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Five things first-time guests hate doing at church

Pitt St Uniting Church in Sydney. Photo by Sardaka.

Are you unknowingly driving newcomers away? American pastor and author, Dale Hudson has named and shamed five things first-time guests hate doing at church on Christian news site, ChurchLeaders.com. The perceptive list includes: not making people wait in line, poor signage, being ignored, being singled out and bad parking. Personally I think bad coffee should be added to that list! ...

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“Red tape reduction” pokies threat

Coins

A review of the Queensland Government’s poker machine ‘red tape reduction’ initiative has found it increases gambling revenue at the expense of the most disadvantaged people in our communities. The Anglican Church Southern Queensland office has released a Monash University analysis of the red tape reduction program on pokies, which was touted by the State Government as an exercise in reducing the ...

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Stop obsessing over young people

Regina George from Mean Girls asks "Why are you so obsessed with me?". Photo: SNL Studios

This article from popular spirituality network Patheos shows strong insight from American pastor Rev Erin Wathen into the church’s “obsession” with Millennials. Entitled “Dear Millennials: Sorry we’re so obsessed with you” her letter apologies to my peers for years of on and off-line badgering (stalking?); for being guilty of holding on too tightly and seeming too desperate to keep us ...

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Were you ever banned from The Simpsons? I was.

Ned Flanders from The Simpsons holding a Bible and looking up at the night sky.

The representation of religion in popular culture has long been viewed as unfair in the eyes of Christian parents, but do the cultural critiques of Matt Groening [co-creator] deserve a second look? As the Fox network celebrates 25 years of The Simpsons, Religion News Service argues it does. Over the weekend the FXX Channel in the United States ran an epic marathon of all 552 episodes ...

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Religious Leaders Commended by Magistrate

Reverend John Hughes, of Brougham Place Uniting Church, is arrested for trespassing at the Mt Barker electoral office of Federal MP Jamie Briggs after staging a sit-in to protest children being held in immigration detention centres.

Key South Australian religious leaders were commended by the Presiding Magistrate this morning after attending Mount Barker Magistrates’ Court to face criminal charges of trespass. The Magistrate dismissed the religious leaders with no conviction and no fine, commenting “you are a credit to your faith, and an inspiration.” Five Uniting Church members, in addition to representatives from the Quaker, Activate and Jewish ...

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Christian care providers lodge submissions on welfare reform

Anglicare Australia, Baptist Care Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, the Salvation Army and UnitingCare Australia

Australia’s major church health and community service providers are today lodging submissions on the Welfare Review Interim Report, and are encouraging the reference panel to keep top-of-mind some key themes and principles when reviewing feedback. National Director of UnitingCare Australia, Lin Hatfield Dodds said it is positive that the McClure Review is looking at the adequacy of welfare payments. “Welfare should give ...

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Uniting Church says “NO” to racial discrimination changes

George Brandis Marcia Langton Tony Jones

The Uniting Church in Australia is one of over 150 leading community organisations from around Australia that yesterday signed an open letter to the Attorney-General George Brandis urging the government not to proceed with proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act. The letter says racism is a serious, continuing problem in Australia and remains a major barrier to achieving our vision for ...

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Uniting Church rejects Race Discrimination Act amendments

George Brandis Marcia Langton Tony Jones

The Uniting Church in Australia has submitted comments to the Attorney General’s Department on the Exposure Draft of the proposed legislation to amend the Race Discrimination Act. The Church strongly believes that the proposed Bill should be rejected in its entirety and the submission says the current legislation provides proper protection under law against racial discrimination and the case for ...

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Here’s a fishy scoop

Australia Great Barrier Reef. Photo: Google Images.

The Queensland Government has urged Australians to boycott American company Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for supporting the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) save the reef campaign. In a media statement yesterday, Environment Minister Andrew Powell said the company has damaged the reputation of the reef and jeopardised jobs and tourism dollars. “Another company has signed up to the campaign of ...

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Exploring the male psyche

Man in Depression

Australian men were significantly more likely to have problems with drugs, alcohol and violence. They make up 90 per cent of prison populations and account for almost 80 per cent of suicides. University of NSW Associate Professor Judy Proudfoot said Aussie men are doing it tough. “While we know a lot about what is going wrong, we don’t know much ...

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