Queensland Synod News

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia, Rev. Gregor Henderson, today (Friday 20th April) wrote to the Federal Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Hon. Kevin Andrews MP regarding the Government’s agreement to accept Cuban and Haitian refugees from the US in exchange for refugees currently detained under Australia’s Pacific Solution. In a joint letter with UnitingJustice, the President asked ...

US and world religious leaders have noted the horrors that easy access to firearms can wreak, in expressing shock over a shooting rampage, the worst in US history, at Virginia Tech University which resulted in the deaths of 33 people. "The escalation of gun violence compels us to call for an end to the manufacture and easy distribution of such ...

Pope Benedict XVI’s new book on Jesus Christ has received both praise and criticism from Italian Protestant theologian Daniele Garrone who was invited to take part in its official presentation at the Vatican. The book, "Jesus of Nazareth", is a "passionate meditation that gives us a portrait of Jesus in the New Testament", said Garrone, dean of the Waldensian faculty ...

Governments need to be more compassionate and understanding of the human cost of their decisions, said the Moderator of the Uniting Church in Queensland in a submission to the Senate’s Traveston Dam inquiry. Rev Dr David Pitman reflected on his visit to the proposed site of the dam in June last year in his submission to the Inquiry into Additional ...

A city in southern Japan has approved plans for the country’s first "baby hatch", or "baby post", as it is known at a local Roman Catholic hospital, where parents can drop off unwanted infants anonymously, as is already the case at similar European institutions. "We have approved the plan by the hospital," the mayor of Kumamoto, Seishi Koyama, said on ...

US church leaders are lauding a wage agreement between the McDonald’s fast-food chain and a group representing migrant farm workers in the state of Florida. The agreement between McDonald’s USA and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers requires the restaurant chain to pay one US cent more for every pound of tomatoes picked by the farm workers, a move that will ...

Leaders of Britain’s Hindu community of more than 500 000 are asking to be given the same full cultural and religious freedoms enjoyed by other major religions in the United Kingdom, such as Christians, Muslims and Jews. "We are asking for the right to cremate our dead in the way they have been cremated in India and other places for ...

Simply Sharing Week has taken its annual education program online for what promises to be the best interactive campaign the churches have ever launched. Simply Sharing Week is a program of Caritas Australia and Christian World Service/National Council of Churches in Australia. The theme, “Send My Friend To School” aims to educate Australian students and church members on why school ...

Logan Uniting Church Creative Arts Coordinator Craig Burnett entertained 5000 people dressed in a “suit of newspaper” at the recent Fancy Pants Ball in Toowoomba as the lead vocalist of the explosive jazz band SCAT. The Ball was the closing celebration for attendees at this years Australian Gospel Music Festival. Mr Burnett’s smooth vocals and SCAT’s toe tapping rhythm has ...

The World Council of Churches(WCC) is sponsoring a meeting hosted by the British agency Christian Aid in London from 12 to 15 April that will examine options for faith communities’ participation in a proposed civil society campaign on climate. The Geneva-based WCC groups more than 340 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over ...