In the wake of the recent abortion debate in Tasmania’s Lower House of Parliament I’ve been wrestling. It is not a wavering in my resolve, or a shift in my point of view. After all, the way in which we as a society value (or otherwise) and protect (or otherwise) the most vulnerable is of [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Abortion’
Order in the (Upper) House
Thursday, April 18th, 2013I like having an Upper House in our Parliament. In Tasmania we call it the “Legislative Council” (or if you’re a governance geek like me, the “Leg-Co”) and like pretty much every other bicameral democracy laws only become laws if they pass through the two houses of parliament. Usually the Lower House (in Tasmania this [...]
I wish I’d never been born
Monday, April 15th, 2013Three statements that have moved me in recent days: “We’re better off aborting our children than have them abused by you!” the disturbed woman shrilled as she pointed at my clerical friend. “Instead of abortion, would you rather we go back to the fifties where we had forced adoptions?” a journalist asked another of my [...]
Thin Stories in Tasmanian Social Debate
Saturday, April 13th, 2013At the leadership course I’ve attended over the last couple of days one little consideration jumped out at me. It’s the idea that sometimes we work from within a “thin story” and sometimes we operate from out of a “thick story.” The idea comes from somebody I’m sure. I’ve forgotten who and it probably doesn’t [...]
Individualism, Protest, and Professional Politics
Thursday, April 11th, 2013There was a silent protest yesterday with regard to the draconian changes to law being proposed by the Minister for Health in her “Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill 2013.” I was there. I estimate that 300+ people with a diversity of demographics were there. The photograph above shows what that looks like. They were [...]
Ad Hominem and the Postmodern Politic
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the process issues in recent attempts at social “reform” here in Tasmania – issues such as abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, legalisation of prostitution, broadening of anti-discrimination legislation etc. etc. etc. It’s being called a social tsunami by some people. The process undertaken by those pushing this agenda [...]
Welcome & Holiness
Monday, June 14th, 2010I’ve just finished reading the text of the sermon TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts-Schori preached at Southwark Cathedral recently. Like all sermons, one could nitpick and pull it apart and talk about what is not said etc. And in the case of the TEC PB we could read between the lines etc. But, broadly speaking, [...]
The Manhattan Declaration
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009It’s been around since September 28, 2009 apparently but I’ve only recently been running into the Manhattan Declaration on a number of my feeds. It looks like a “stand up and be counted” form of activism expressing a view on what might be called the conservative Christian social agenda. This is how it describes itself: [...]
