Today I received a letter from an inmate of a Queensland jail. I have never met this man in person but it is probably the fourth or fifth time that he, Michael, has written to me during the last eight years that he has been in prison. Michael first initiated contact when he read a newspaper article about me being in prison. (I was “inside” for engaging in non-violent sit-ins in front of the doors of abortion clinics.) Although each of us ended up in jail by way of very different routes we do share a common concern – we both believe that the deliberate taking of the life of a child in the womb is terribly wrong. Unlike many, probably the large majority of pro-lifers, Michael does not profess to hold any Christian or religious beliefs - not that he is antagonistic to those who do oppose abortion based on Christian convictions. Rather, in his own words, he is motivated to oppose abortion because, “my memory of the time before my birth is something very, very strong and I recognise it has happened for a reason,” and, “It is not due to ‘conviction’ that I oppose abortion-on-demand, it is love.”
More Anti-Christian Bigotry in Victoria
Written by Bill Muehlenberg
Things are growing darker by the day in the People’s Republik of Victoria. I have documented a number of very ominous developments here under the radical leftist reign of Labor Premier Dan Andrews. He seems obsessed with wiping out Christianity and religious freedom while he implements every hard-core minority group agenda around. His latest attack of faith and freedom comes in the form of the Equal Opportunity Amendment (Religious Exceptions) Bill 2016. It is a frightening proposal which everyone concerned about freedom and religious freedom should know about.
Another week, another encroachment on our freedoms - that's how it feels in Australia these days. The latest outrage is that there appears to be some doubt as to whether or not a plebiscite to decide the marriage issue will be supported in the Senate, or if we citizens will be deemed too ignorant to vote on it, and be made to leave the decision to our parliamentarians. 'Marriage Equality' Ammunition I was fortunate to be able to see Brendan O'Neill speak in Melbourne last week. For those of you who haven't heard of Brendan, he is an online journalist with Spiked Online, and an atheist libertarian. Brendan gave his Christian audience some fresh insights into the marriage debate and proved, yet again, that this isn't a religious issue, but a natural law (and common-sense) one. Brendan has been ostracised and publicly vilified for his stance on marriage, simply because he doesn't agree with the fashionable ideology of marriage redefinition.
The Hypocrisy & Lunacy of our Buffer-Zone Laws
Written by Richard Grant
"Rescue those being led away to death, hold back those staggering towards slaughter" (Proverbs 24:11). For 23 years up until the end of April 2016, the Helpers of God's Precious Infants have had a daily presence outside a large East Melbourne abortion business. There the Helpers have endeavoured to the best of their ability to put into practice precisely what is being urged in Proverbs 24:11. Through their prayers and offers of support to mothers who are contemplating abortion, the Helpers have helped rescue hundreds of babies who were being led away to a horrible death at the hands of abortionists and, in so doing, have helped hold back their mothers from proceeding with an act of slaughter they would have regretted for the rest of their lives.
There is a ‘game’ played by dysfunctional people and described by psychiatrist Dr Eric Berne in his capital little book, “The Games People Play”. People often disagree with one another. A protagonist with an ax to grind and a lack of moral, civil or mental sufficiency, sets her or his victim up against external overwhelming forces. They may disagree with the victim and have no cogent or legitimate argument so they call in the police with their ‘authority’ and a gun on their hips, and the Courts that have the full panoply of process and procedure, backed by Laws made by the complainant’s friends. The Laws, the legislators, the police become complicit in gross acts of indecency and bring that Law and authority and panoply into disrespect when they do not punish such dysfunctional protagonists. And they are complicit.
At the beginning of 2015, the Victorian ALP Government rightly removed the Coalition's "move on" laws from the statute book. Rightly so, as the laws were intended really to prevent unions protesting. The laws were seen as an unfair restriction on free speech, with Attorney General, Martin Pakula, proclaiming that: "Victoria doesn't need Bjelke-Petersen-style laws designed to silence dissent and outlaw peaceful protests." At year's end, a total back flip by Victorian Labor with its MPs denied a free vote and totally under the thumb of Emily's List. Why not a conscience vote? After all the issue, like 2008, was about abortion on demand and not about a mother’s health.
A Brief Overview of Christianity's Influence in Shaping Western Democracies
Written by Eleni Arapoglou
We should relish the freedom of expression that a Christian culture established and particularly that it was not founded on the moral vacuum of atheism, given the tragic outcomes of secular humanistic governments of the past (such as Communist Russia, Romania, Cambodia, China, Nazi Germany, etc.). But ancient history fares no better, it is replete with the continual narrative of ‘blood feuds’, that is, the perpetual generational ‘right’ to avenge the spilling of blood or the threat of imperialist expansionism from Greek, Ming, Khan, Persian or Roman Empires. Here the ‘peace’ of millions was dependent on the submission of subjugated nations, such as the Roman Empire’s “Pax Romana”, or the Islamic Empire’s dhimmi status for conquered people. Against this brutal backdrop comes what some historians have called the “softening effect” of Christianity.
