Can we be good without God?

Or, better put, can we live ethical lives without a faith in God? Lots of people do, so the answer is ‘Yes’.
Andy Hamilton looks at the issue in his usual insightful way in today’s Eureka St. The emphases are mine:
Christopher Hitchens does get you thinking. In today’s contributions toEureka Street, my colleague Herman Roborgh wrestles with [...]

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In the wake of disaster

This week has seen horrific natural disasters in our part fo the world—a typhoon and floods in the Philippines, a tsunami in Samoa (and Tonga), and an earthquake in Sumatra.
Lives have been lost, people are homeless and without food or water, and disease is likely.
Most of us can only do two things: pray and [...]

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What the h**l does ‘conservative’ mean anyway?

The Conservapedia (no, I’d never heard of it either; I’ll not link to it, you can find it for yourself if you want to) is calling for a new ‘conservative translation’ of the bible which meets the following guidelines:
Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal [...]

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Brisbane dust storm

We had a dust storm across eastern Australia yesterday, which was visible from space. Here are photos yesterday and today from Mt Coot-tha lookout:
YESTERDAY:

TODAY:

It’s the result of years of drought, and winds blowing the topsoil from central Australia. But how much is from cyclical climatic conditions, and how much due to poor stewardship of the [...]

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This is not the way…

Whatever your views on abortion, I hope you’d agree that prosecuting this poor couple is not the way to go…

Couple to face abortion trial
A CAIRNS couple who allegedly used illegally imported pills to terminate a pregnancy will face trial in the District Court.
Magistrate Sandra Pearson found there was sufficient evidence for a jury to conclude [...]

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Thoughts for Hiroshima Day

From Eureka St, 24 June 2008:

In 1965, the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church declared: ‘Any act of war aimed indiscriminately at the destruction of entire cities of extensive areas along with their population is a crime against God and man himself. It merits unequivocal and unhesitating condemnation.’ There is no other church moral [...]

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No sex please, we’re preambling

The recent Assembly hasn’t generated a media frenzy; after all, it wasn’t about sex. But Christopher Pearson has written a critical piece in the Weekend Oz on both the process and the decision to alter the preamble of the Uniting Church Constitution to recognise the place of Indigenous peoples, and to recognise that God was [...]

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More of the same?

A thought-provoking reflection by Alison Atkinson-Phillips on the current Assembly meeting. I don’t agree with it all, but it’s well worth reading (for more stories, go here):
Sunday, 19 July 2009 04:57
As he presented the report of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress to the Uniting Church’s 12th Assembly on the evening of July 16, [...]

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Trade Justice

I want to mention a few things about Assembly…I’ll talk about some highlights soon. However, I had to leave early with a flare up of an old back problem. It should be ok soon, but I’m just taking it easy.
I was happy to see that UnitingWorld’s Trade Justice paper was adopted yesterday. It challenges free [...]

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Does this pastor even know what the gospel is?

Ken Pagano, the pastor of New Bethel Church (an Assembly of God congregation in Kentucky) is having a bring-your-gun-to-church day. As he puts it,
God and guns were part of the foundation of this country.
Sheriff’s deputies will check that unconcealed firearms aren’t loaded. But no one will be searched for concealed weapons. Mr Pagano’s comment? ‘That’s [...]

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