Queensland Synod News

Proceeds from a reported 20 000 British pounds (US$36 640) paid by the Sony Corporation for permitting scenes from the "Da Vinci Code" to be filmed within Winchester Cathedral in southern England last October, have funded an exhibition which responds critically to Dan Brown’s ecclesiastical fictional thriller. "Cracking the Code", which visitors can see as part of the standard 4 ...

Fassifern Blue Care and Uniting Church Centre will host their $30,000 grand “vergola” opening on May 6. Uniting Church Minister Rev James Matthews said the community is invited to join in celebrating the completion of a project which began as a dream nearly 20 years ago. “It was Esther England who generously bequeathed sufficient funds to Boonah Blue Care and ...

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has told an interfaith gathering his life has never been the same since the day in 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. "The disaster was a shocking reminder of the reality of nuclear threats and it has become a symbol of modern technological risks," Gorbachev said in ...

Following criticism last week by the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Mr Hanzah Thayeb an Indonesian parliamentary commission has also criticised Australia over the granting of Temporary Protection Visas to the 42 Papuan Asylum seekers. Mr Thayeb was withdrawn to Jakarta on 24th March and claimed the UCA is supporting “separatism” in Papua and is making claims that create a “stigma” ...

It’s just Human Nature to want a Lifeline! So much in fact, that Toby Allen from Human Nature and Dancing with the Stars fame has been one of the first to sport a Lifeline for his phone! Human Nature’s Toby Allen has been busy twirling and tangoing on the dance floor as the favourite to win Seven’s fourth series of ...

Uniting Church Chaplain at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Rev Iris Carden will feel significantly cooler this winter. On May 4, she will line up with hospital staff to have her head shaved to raise money for the Leukaemia Foundation. It is part of the "World’s Greatest Shave to Care and Cure". The shave is happening on a significant ...

One of the foremost Western calligraphers is producing a complete handwritten, illuminated Bible for the first time since the invention of the printing press in Europe in the 15th century from his studio in Wales. Donald Jackson, scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Crown Office at the House of Lords, is five years through the seven-year US$3.4 million project commissioned ...

The world’s first person in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, publicly advocated rebuilding Moscow’s destroyed Christ the Saviour basilica despite being depicted as a committed atheist by the Soviet regime, a former friend has revealed. "Like every Russian, Gagarin was baptised – and, as far as I know, he was a believer," said Colonel Valentin Petrov, an associate professor at ...

South African Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu says the church in his country finds it difficult to speak out about the suffering of underprivileged people for fear of being accused of not helping the government in its nation-building process. "It’s not easy when you want to speak out against people who are really on your side and you are wondering ...

In an uncertain world, religious education (RE) can support students in their quest for positive values and sources of spirituality. This is the view shared by the members a task group of Queensland Churches Together (QCT) and its 11 member churches, which has been following the development of new RE legislation (see: “God of Choice”, Courier Mail, April 15-16). “QCT ...