing to the Christian market they would find this section to be a much better earner I’m sure (and they could even give the likes of Koorong a bit of competition) but instead they pander to a minority of “liberal Christians” and sceptics.

But that’s about my only gripe with the store. Oh, and the fact that they are not cheap - many of the books I could still buy and get shipped from Amazon cheaper, but then Amazon doesn’t provide the same wonderful browsing experience. I will definitely be going back to Borders, though next time I might try and be a little more restrained - Jen and I spent over $200 there today, though I must say, well over half of that was hers

Just had some Pizza hut for lunch, courtesy of a friendly drug rep. Normally they seem to think that all of us doctors just want to eat healthy foods so it’s all salads, rolls, and boring sandwiches worst of all. Pizza was certainly a refreshing and yummy change. I’ll definitely be prescribing her drugs from now on (actually I already do) The other rep I like always brings Chinese food so I’m always happy to see her too. If you’re a drug rep take notice - pizza, chinese food, chicken, quality pastas and other hot foods are the way to go - sandwiches and rolls will not impress.

In the late 90s I constructed my very own game for small groups and families to play - Theme Team! This game, which was a big hit in my church at the time, was composed of a series of 5 audio CDs filled with the themes to current and classic TV shows and movies (which I had downloaded from the net as MP3s in the middle of my Napster phase). Basically each clip was played and the first team to guess the show scored a point. It was quite simple but a lot of fun.

Anyway I had lost a couple of the CDs from the game (though I still have the original theme  MP3s) so I thought now might be a good time to update the game to a 2006 version. Since there’s been plenty of new TV shows in the past few years I thought I’d open it up to suggestions - can anyone suggest any good themes from this century worth including in the new version of the game?

I’ll be working on it over the next couple of weeks and will let you know when it’s done.

This is a picture from today’s edition of our daily paper, The West Australian, which is sadly not one of the great newspaper’s of the world. The story was concerning the conflict within the Australian Uniting Church at the moment regarding the ordination of gay people to the ministry, akin to the conflict affecting the Anglican communion worldwide.

The picture is of Rev Mike Fawcett from Bicton, who is part of the conservative camp opposed to gays in the ministry. Now I don’t necessarily have a problem with his point of view, but I do have a huge problem with that photo. Is this the way we want Christian ministers presented in the media? A stern face, looking down, massive scary bible clutched to his chest, standing in front of an imposing cross. This is the kind of negative sterotype of Christians we need to run from, as it reinforces a lot of false (or maybe not so false?) impressions that the general public have of Christians.

I’m not sure if Rev Mike got to see the photo before it was published, and I’d really love to know if he approves of it, but if this is the way the “conservative” wing of the Uniting church are happy to be portrayed then I think they are fighting a losing battle against the “tolerant, progressive” “liberals.” Once again this is not a judgement on the relative merits of their positions on the homosexual issue, but a comment on the media portrayals. The issue itself is an incredibly difficult and painful one where finding the balance between being loving and inclusive and being faithful to scripture is very hard. It’s an issue that is probably best discussed away from the public eye, if this is the kind of coverage it is going to get.

Even in the internet age, it seems that bad customer service is not a thing of the past. Here’s a couple of examples of unimpressive companies - I’ll name and shame them right here…

First candidate is iiNet, my Internet provider. On Friday I received an email from them about changes to my broadband plan. Basically I have two options. One is to keep paying the same amount, and receive the same monthly downloads at a third of my current speed. Or I can pay $20 more to have the same speed and download quotas I have now. What a great deal! I almost feel betrayed since I’ve been a loyal iiNet customer for many years, since they were just a small dialup ISP. I have even recommended them to a lot of friends and family - and this is how they repay me! I think iiNet are about to lose a lot of customers. Not good.

Second candidate is Word Christian bookstore, Australias #2 Christian bookshop. A week and a half ago I ordered some things from their latest catalog online, and aside from the initial confirmation email I have heard nothing since. I can get things shipped from Amazon faster than that, and Word’s main Australian competitor Koorong will usually have a package on my doorstep within 2-3 days (their shipping is A1, although their prices and range leave a bit to be desired.) I easily could have ordered the same stuff from Koorong even though Word was a few dollars cheaper, and had it by now. I won’t be making the same mistake again. Amazon and Koorong only from now on.

In the interests of balance, I’ll just give a quick example of good customer service. This week I made an order with OfficeWorks Business Direct for a new desk chair. It arrived super fast, and they also sent a free gift box because I was a “new customer” with some free stuff and the biggest stationery catalogue I’ve ever seen (other stationery lovers will appreciate how cool that is!) - now there’s a business that goes above and beyond. Well done Office Works.

Soylent Green . . . Here Comes the Judge…

The Blue Raja has coined an apt phrase to describe some of the judgemental, negative discussion that too often occurs in the “christian” blogosphere : fire-and-blogstone. He uses the phrase in the context of a discussion of some of the NT passages on judging, specifically in Paul and the gospels (sounds like the Raja has copped a bit of heat recently), and also drawing from Jonathan Edwards. I read this immediately after perusing a post entitled “Is Tony Jones Even Christian” so both the Raja’s comments, and the phrase, seemed very apt.

Costello bombshell on PM ‘deal’ - National - smh.com.au

Well it looks like Australia’s Liberal government are doing their best to self-destruct. The story was leaked in recent days about a meeting where John Howard promised Peter Costello that he would step down after 2 terms. Howard has denied this, Costello has confirmed the story as accurate. I believe Costello. Having said that I think both of them are unwise. At a time where Kim Beazley is slowly but steadily rebuilding his profile and enhancing his chances of winning an election (through feeding the mostly unwarranted public paranoia about the industrial relations changes) the Liberals need to maintain a united front. Their best chance of winning is for Howard to remain leader until the next election with Costello continuing as Treasurer (after which time a relatively prompt and orderly handover could be achieved). Their second best chance of winning would have been following an orderly handover to Costello in the next 6 months - this no longer seems like an option now. Now that the two leaders are publicly telling stories that are at odds with each other, surely one of them will have to go. I’m sure that Howard would not want to give up the job in such a messy fashion, and he still comands the numbers, so my guess is that we will lose Costello from the front bench (at least for the time being) - but all that instability will seriously affect the government’s chances at the next election no matter who is in charge. Howard and Costello have each shot the other in the foot this time - the next shot may prove fatal…

Penalty shootout winners - Top stories - Breaking News 24/7 - NEWS.com.au

Follow my logic here :

- Italy wins the World Cup

- Italy knocks Australia out of the world cup due to a poor refereeing decision in a game where Australia were arguably the better team on the day

- therefore, if it wasn’t for that decision Australia might have won the world cup??

I know it’s a long stretch but I find it quite a consoling fantasy. Oh well, there’s always 2010. In the meantime, congratulations to Italy!

Jesus Creed » Zealotry 1

As always, Scot McKnight keeps coming out with thought provoking and on-the-money blog pieces. His latest piece weighs into the evangelical vs “liberal” divide with some fairly scathing words concerning evangelicals “faithfulness to the Bible.” I appreciated what he had to say, and the comments thus far have been very fruitful as well, particularly on the issue of Christians and alcohol. Will be interesting to see where Scot goes with this series.

Last week I got the latest album from The Streets, an English garage hip-hop outfit fronted by Mike Skinner. The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living follows in the tradition of his two previous albums, with engaging music and lyrics, often of a narrative nature. In this album Skinner explores some of the difficulties that come with success, among other things. Some of the standout tracks include “All Goes Out the Window” which discusses honesty and fidelity in relationships, “Can’t Con an Honest John” which is an hilarious step-by step method of how to pull a scam, “Hotel Expressionism” looking at the ‘art’ of trashing hotel rooms, and “Two nations” which examines the complicated relationship between the Brits and the Yanks, including the classic line :

“I’m proud we gave you people like John Lennon…even though you shot him as well”

Perhaps the standout track on the album is “Never went to church” which is a heartfelt expression of Skinner’s feelings of insecurity and his search for faith after the death of his father. Apparently this track has been receiving a bit of play in churches in the UK - kudos to them for having the courage to appropriate some fairly cutting edge culture (especially when the language and ‘adult themes’ of some of The Streets’ other tracks would be most unwelcome in most church environments.)

Overall this is another enjoyable listen from The Streets, though it lacks the captivatingly cohesive narrative of A Grand Don’t Come for Free, which I still regard as being somewhat of a classic (see my review here.) But overall a solid effort. The Streets’ material is still original, and still unlike much else popular music going around today.

“I don’t think it is a sin to be rich, it’s a sin to die rich.

I want people to make as much money as they can as long as they give it away as much as they can.”

“The Christian faith grows out of and is sustained by the conversation between the church and its Bible. From this engagement, generation after generation, come the beliefs, the ethics, the liturgy, the purposes, and the relationships that define the Christian faith. To be sure, other voices enter the conversation, invited and uninvited, affecting the language used and the conclusions reached; but the primary and most influential partners are the community and the book. Of course, not all persons in the community are equally engaged in the conversation; some prefer to be silent, and some are silenced. Neither do all the books of the Bible participate equally. The reasons for this unevenness usually lie in the contents of the writings themselves, but not always. Sometimes there is quite a distance between what a document has to say and the church’s willingness or ability to hear it. The Letter to the Hebrews is a case in point.”

~ Fred B. Craddock - Introduction to Hebrews - New Interpreter’s Bible Vol XII : Hebrews - Revelation