A Review of Why Revival Tarries. By Leonard Ravenhill.

BethanyHouse, 1959, 1987. (Available in Australia at Koorong Books)

Fifty years ago Leonard Ravenhill wrote Why Revival Tarries. It is now a modern classic. It has sold over half a million copies, and is translated into numerous languages. It is still widely available today.

This book is a devotional classic because its author is one who was more concerned about the verdict of the Almighty than his own reputation; more interested in holiness than happiness; and more interested in the glory and honour of God than the praise and applause of men.

It is actually composed of various articles he had written earlier, but because it flows from a heart on fire for God, and a life dedicated to holiness and sanctification, the words contain fire and power. No one who is sick of the ordinary and is desirous only of God and his best will be untouched by this powerful book.

The Manhattan Declaration

All around the Western world the Christian church is under attack, and along with it, the West’s Judeo-Christian heritage. It is not just a specific faith which is being ferociously targeted, but all the attendant goods of that faith. Three chief goods – the sanctity of human life, the institutions of marriage and family, and religious liberty – are all under threat.

Thus to defend Christianity is to take a stand for these tremendous social goods as well. They stand or fall together. That is why one diverse group of Christian leaders – evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox – came together yesterday to announce the release of an important new Christian document – the Manhattan Declaration.

Charles Colson, one of the original signers to the Declaration, says this about it: “The Manhattan Declaration is a wake-up call – a call to conscience – for the church. It is also crystal-clear message to civil authorities that we will not, under any circumstances, stand idly by as our religious freedom comes under assault.”

Over 140 leaders from throughout the Christian community have already signed this historic document, along with thousands of ordinary citizens. The link provided below provides access to three things: the Declaration itself; those leaders who have already signed it; and a place where you can also sign the Declaration

The Copenhagen Treaty

The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen from December 7-18 is now being talked about all over the blogosphere. This is because of a speech that Lord Christopher Monckton, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, gave at Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota, on October 14. In his speech he warned about the dire consequences of signing the Copenhagen Treaty.

He warned that most people have no idea what is actually in the Treaty, yet most nations around the world seem prepared to sign it, even though it may involve giving away national sovereignty, and handing over inordinate power to a global governing body. This is a part of what he had to say in his speech:

“At Copenhagen, this December, weeks away, a treaty will be signed. Your president will sign it. Most of the third world countries will sign it, because they think they’re going to get money out of it. Most of the left-wing regimes from the European Union will rubber stamp it. Virtually nobody won’t sign it.

“I read that treaty. And what it says is this, that a world government is going to be created. The word ‘government’ actually appears as the first of three purposes of the new entity. The second purpose is the transfer of wealth from the countries of the West to third world countries, in satisfaction of what is called, coyly, ‘climate debt’ – because we’ve been burning CO2 and they haven’t. We’ve been screwing up the climate and they haven’t. And the third purpose of this new entity, this government, is enforcement.

Some Good News on the Abortion Front

While there is often a lot of bad news concerning abortion, there are some occasional good news stories. Two encouraging events are worth recounting here. The first involves a leader in the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood who has left that organisation and is now fully pro-life.

Abby Johnson was the director of the Planned Parenthood abortion mill in Bryan/College Station, Texas. She had worked there for eight years, but recently had a change of heart. So what caused the turnaround? She watched an ultrasound of a baby being killed in an abortion.

In an interview she said she could no longer go on with her work: “I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it.”

A review of The Scarlet Lady. By Carol Everett.

Wolgemuth & Hyatt, 1991.

Carol Everett was responsible for the deaths of 35,000 people. No, she wasn’t a Nazi. Nor was she a KGB agent. She was a successful career woman working in a legitimate Texas business. Carol Everett was an abortionist. And with Hitler and Stalin, the abortion industry is quickly becoming one of the greatest means of mass murder of the twentieth century.

The Scarlet Lady is the story of how Carol Everett rose in the abortion industry to become one of the most successful, most well paid, and most deadly abortionist in America. In the six years that she worked in the trade, she helped to kill 35,000 babies – 35,001 if you include her own abortion. It was only a conversion to Christianity which put a halt to this barbarism.

A review of Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting. By Dawn Stefanowicz.

Annotation Press, 2007.

One of the primary rights a child should have is to be raised by his or her own biological mother and father. The social science research on the importance of this is overwhelming. Children raised in same-sex households are obviously deprived of this most important and basic right.

But there are a host of other problems associated with being raised in homosexual or lesbian “families”. Dawn Stefanowicz knows all about this. She was raised by her homosexual father and his many partners, and has written up her experiences in this important book.

It does not make for easy reading. Indeed, given the excesses of the homosexual lifestyle, the book at times almost borders on X-rated reading. But the truth must be told about the homosexual lifestyle, and Stefanowicz does it faithfully, warts and all.

She was born in Canada to what at first seemed to be a normal family. But for much of her life her mother was ill, bed-ridden, and far too passive in the face of her husband’s homosexuality. Thus she had to bear the brunt of his life, and experience the unpleasant realities of the many homosexual men who drifted in and out of the home.

Social Engineers Continue Their Crusade

For the secular left, social activism is all about “two steps forward, one step back”. That is, they know they can never foist their radical agendas on the rest of society all at once, and must therefore use an incremental approach. Thus a few setbacks along the way are all a part of their relentless march forward.

Indeed, Lenin used the phrase to describe the slow but steady progress of the Russian Revolution. And the same strategy is being used today. Our coercive utopians will never rest until their visions for humanity are realised. They are quite happy to make apparent compromises, and take some detours along the way, knowing that each little step forward will eventually mean reaching their goal.

We have a great example of this coming from Victoria’s activist Attorney-General, Rob Hulls. Yesterday he appeared to be taking one of those backward steps in announcing a “compromise” plan on ridding our equal opportunity laws of religious exemptions. But it is simply another step along the way on his radical social crusade.

Whither the Australian Left?

When I first settled in Australia some twenty years ago, I wrote a major article on the Left in Australia. I spent a month or more trawling through all the leftist publications I could find (the Internet was not an option back then). After this lengthy period of research, I wrote a large piece summarising my findings (a shorter version of which appeared in the August 1990 IPA Review).

This week in the Australian a six-part series on the Left appeared. It is interesting to read these articles in light of what the Left was saying twenty years ago. The bottom line is, little has changed. These recent pieces are all united by the usual collection of clichés, platitudes, and ethereal thinking.

There is very little which is concrete here, just the usual moral rhetoric and the usual buzz words: equality, social justice, fairness, diversity, and so on. And what also binds these articles together is the usual leftist alliance on the state. For the most part, the state, not the individual or the family or the community, is generally viewed as the ultimate saviour. Thus in the end, expanding government is what we are left with (no pun intended).

The Sexual Revolution and the Abortion Holocaust

Restating basic truths in a time of moral decline and mental fatigue becomes a high priority. As the ancient Hebrews well knew, people perish for lack of knowledge. People are indeed perishing, and in large measure it is due to the absence of truth and of basic knowledge.

So in light of nearly a half century of the sexual revolution, let me lay it out straight for you. Even though most young people may find this hard to believe, let me say it anyway: sex has something to do with reproduction. In fact, the two are  intimately connected. To engage in sexual activity is to engage in the creation of new human life – or at least the possibility thereof.

That is why in most cultures for most of human history sexuality was taken very seriously. Indeed, it was seen as sacred, because of what it results in. But today we can barely make the connection between the two. Sure, sex is also about pleasure, but nature made sex pleasurable so that we could reproduce

C.S. Lewis, Wartime and Britain

Britain has not always been a relative basket case. It was indeed a great nation not all that long ago. During the Second World War it produced gallantry, bravery and heroism. Not only leaders, such as Churchill, stood tall, but the common Brit, faced with huge challenges and dangers, managed to rise to the occasion.

Seventy years ago Germany invaded Poland, putting Britain on a wartime footing. Kids were shifted out of London, rationing and hardships ensued, and the Battle of Britain was soon underway. Especially severe was the terror of The Blitz, the intense and sustained eight-month bombing campaign by the Nazis which the nation endured. The character and resilience of the British people during this difficult period was a glowing example of English greatness.

Winston Churchill was certainly a lion-hearted stalwart during this period. His many speeches were stirring stuff indeed. One of his speeches, broadcast on the BBC on 18 June, 1940, was a tremendous rallying cry to the nation

Whither Europe?

It’s been a long time since I walked the streets of Europe. Being here again both raises memories and creates contrasts. In one sense things don’t change. Its cities, many over a thousand years old, seem to withstand the tests of time. They seem ageless. Yet even in the 25 years since I last lived here, real differences are plainly noticeable.

The biggest shift seems to be demographic in nature. So much so that a valid question being raised is what is the future of Europe? What will it look like in a few decades? Is it on a path of irreversible change? Immigration is a major source of these changes, and it has made a huge difference in how Europe is developing.

Of course Europe (especially countries like Germany, France, Holland, etc) has had major inflows of migrants prior to the time I was last here. Amsterdam was already known as one of the most multicultural cities in the world some three decades ago. Much of this immigration started big time after the Second World War.

So Who Actually Wants Same-Sex Marriage?

Leftist political parties, trendy social engineers, a sympathetic mainstream media, and militant homosexual activists are all ranting about the need for same-sex marriage. It has become a mantra, a touchstone of secular left thinking.

Anyone who dares to question this agenda is treated as a heretic or worse. Our trendy elites would have us believe that everyone is in favour of same-sex marriage – certainly all homosexuals are. But the truth of the matter is far different.

Consider a recent protest rally for homosexual marriage in Melbourne. It had all the usual misinformation, falsehoods and deception. But there was one small bit of honesty to be found amongst it all. Surprisingly, perhaps unintentionally, one homosexual activist gave the game away by actually telling the truth. This is the revealing quote as found in a Melbourne Age article about the rally:

“Providing a reality check, Radical Women spokeswoman Alison Thorne told the Melbourne rally that marriage was an oppressive institution designed to condemn women to lives of slavery, but same-sex couples should nevertheless be equally entitled to it. She then led the crowd in a chant: ‘Kevin Rudd, ALP, we demand equality’.”

In Praise of Discrimination .

Time was when a man could be praised for having discriminating tastes. It was a mark of being able to make fine differentiations. Discernment, judgment and careful evaluation also used to be regarded as virtues. But today of course the word discrimination has almost only bad connotations.

We are told we are not allowed to discriminate. Well, it all depends. There are plenty of things that we should discriminate against. We should discriminate against Nazis, paedophiles and arsonists. We should be discriminating when it comes to right and wrong. We should in fact discriminate all the time, in appropriate circumstances.

When I look both ways before crossing a busy intersecting, I am discerning, evaluating, discriminating. This is one clear understanding of the term. But the word discrimination also can mean a difference in treatment. I discriminate in favour of my children for example when I buy them ice creams but not all the other kids on the block.

More Jaundiced Journalism

To get a job in the mainstream media today is not all that difficult. Let’s say you want to write for one of the major newspapers, such as the Age or Sydney Morning Herald. You do not necessarily have to be a great writer. You do not necessarily have to be very smart. You do not have to be great with logic or even fair with the facts.

All you really need is the proper ideological stamp of approval. That is, all you really need is to share the same political, social and ideological views as most others in the MSM. If you are to the left, secular, pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, anti-Western, muddle-headed about Islam, and heavily into Political Correctness – among other things - you stand a very good chance indeed of making it into the MSM and rising in the ranks.

Silencing Parachurch Ministries (and Other Christian Activities)

Many of you would appreciate the ministry of Focus on the Family. James Dobson’s organisation has helped millions of families with its practical, faith-friendly resources. In the same way, Teen Challenge is another Christian organisation which has been helpful to so many drug and alcohol victims.

Another group which has done so much good for so many is Prison Fellowship. Countless prisoners have been assisted, and many have come to a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Or think even of this website, which many have said has been a helpful source of information and encouragement.

A review of Children As Trophies? By Patricia Morgan.

The Christian Institute, 2002.

The demands of the homosexual lobby never seem to diminish, and their determined war of attrition is paying off handsomely. One area which has eluded them however is that of complete access to children (via adoption rights and so on). But they have been very active in trying to convince the rest of society that there is no preferred parenting option, that one parent is as good as the next, and that love and commitment is all that matters.

Thus there have been many claims made lately that studies show no adverse effects to children raised in same-sex households. These contentions have been raised so often that most people accept them as gospel. But the question is, what studies? Indeed, a host of questions spring to mind. What do they actually say? How reliable are they? Who conducted the studies? What is their methodology? What size sample group were used? And so on.

There have been several good examinations of these studies in the recent past. One of the newest and most extensive is that by Patricia Morgan. In her 160-page book she does a thorough job of documenting the evidence for the two-parent family, and revealing how studies purporting to show the benefits of being raised in a same-sex family are deeply flawed.

A review of Islam: Human Rights and Public Policy. Edited by David Claydon.

Acorn Press, 2009.

The nineteen essays contained in this book deal with a number of aspects of Islam, and how politicians and policy makers should think about this faith. It examines a number of topics, including: sharia law, the role of women in Islam, the nature of jihad, Islamic financing, the place of Muhammad, and the state of human rights in Muslim nations.

Although this is mainly an Australian work (it is published in Australia and 9 of its 15 authors are Australian), most of this volume looks at Islam from a global perspective. Only several chapters deal specifically with the Australian situation. Thus all Western policy makers can find much of profit in these pages.

Australian expert on Islam Mark Durie has written a number of chapters in this volume. One deals with the importance of Muhammad in Islam. He is viewed by Muslims as the perfect model for human behaviour. What he said and did serves as the template for all Muslims.

More Reasons to Keep Euthanasia Illegal

The pro-death camp is ever active, and it is constantly seeking to introduce more pro-death legislation in various jurisdictions. In Tasmania a private members bill was recently introduced by the Greens to see euthanasia legalized. There are many sound reasons why we should not go down the path of legalizing euthanasia. Some of these issues I have covered elsewhere. Here I wish to mention several more.

Slippery Slope

One concern is what is known as the slippery slope. For all the talk about “safeguards”, there really can be no safeguards in legalised euthanasia. The Dutch experience is an excellent example of this. The “guidelines” for euthanasia in Holland have often been flouted. Dr John Keown has studied the Dutch situation in great detail. For example, he found that in 1990, 52 per cent of the 10,558 cases of a doctor’s intent to hasten death were done with no explicit request from the patient.

The Importance of Mothers

Mother’s Day is almost here. It is a no-brainer to declare that mothers are important. But we live in a no-brainer age in which the very concept of motherhood is now under attack. Thus we must come to the defence of mothers and motherhood.

This seems odd, given how valued mothers have been throughout human history. Mothers provide invaluable benefits to all, and their work is priceless. As Ann Crittenden wrote in 2001, “The very definition of a mother is selfless service to another”.

She cites two old sayings in connection with motherhood: A Jewish adage says, “God could not be everywhere, and therefore He made mothers”. And an Arabic proverb puts it this way, “The mother is a school; if she is well reared, you are sure to build a nation”.

Yet despite the overwhelming importance of mothers, like all things decent and of value, mums are under siege. So this brief paper will seek to examine the importance of motherhood. The topic is of course too broad to allow all the data to be canvassed, so here I will simply focus on one aspect, the vital role which mothers play in the raising and wellbeing of children, especially during their early years.

Twisted Clergy, Deception and Abortion

A ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ is a very common expression, used to denote someone who comes into the flock to destroy it; that is, it describes an enemy who uses deception and cunning to feign friendship, when the real purpose is to bring trouble and ruin.

Like so many popular expressions today, this one goes back to the Bible. In this case it was Jesus who spoke these words. Aesop had earlier made use of this image in one of his fables, but Jesus used the phrase to speak of those who would claim to come in and look after God’s people, when instead they came to destroy them.

The actual verse, Matthew 7:15, says this: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” The immediate context is Matt. 7:13-23 in which Jesus warns against deception and religious frauds. As he says in verse 21: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

When Children Go Berserk

The media today is abuzz with the shocking case of yet more child-on-child violence in the UK. Reminiscent of the James Bulger case, two schoolboys aged 9 and 11 were viscously assaulted and tortured by another pair of boys the same age.

Here is how the story is described: “An 11-year-old boy is fighting for his life after he and a nine-year-old friend were slashed with a knife, burnt with cigarettes and thrown 10 metres down a ditch by children their own age. The boy and his friend were out riding their bikes in England’s spring sunshine when they were confronted by two other youngsters aged just 10 and 11. They demanded the pair hand over their mobile phones, money and trainers and when they refused they were tortured with burning cigarettes, cut with a knife ‘from head to toe’ and then beaten with bricks, according to witnesses.”

Christian Character and Political Leaders

It appears our Prime Minister is at it again, this time driving a female flight attendant to tears. Our PM, who pushed his Christian credentials quite hard prior to the election, seems to talk one way and walk another way. In this case, Kevin Rudd did not get the food he wanted on an RAAF plane, so he threw a hissy fit and proceeded to blast the female food server.

Reducing a lass to tears is not the only unkind and unchristian activity our PM is guilty of. Two articles in today’s press highlight a regular pattern of him treating people very poorly indeed. It seems our PM is a serial offender when it comes to condescending, disrespectful and bullying behavior.

One article notes the alarming turnover rate for Rudd staffers. It seems he is just not a very pleasant chap to work for: “Kevin Rudd’s short fuse and unreasonable demands have triggered an exodus of personal staff and a backlash from public servants. His staff turnover is about to reach 16, or one a month since winning office.”

Fritzl and Evil

Very few people – at least Westerners – would be unaware of Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man just found guilty of kidnapping, rape, murder and a host of other atrocities committed against his own family. He is routinely called a monster, an ogre and an animal.

What he did simply raises once again the problem of evil. Why do such things happen? From whence comes such horrific evil? Why is evil such a perennial problem? What is the origin of evil? Such questions have been debated for millennia now.

Of course one’s worldview will greatly colour how one answers these questions. The Judeo-Christian worldview deals with these issues in ways that often radically differ from other worldviews. Yet most people seem to have a view on these matters. Even the secular press attempts to weigh into this topic on occasion.

There was an opinion piece in today’s Age, reprinted from the Telegraph in the UK. Entitled “Evil, but chillingly ordinary,” it was written by one George Pitcher. Since no description of him was given, a quick Google check reveals that he is the paper’s Religion Editor as well as an Anglican priest.

Shattering the Ten Per Cent Myth

I was recently awoken by a radio station wanting to interview me about a lesbian character to appear on a popular TV soapie, Home and Away. I said this was another attempt to cram the homosexual agenda down our throats, a grubby move to spruce up ratings and revenue, and another way to indoctrinate our youth.

That night on the same Seven Network, the current affairs show Today Tonight (which immediately precedes Home and Away), had a segment featuring this issue. Of course it was just a cheap promotional, not an objective news item. It had on a well-known psychologist who assured us that a full ten percent of young people are homosexual.

I immediately emailed this man, telling him this was of course a myth perpetrated by the homosexual lobby, and that I was quite happy to send him the documentation on this. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he never got back to me. Evidently he is quite happy to peddle this line. Far too many people it seems will not let the evidence stand in the way of pushing an ideological agenda.

Killing Babies to Improve Their Health

The Rudd government has just announced that it has overturned the ban on foreign aid funds going to abortion services. Following in the wake of the pro-death Obama administration, the Rudd government has simply slavishly followed suit.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said of the decision: “The Government has now completed its review and I have decided to change the Family Planning Guidelines for Australia’s overseas development assistance program to support the same range of family planning services for women in developing countries as are supported for women in Australia, subject to the national laws of the relevant nation concerned”.

Here are the closing lines of the report in the Australian : “He said Australian and international NGOs will continue to be able to choose what services they deliver in line with their own philosophies and policies. Australia will also provide additional funding of up to $15 million over four years through UN agencies and NGOs for family planning and reproductive health activities to help reduce maternal deaths. This is part of Australia’s commitment to advance the Millennium Development Goals and to improve child and maternal health.”

Cults & Amazing Grace

I don’t know about other newspapers, but in the Melbourne Herald Sun there have been some quarter-page ads placed lately with the banner headline, “He was right!” So who is he and what was he right about?

The ‘he’ in question is one Herbert W. Armstrong. And it seems that he was right in his predictions about the current global financial crisis. The ad informs us that his ‘prophesies’ uttered decades ago are now coming to pass. The ad urges interested readers to subscribe to the Trumpet magazine to learn about more prophecies soon to be fulfilled, including “nuclear WWIII”.

So what is going on here? In one sense, nothing much: just another cult making wild claims and seeking to suck people into its orb. But there is another important part to this story – but more on that in a moment.

Our Anti-Natalist Fatalists

Planet earth is doomed. That is the clear message coming from the population control zealots. These anti-natalists are certain that if we do not immediately take radical steps to curb population growth we will all perish. Of course we have been hearing this gloom and doom ideology for decades now.

The most recent case of chicken little thinking comes from Melbourne University professor of reproductive biology Roger Short. He told an international healthcare conference in Sydney today that the world is overpopulating itself to a catastrophic future of terrorism and climatic disaster.

He says that human activity is outstripping the natural world’s ability to cope because of exploding and uncontrolled population growth. According to press accounts, “He is calling for a vast increase in the availability and use of contraception to slow the birthrate worldwide, and says only one country - China, through its one-child policy - has shown the way to future stability and sustainable environmental and economic growth.”

Sexual Suicide

The dramatic erosion of marriage and the explosion of out-of-control sexuality are not without their devastating consequences. Many acute observers have noted this. In 1968 Will and Ariel Durant’s important book, The Lessons of History appeared.  In it they said, “The sex drive in the young is a river of fire that must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos both the individual and the group.”

Although the sexual revolution took off in the mid-60s, other social commentators had made similar warnings earlier on. In 1956 Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin put it this way:

“This sex revolution is as important as the most dramatic political or economic upheaval.  It is changing the lives of men and women more radically than any other revolution of our time. . . . Any considerable change in marriage behavior, any increase in sexual promiscuity and sexual relations, is pregnant with momentous consequences. A sex revolution drastically affects the lives of millions, deeply disturbs the community, and decisively influences the future of society.”

On Social Workers and Arsonists

There was a lead letter in today’s Melbourne Age which caught my attention. It is a letter so very typical of the Age. The newspaper is a hotbed of trendy radicalism, secularism, and feel-good liberalism. Its editorial stances are almost always wrong. Those responsible for the Age are a perfect example of how our Politically Correct elites have lost touch with reality and common sense.

Thus this eye-opening letter was as expected as it was incredible. It was written by a social worker who urged us to be a whole lot more sympathetic with the arsonists responsible for many of the bush fires now raging in Victoria. In true liberal fashion, the writer asks us to try to understand the arsonists, and not be so harsh on them.

Indeed, we are told that they are pretty needy chaps, so we should not rush to judgment: “Firebugs, like all perpetrators of violence and abuse are also prone to being self-absorbed, with low levels of empathy.”

On Children as Guinea Pigs

The desire for people, especially women, to have children is of course normal, but one has to ask if homosexual or lesbian parenting is desirable. Homosexuals may claim that there is no reason why they should not raise children, that sexual preference has nothing to do with the issue of good parenting. But does the evidence bear this out? Initial research is beginning to show that children do suffer from being raised by same sex parents.

One person who has spent a lot of time looking into this question is psychologist Dr Joe Nicolosi. He agues that kids raised by homosexuals are traumatised, emotionally and socially. Children, he argues, are profoundly affected by parental behaviour. For example, children of smokers often become smokers.

“Homosexuality,” says Nicolosi, “is primarily an identity problem, not a sexual problem, and it begins in childhood. The process begins when a child realizes that the world is divided between male and female and that he is not equipped to be identified as male. His father fails to sufficiently encourage male-gender identity. Because he is not fully male-gender-identified, he is not psychologically prepared to feel heterosexual attractions. In order to be attracted to women, a male must feel sufficiently masculine. Faced with this predicament, he goes into a world of fantasy and denies the imperative of being either male or female.”

Fred Schwarz, RIP

Jesus once said that a prophet is without honour, except in his own country. One of the greatest Australian prophets of the past century has just passed away, and nothing that I am aware of about his passing can be found in the Australian mainstream media.

While Australia has many heroes – especially sporting figures and movie stars – perhaps the greatest hero to arise from Australia in recent times has been totally overlooked by our secular, leftist media. I refer to Dr Fred Schwarz, who died earlier this week at age 96.

Schwarz was a successful medical doctor originally from Brisbane. He left a successful medical practice in Sydney, although with a young family, to devote his whole attention to warning people about the dangers of atheistic communism.

Freedom From Religion

American President Ronald Reagan once famously said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” That is certainly true in the area of religion. Whenever the government starts sticking its nose in religious affairs, it generally ends up causing trouble – and lots of it.

The current government inquiry into freedom of religion is a good case in point. The inquiry being conducted by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC – formerly the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) actually has been around a while. An earlier inquiry took place in the late 1990s. HREOC released a report in 1998 called “Article 18: Freedom of Religion and Belief” which made a number of recommendations.

The conservative years of the Howard Government saw the report languish, but with a new Labor government, the Commission has been reinvigorated to keep pushing its agenda. And although its current working document, “Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century” may appear somewhat benign, it is potentially a very real threat to religion in general and Christianity in particular.

The Coercive Utopians Are At it Again

Amongst the favourite terms blithely thrown around by the various radical social activist groups are “tolerance,” “acceptance,” “inclusion,” and “love”. Sounds pretty good. But the rhetoric seldom matches the reality with these groups. They are all about sweetness and light – until someone dares to cross them. Then the real deal breaks forth.

There are many examples of this, but consider one emanating from one of the world’s leading activist bodies: the European Union. The EU is at the forefront of coercive utopianism, forcing its PC agenda on one and all. It is a leading body working for anti-family, anti-life and anti-faith activities.

Just recently it has made clear how it deals with anyone who dares to stand against this social engineering. One EU group has called for the end of financial aid to Nigeria, because it has so horribly crossed the line.

Israel, Hamas and Moral Equivalence

Now that Israel has entered Gaza, the response from much of the world’s press has been totally predictable. Israel is called a nation of terrorists and mass murderers, and it is claimed that Israel is being far too disproportionate in its response. Demands for an immediate withdrawal, along with expectations that Israel grovels in remorse are becoming commonplace.

Of course all of this anti-Israeli rhetoric is built on the assumption that some sort of moral equivalence exists here. Critics of Israel might grudgingly admit that Hamas has not been exactly pure in all this, but they also claim that Israel is in fact just as bad, if not far worse.

However, a number of commentators beg to differ, and I enlist their aid in this piece. First, consider the phony charge that this is some sort of David versus Goliath situation in which Israel is some massive military power while poor Hamas is just some small guy outfit throwing stones.

Nothing Right about a Bill of Wrongs

The Rudd Government has established a panel to conduct an inquiry into whether Australia should have a Bill of Rights. The panel will be chaired by Fr. Frank Brennan. The recently passed Victorian Bill of Rights seems to serve as a model of the proposed Federal version. The question is, do we need such a Charter or Bill of Rights? I believe the answer is no, and I have elsewhere provided ten reasons why we should not head down this path: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2005/08/07/what-is-wrong-with-a-bill-of-rights/

A number of social and political commentators have weighed into the debate. Here I offer the thoughts of four recent writers who have expressed concern about such a Charter. Piers Akerman asks why we need to even consider this: “Cynics might say that this distraction should keep the chattering classes too busy to notice rising levels of unemployment or the growing list of broken election promises beginning with computers for every student and the restoration of the Murray-Darling river system, but that would be a disservice to the True Believers. To them, the lack of a national bill of rights is sufficient argument in itself to call for a document to be immediately prepared and foisted on the long-suffering public, not withstanding the reality that Australia’s extraordinary record of stable government and outstanding level of public civility, despite the appalling behaviour routinely displayed in the state, territory and federal parliaments.”

What is Wrong with a Bill of Rights?

The Victorian Government is currently holding a public inquiry as to whether a Charter of Human Rights (or a Bill of Human Rights) should be introduced in Victoria. The Government says it is “interested in a model similar to that used in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and most recently, the Australian Capital Territory”. The question is, do we need such a Charter or Bill of Rights (BoR)? We believe the answer is no. Here are ten reasons why.

One. We already have all major rights fully protected in Australia. The right to vote, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and so on are already carefully protected rights. Australia has, through common law, various institutions and customs, and the three arms of government, a wide variety of rights already securely in place. The burden of proof must lie with those seeking change to show that major rights violations and shortcomings are currently taking place.