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Welcome to the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania
Mission Development Forum, 10 September 2008 :
Synod of Victoria and Tasmania to reflect upon renewing its covenant with UAICC
With a renewed openness to Reconciliation in Australia post-Apology, and preparations underway for a new preamble to the UCA constitution, it is timely that the Uniting Church in Australia take stock, and reflect on renewing its covenant with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.
The Renewal of the Covenant has been on the agenda of the National Assembly, and this next Mission Development Forum is a rich opportunity for us to consider how we can actively respond in the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.
We will enjoy both the hospitality and the wisdom of UAICC leaders at Narana, as we gather a vision and a commitment at this critical time in the life of our church.
The Mission Development Forum will take place between 9.30am and 4pm at Narana Creations, 410 Torquay Road, Grovedale.
Please refer to the Commission for Mission webpage for registration details.
Aboriginal traditional life and kinship
Remote indigenous communities in the Top End are often seen as hopeless and dysfunctional places where any sense of community has been destroyed by violence and substance abuse. But what impact is Federal government policy having on communities traditional life and kinship structures remain largely intact? Read on.
Moreland Hall remembers those affected by overdose
UnitingCare Moreland Hall (Moreland Hall), one of Victoria’s leading alcohol and other drug (AOD) agencies, is taking part in this year’s Overdose Awareness Day on August 31st, to acknowledge the huge impact that drug overdoses can have on those affected by them.
Overdose Awareness Day, which has been running since 2001, is a nationwide event aiming to raise awareness of the effects of drug and alcohol overdose on the lives of people in the community.
In Victoria over the last twelve months there have been at least 81 deaths related to heroin overdose, and more to other drugs; in 2007 the number of non-fatal overdose attendances doubled from the year before. It is estimated that there have been at least 10,000 deaths in Australia over the last twenty years from overdoses
Read the full story on the Uniting Church Media Room.
Obama, McCain talking religion with Rev. Warren
Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain briefly shared a stage at Rev. Rick Warren's cavernous Saddleback Church on Saturday night as they discussed what their faith means to them and highlighted their vastly different views on issues, none more stark than abortion.
In the two-hour forum, Obama said it was above his "pay grade" when asked to define when a baby gets human rights. But McCain quickly answered, "At the moment of conception."
The Republican senator from Arizona drew frequent applause from the nearly 2,800 members of the evangelical church in Orange County with crisp answers intended to reinforce his conservative credentials. Read on.
Beijing curbs religious rights
China describes itself as a religiously tolerant society, one that allows its citizens to worship freely. This week, per Olympic tradition, it is extending that same freedom to athletes in the form of worship rooms in the Olympic Village, each dedicated for the world's major religions.
Worshipers also have at their disposal dozens of foreign clerics; 10,000 English-Chinese Bibles emblazoned with the Olympics logo; and an electric organ, for Catholics.
But religious freedom does not extend beyond the heavily secured perimeter fence of the Olympic Green. Read on.
PM support for US-India nuclear deal fuels nuclear proliferation
The shock announcement from the PM that Australia will support the US-India nuclear deal in next week’s Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting has been condemned by organisations across Australia.
The NSG was established because of international concern about India’s first nuclear explosion in 1974, using nuclear technology supplied by Canada and the US intended exclusively for peaceful purposes.
“Church, union, professional, environmental and peace organisations together declare that the US-India nuclear deal aggravates nuclear proliferation, fuelling nuclear dangers rather than climate change solutions” said Assoc Prof Tilman Ruff, a signatory of the statement and Australian Chair of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
Read the full story on the Uniting Church Media Room.
Religion no basis for people’s movement
Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta on Tuesday said religion should not be used as the basis for any people’s movement.
The winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize explained that the experience of the predominantly Catholic Timor Leste in the struggle against the mainly Muslim Indonesian invaders showed the benefits of separating religion from politics. Read on.
