Opinion

NEXT WEEK the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia will convene in Brisbane. An Assembly is much more than you may think, much more than a meeting, not least because people gather from across the nation and from every part of the church. The membership of the Assembly reflects that rich and exciting diversity that helps make the ...

Greg Brown writes to explore why evangelicals should not just walk away from the UCA. Some (and we need to remember, not all) parts of the UCA have been in great pain since the 2003 Assembly. The furore over what has been incorrectly termed the ‘ordination of homosexuals’ decision caught many evangelicals in the church by surprise, and it is ...

During the hundred years of legislated Religious Education in Queensland State Schools the changes in our community have been astounding. The increasingly multi-cultural, multi-faith and secular aspects of our society have continued to put pressure on our churches’ “right of entry” to schools and now Christian Religious Education is just one of many options available to parents when their children ...

AS THE 10th Assembly approach-es, it is apparent that the issue of living with diversity in the church will again be the focus of considerable attention and reflection, not least because further debate on sexuality and leadership will be a major item on the agenda. How much diversity is a good thing? When we look at the world around us, ...

In the Biblical tradition, and in the faith of the people of God, there is a strong, recurring emphasis on the role of God in creation. Creation declares the power and the greatness of God. The beauty and complexity of nature bear witness to the existence of God. I lost count long ago of the number of conversations I have ...

It has been a learning experience reflecting on our ecological situation while watching the succession of cyclones, floods and drought beset our state of Queensland. As an observer of our ecological dilemmas and often guilt-ridden citizen I have spent too little time theologising about my relationship with the earth in which I live and it has only been in researching ...

The emerging consensus between many theologians and scientists is that we are facing a global environmental crisis and it is becoming increasingly urgent that we should begin to address the “ecocrisis” facing our modern industrial world. It is not being melodramatic to say that the future of life on our planet is at stake and there are a number of ...

The evangelical Climate Initiative submits the following statement as a basis statement for engagement in the emerging battle for the environment. “The same love for God and neighbour that compels us to preach salvation through Jesus Christ, protect the unborn, preserve the family and the sanctity of marriage, and take the whole Gospel to a hurting world, also compels us ...

In 1990 the Queensland Synod agreed that we must respond to the environmental destruction around us in order to make any meaningful proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ. Fifteen years on it’s worth asking whether we missed the boat. But it is not only the environmental crisis which we need to respond to. How many of us have really allowed the ...

SEVERAL HUNDRED people took the long trek west of Hobart to the Styx Valley, an area of primal forest featuring majestic gum trees that were old when Captain Cook sailed up Australia’s eastern coast and for several years the focal point in the forestry debate in Tasmania. Those making this journey included church goers, forest workers and conservationists. They gathered ...