Religion
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By referring to eye-witness accounts, I happen to believe that I am on firm ground. It is impossible to believe that the early Christian martyrs went to their deaths in service of unsubstantiated hearsay.September 1, 2024
6 mins
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This is the paradox of the War Against the Past: those who are waging it are, inadvertently, denying themselves the capacity to win. For if your past is evil, if your centuries-old story is defined by bitterness and bad faith, how can you possibly hope to redeem yourself?August 29, 2024
13 mins
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The clear assumption by many politicians, public servants, and journalists, is that Australia is inevitably going down the path of “no faith”.August 25, 2024
20 mins
The latest
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Before the new pope has literally said a word, his chosen name may speak volumes. Who will the next pope be? I would be delighted if the cardinals were to elect Gregorian alumnus Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's current Secretary of State Cardinal. He is certainly papabile, as the Italians say, but at this point speculation seems crass, or at least inappropriateAugust 25, 2024
9 mins
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A population with a large proportion of people dependent on welfare payments, easily cowed by forceful authority, heavily influenced by social media, insufficiently sceptical of the 24-hour news cycle and partly fuddled by alcohol and drugs will not suddenly express prudent values. Those who seek to shape and control know thisAugust 25, 2024
21 mins
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A decade ago, George Pell was perhaps the best-known Christian—and Richard Dawkins perhaps the best-known atheist—in the English-speaking world. They debated each other on the ABC’s Q+A program on April 9, 2012, before a live audience.August 25, 2024
13 mins
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I'm glad we no longer have laws against blasphemy, because the law is such a blunt instrument that it cannot readily discern the secrets of the heart. I think it's true that if any aspect of Islam had been parodied in the Olympics opener, even accidentally, a fatwa could follow and those responsible might have paid dearly. Christians should be glad that, by and large, we can take such things on the chinAugust 21, 2024
5 mins
