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Displaying items by tag: freedom

The recent decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal in Pemberton v Inwood [2018] EWCA Civ 564 (22 March 2018) upholds what was in effect disciplinary action taken against a Church of England clergyman, the Reverend Canon Jeremy Pemberton, on account of his entering into a same-sex marriage. The decision is a sensible one which upholds the religious freedom of the Anglican church to operate in accordance with its fundamental religious beliefs.

Published in Religious Freedom

It never ceases to amaze me that comments such as "keep your legs closed" or "keep it in your pants" still pop up under articles about abortion in this day and age. Last week's article by Richard Grant about Tanya Plibersek, and her calls for uniform laws to make abortion more readily available, attracted many comments like this. Obviously, I can see the hypocrisy and share the outrage of our readers, but honestly, can't we come up with more constructive comments that express the reality of the situation, and not just one crudely-worded aspect related to unplanned pregnancies? [The same goes for such comments as "They (abortion advocates) should be aborted" or calls for 'retrospective' abortions.]

Published in Abortion
Wednesday, 29 November 2017 17:32

Mazie's Story: A Journey from Contraception to Life

 I grew up in a very broken very liberal minded home. From my earliest years I knew that I was “the missed pill” as my Mother so eloquently liked to put it. My Mother grew up in the 50’s .... She was very young and had a few dalliances with school boys.. Nothing serious but her father got wind of it and as punishment she was sent away at aged 16 to a school in the City which trained young women to be a nurses. Some of the girls there were in the ‘family way’ and we often wonder if this is what happened to our Mum.

Published in Right to Life
Saturday, 11 November 2017 10:45

Lest We Forget to Honour the Past

A Nation that dishonours its past does not deserve a future. One could see that as something of a judgement but in fact it is a simple consequence. At times in any Nation's history an extreme effort is called for and its success is honoured. It must be honoured. But we live in - as the Chinese say - 'interesting times', (read, 'difficult') and Britain's leaders, both political and 'media' are deliberately dishonouring Britain's extreme efforts. This will not end well. In the Tavern we take a minute of silence at 11am on November 11th. It is the day we remember those that fell in the First World War.  Many young people do not even know of that war because their 'educators' do not want it remembered.  Others, too, do not want it remembered, let alone honoured. It is scandalous. Simon Jenkins....the Guardian, of course.

Published in Catholic
Friday, 10 November 2017 10:05

Our Surrender of Family Planning to God

In 1993 God began to speak to me about taking the Pill. I had been taking the mini-pill since D’s birth in 1983. I loved it - great contraception and the added bonus of no periods.

How secular was my thinking? No thought of God’s plan for my fertility.

Published in Contraception
Thursday, 02 November 2017 07:58

As Protestants, We Rejected Artificial Contraception

For many, the link between contraception and abortion is clear: when the potential for babies is taken out of sexual activity, then pregnancy becomes an intrusion, an unintended consequence. It becomes something to be avoided at all costs – even if that cost includes taking a life. But sadly, that connection isn’t clear to every pro-life person – even to many Christians. This is the first in a series of testimonies by Christians who rejected artificial contraception because they were convicted by God to grow in faith and leave their fertility in His hands.

Published in Contraception
Tuesday, 28 February 2017 10:50

The Protected Perverts

here are two sorts of perverts. Those that are villified and those that are lauded.  OK, a third too: those that are simply ignored.  The past year and the past week has shown what the media can do to perverts. Priests and pederasts, paedophiles and poofters are all treated quite differently.  Child abusers come under particular scrutiny, depending on which other non-pervert factors get taken into decisive consideration. Really nasty - nay wicked - ones have been consistently ignored.  

  We spent some time in the Tavern talking of the priests a week or two back.  A chap spoke of them, almost in passing, just yesterday. We shall come to Mr Kelso in a moment.   We also spoke of the complete ignoring of politician and public servant child abuse. But first..... The past week has seen a media orgy of gluttony over a rather charismatic but flawed fellow, Milo by name. He recognises  and acknowledges his flaws but nonetheless calls out the flaws of others with some relish and a great deal of wit and barb. Were he a left-wing bigot he would be lauded by the media, but instead he is a bigot-slayer from a clearly right-wing position.  
 
  Hense the efforts made by the media which is by and large left wing to bring him down. Seemingly the mass ranks of snowflakes with masks and clubs who attempt to shut down free-speech whenever he shows up at A.N. Other University had not succeeded. Hail stones were needed. Milo is a homosexual with a penchant for grown men, as long as they are black. Clearly not a racist queer.  But as a homosexual the media can't touch him for that, as homosexual people are protected perverts. Nevertheless they gave it a go last week. Their hypocricy banner flew high. And while left wing politicians can endorse and advance paedophilia without media outrage, Milo who was abused as a youth has denied ever abusing underage boys himself. Even Mr Sulu, George Takei who has in the past revealed his own early experiences in excusing and lauditory terms does not get tarred with the Milo brush. But then Takei is a lefty. He is a protected pervert. But the conversations only brought Milo in as an aside. The real meaty stuff was about Institutionalised abuse. No-one in the right mind could say that the Catholic Church advocates child abuse. As the original and leading christian institution it consistenly preaches goodness, kindness, love of ones neighbour, just as all christian institutions do. It and they do however have some - a very small proportion - of flawed people in their ranks. They are not the norm, and Mr Kelso who has been at the forefront of chasing them down is quick to acknowledge. He had some things to say about the one institution in Australia (and elsewhere) that gets quite ignored. Whether this is by accident or design, I cannot say for certain, but one way or another it is 'Protected'. Mr Kelso had this to say:
 
We are 50 hearings into the Royal Commission into Child Abuse......... 
 
 
without a single hearing into child abuse within the Islamic community of Australia.
With systemic abuse uncovered in a number of religious organisations across the country – some sections of the public are asking questions of Muslim institutions.
 
Scores of underage Muslim girls are married off to older men. Many are forced to join polygamous marriages. Worse still, some women within the Islamic faith are forced to endure genital mutilation. Some Middle Eastern groups find this practice culturally acceptable – it is even commonplace in some communities.

   

 
The thought of defenceless young girls being forced to have sex with grown men is horrifying.
For any female to have their clitoris sliced off with a sharp knife is impossible for most of us to imagine. Australians cannot condone this practice.
Why is female genital mutilation (FGM) happening in Australia?
FGM is, of course, illegal – and specifically outlawed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is also illegal to take a child out of Australia to have the procedure.
Yet, genital mutilation is happening in our country.
In fact, instances of genital mutilation in Australia have doubled in the past year.
According to the ABC’s analysis of ABS and UNICEF data: “around 5,640 girls under the age of 15 may be in danger, and 1,100 girls are born every year to women who may have had FGM. This means that three girls a day are born in Australia who are at high risk of being subjected to FGM.”
A recent report conducted by researchers at the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit at Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney found evidence of children as young as five months old enduring genital mutilation procedures.
 

 

Whilst the practice of FGM is not a religious one, some Islamic communities persevere with the illegal procedure in Australia. In June 2016, Islamic sect community leader Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri became the first person imprisoned for female genital mutilation in Australia.
 
So far, the ONLY one.
 
FGM is a cultural practice in some regions within Malaysia, Indonesia, The Middle East and South Asia. We cannot allow FGM to happen in our country. The Royal Commission must use its powers to help make sure this horrific procedure never happens again on Australian shores.
Why hasn’t The Royal Commission investigated forced child marriage within the Muslim community?
Child welfare agencies have received 70 calls for help in the last two years.
Girls in Australia as young as nine have been sent overseas and forced to marry Muslim men.
The Australian Federal Police have investigated 69 complaints of child marriage in the last year alone.
Child marriage is outlawed in Australia.
State police forces have prosecuted Muslims participating in child marriage here.
 
The Royal Commission is an inquiry into ‘institutional responses to child sexual abuse’. It is not an Inquiry into child abuse in families. In order to classify as ‘institutional abuse’ and to attract the jurisdiction of the Royal Commission there must be an institutional connection.
Any child sexual abuse with the involvement or approval of an Islamic cleric would pass as institutional abuse.
Therefore the Royal Commission may investigate victim stories of underage child sex, forced child marriages, and genital mutilation of girls under 18.
So why hasn’t the Royal Commission done anything about this?
This is why.
 
The Christian Churches are hounded as though the 'systematic (as he calls it) incidents of child abuse were 'approved' or taught as a Christian thing to do.  It is not; they were not. But Muslim preachers advocate it, preach it, oblige it. It is little use to do even as Mr Kelso does, of offering protection by saying it is not 'Institutional' or not 'Muslim'.
Of course it is.
But no Royal Commission has demanded an Immam front the court. Why not? Perhaps they have no interest in the 'whole truth'. Bill had something to say about that:
Here are some truths you can bank on:
-Truth number one: Islam treats women as second class citizens.
-Truth number two: Much of the West treats Islam as a protected species.
-Truth number three: Much of the mainstream media will always rally to the defence of Islam.
We see this occurring every day. It is infuriating of course. The real mind-bender is the near universal silence of the leftists and the feminists whenever these cases of Islamic misogyny and sexism take place. Indeed, they will almost always defend Islam at all costs instead of denouncing it.
Meanwhile the media focuses on Milo. I pulled a pint for Mr Kelso and for Bill for their points. Pax
Published in Islam
Wednesday, 28 September 2016 13:04

Friends, Family & Collateral Damage in the Culture Wars

There's really no such thing as friends and family when it comes to freedom of speech... at least not when you are a conservative Christian. (Dedicated to Pops) It's almost the three year anniversary, to the month, since I met my good friend, and now mentor Bill Muehlenberg via Facebook and found the mass of resources contained on his website Culture Watch .It was through these channels, and many others, that I was exposed to the Christian conservative, political and public discourse on the issues of the day, in what I now know to be 'the culture wars'. This was to be the beginning of a new path for me, as a spark was lit in my soul, and I have been on a steep learning curve ever since.

Published in Christianity
Tuesday, 20 September 2016 21:30

A Good Act is Condemned as Immoral

 If a woman is about to enter an abortion facility and a person praying outside the facility offers her help, is this person acting immorally? I have just been told of a lecturer in a Catholic institute who stated that such a person is breaking the moral law. His reasoning was that the action of this pro-lifer will do no good but only harm. Why? Because the woman seeking the abortion has already made up her mind – otherwise she would not be there. So the pro-lifer offering help won’t achieve anything. But she will do positive harm, because her action with be upsetting to the woman about to have the abortion. The situation, then, according to this lecturer, is that no good will be done and the woman who is already under stress will be further upset.

Published in Abortion
Wednesday, 31 August 2016 10:36

Are We Free to Disagree?

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.

Published in Freedom of Speech
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