Queensland Synod News

To mark the 40th anniversary on 27 October of Britain’s 1967 Abortion Act that legalised abortion in specified circumstances, church leaders are calling for a re-examination of the situation. The department of health in Britain reported that in 2006 there were nearly 200 000 abortions in England and Wales, which represented a 4 percent increase from the preceding year. The ...

The first Anglican bishop to live openly in a same-sex relationship has described his consecration as a "remarkable experiment", and said it offered the worldwide Anglican Communion a chance to show that people with different experiences could coexist. "In this global village, while we have different experiences and histories, how are we going to live together?" Bishop V. Gene Robinson ...

THE UNITING Church in Queensland has defended the dignity and good name of Queensland’s North African Community from attacks by Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews. “The government’s decision to single out the African community in this way is deeply troubling,” according to Queensland Moderator Rev Dr David Pitman. “Mr Andrews singled out the Sudanese and slurred that entire group within our ...

Queensland Uniting Church Justice and International Mission Advocate Andrew Johnson and Wendy Miller, member of Oxley congregation, were among the 180 people from throughout Australia who participated in the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Al Gore Climate Project training event in Melbourne in September. Mr Johnson said the purpose of the weekend was to train ‘ordinary Australians’ to deliver personalised, ‘Australianised’ versions ...

Leaders of the world’s biggest grouping of Reformed churches have compared the effects of economic globalisation to the transatlantic slave trade, and said that Christians need to combat this modern form of "enslavement". "As a matter of the integrity of our faith, we must say, ‘No’ to slavery in all of its forms," said the president of the World Alliance ...

For the first time in more than a century, the United States Supreme Court has agreed to examine whether a form of execution, in this case lethal injection, violates the nation’s constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishment". The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Amnesty International and some religious groups have organized events to draw attention to the issue. ...

The Uniting Church in Australia has welcomed an open letter by Muslim scholars, which calls for Muslims and Christians to work together for peace and justice between the two religious communities.  See Journey story  http://www.journeyonline.com.au/showArticle.php?categoryId=2&articleId=1243. The letter said the future of a peaceful world and the possibility of finding meaningful peace depend on finding common ground between the two religions, ...

The leader of the All Africa Conference of Churches, the Rev. Mvume Dandala, has called on churches to renew their energy and resources to fight poverty, while expressing fears that the poor are being forgotten as Christianity grows on the continent. "The church has to find renewed energy to take this work it has been doing in isolated places and ...

UnitingCare has scaled the heights of Brisbane’s iconic Story Bridge to get some early promotion of the 2008 Pancake Day activities. On UnitingCare Pancake Day, held annually on Shrove Tuesday, thousands of individuals, school, community, church and business groups nation-wide cook and sell pancakes to raise funds for UnitingCare’s work with Australians in need. In 2008 Pancake Day falls on ...

The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) of the Uniting Church has welcomed the Government”s commitment to a new statement of reconciliation in the preamble of the Constitution citing its significance would be predicated on its negotiation with Indigenous people. National UAICC Administrator Rev Shayne Blackman, said that while the proposed constitutional changes are a step in the right ...