Ten Things You May Not Know About COVID-19
An unmistakable optimism has returned to countries like Australia as lockdown restrictions begin to ease. Even the news cycle has begun to focus on issues other than the coronavirus, to our collective relief. For several months there was blanket news coverage of the pandemic. Media outlets kept feeding our insatiable appetite to know more about a crisis that so directly impacts our health, our livelihoods, and our loved ones. I remember seeing early reports suggesting that the death toll could approach 68 million. It is a relief, then, that as infection rates flatten in most countries, the death toll has been only…
George Floyd’s Fiancée Says George Would Not Want Protesters to Respond With Hatred, but Grace
George Floyd’s fiancée has said George would not want protesters responding to his death with anger and hatred, but with grace. Speaking with a local news outlet, a tearful Courtney Ross suggested her fiancé would not condone the violent and destructive riots that have taken place across Minneapolis in response to Floyd’s death. “You can’t fight fire with fire,” Ms Ross said. “Everything just burns. And I’ve seen it all day today. People hate. They’re hating, they’re hating, they’re hating. They’re mad. And he would not want that. He wouldn’t! “He wouldn’t, he would give grace. He would. I stand…
The Pub Test of Religious Liberty
In NSW, Pubs and Clubs are now allowed to open for 50 people but churches are still restricted to 10. I guess that’s because having a beer and playing the pokies is an “essential” service, whereas worshipping God and having a cup of tea or coffee with a small group of people is just too dangerous? At least churchgoers don’t need to be breathalysed after they leave! But to comprehend just how ridiculous this particular policy is, let’s put it to a literal pub test: Only 20 people can attend a funeral, or up to 30 if it’s held outdoors.…
Why Don’t We Replace Our Elected Politicians With Non-Elected “Experts”?
Is it time to replace our elected politicians with non-elected experts? We have always voted representatives into public office. But perhaps that has been our problem. They were representative of us! Who among us is an expert, fit to adjudicate on the big questions of life? These days most of us are flat out just trying to work out what to watch on Netflix! Surely the past few years have proved that Abraham Lincoln’s “government of the people by the people for the people” should indeed perish from the earth. Increasingly I wonder if a better model for society might…
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Admits COVID-19 Restrictions Are Arbitrary
David Limbrick MP yesterday asked an excellent science question of the Victorian Chief Health Officer appearing before the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. When asked, “How do you make the decision between which activities should be prohibited and which shouldn’t?“ Victoria’s Chief Health Officer replied: In a sense, these are not easy decisions to make – there is some arbitrariness. That is why you’ll see an enormous variety across jurisdictions in Australia. Standing apart from many Christian commentators and leaders (though not alone), I’ve been an outspoken critic of the loss of liberty still being endured by Australians in the name of…
Emergencies Have Always Been the Pretext on Which the Safeguards of Individual Liberty Have Been Eroded
Since March this year, our government is ruling by executive decree and this country has effectively become a police state. Of course, a police state does not mean a totalitarian state — I am still able to write this article without being immediately arrested. However, we are already living with all key hallmarks of a police state. According to Dennis Prager, the primary elements of a police state are (1) draconian laws depriving citizens of elementary rights; (2) a mass media supportive of the state’s messaging and deprivation of fundamental rights; (3) excessive use of power by the police; (4)…
Communist Chinese Apparatchiks Are Bullying and Intimidating Australian Citizens
In a 2016 Global Times hit piece on Australian swimmer Horton Mack, China’s ruling Communist Party echoed anti-Western sentiments straight out of the Tokyo Rose, and Hanoi Hannah, playbook, stating, 1. “We think Australia should feel embarrassed with Horton’s remarks. Otherwise, we would be surprised by some Australians’ sense of collective self-esteem.” 2. “It’s not a big deal to us. In many serious essays written by Westerners, Australia is mentioned as a country at the fringes of civilization. In some cases, they refer to the country’s early history as Britain’s offshore prison. This suggests that no one should be surprised…
Pandemic Drones Developed That Could Hunt Down People With COVID-19
The University of South Australia and the Canadian drone manufacturer Draganfly are teaming up to develop a pandemic drone that could be used to monitor people’s health and track down individuals displaying COVID-19 symptoms. According to the ABC, the device uses thermal cameras and artificial intelligence to measure some of the indicators of coronavirus in groups of people, including heart rate, body temperature, coughing and sneezing. Professor Javaan Chahl of UniSA told the ABC’s 7.30, the drone would be able to detect a cough from 15-20 metres away, while heart rate can be detected within 6-8 metres with only a…
It’s Not a Sin to Be Cautious of the COVIDSafe App
I took some serious heat recently, after raising questions about the usefulness, function, role and consequences of using the Australian Government’s recent COVIDSafe app. I outlined two areas of concern, then was forced to address a third. My primary point was about precedent. The second concerned emotional manipulation; peer pressure, and the third, data security. Objections to this included asinine responses such as “it’s un-Christian not too”, that I wasn’t’ “loving my neighbour” and that “people will die if I don’t” sign up for the app. The more astute arguments included “Romans 13 and how it commands us to submit…
To App or Not to App? That is Not the Real Question
The government’s contact tracing app is finally here. As part of Scott Morrison’s plan to allow us back our God-given right of liberty, the government would like you, and everyone you know, or at least 40% of you, to put this tracing app on your phones. Will you do it? Well, that is up to you. The government has promised that unlike overseas versions of similar apps, used in places like South Korea and elsewhere, that this app will not use geo-location. They will only upload the data if you have tested positive for Covid-19, and this data will only…
What Does the Bible Say About Equality?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” – US Declaration of Independence I have been intending to write a series of serious articles on the topic of equality for some time now. A few things held me back. 1) I wanted to read some top scholars on the subject first. 2) I have shared many of my thoughts in various forums at different times with people, seeking to sharpen my thoughts on this subject. 3) I have read some other posts written by other people on this topic, and frankly, I considered their efforts…
It’s Time to End This Lockdown Madness
We’ve been sold a bill of goods by global agencies and national and state governments, aided by a media ever salivating for sensation. We’ve been compliant little citizens, setting aside our cultural scepticism of authority and replacing our freedom and ability to think for ourselves with government “experts”. Social freedoms have been hard-won in world history through violent revolutions shaking off the shackles of tyranny. When our founding fathers surveyed the best political systems in the world they enshrined ideals which were strong enough to survive the ravages of global pandemics, wars and financial crises and upon which to build…
The Safe Space Where Cultures Go to Die
When Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous wrote a booklet entitled “Don’t Mess with Marriage”, it never occurred to him that the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner was about to mess with him. The Catholic bishop was merely doing what Catholic bishops do. He wrote a booklet outlining Catholic doctrine for Catholic parents interested in Catholic teaching. That’s when a transgendered activist and federal Greens candidate stepped in. The activist complained to the Commission that the booklet was insulting. As well as an apology, she demanded that Catholic Education implement a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex awareness program for all staff…
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the “Lord Protector” of All Australians
The Prime Minister of Australia is behaving each day more like a paternal ruler. He now wants us to download a phone app that will allow the State to trace our every move. As reported by the media, the Morrison government is initially aiming for a 40 per cent take-up of control of ‘people’s movements and the people they come in contact with’.[1] Paternalism is government action that limits a person’s liberty with the intent of promoting “their own good” regardless of the will of the person. It implies a disregard for the will of a person and involves behaviour…
The Tyranny of the State Is a Denial of the Right to Life and a Livelihood
Any justifiable counter moves against an enemy become unjustified if they make the government as tyrannical as the enemy it fights. One of Dietrich Bonheoffer’s key advocates in England throughout the 1930s-40s was Anglican Bishop George Bell. He famously clashed with Churchill over-saturation bombing, challenged the ‘kill ‘em all’ ethos of Vansittart, and stood firm against the fallacies behind Vansittartism, which painted all Germans as Nazis without distinction. Bell’s close relationship with the Confessing Church in Germany led to his 1940 book ‘Christianity and World Order’. Bell was well aware of the German Church’s struggle against a diluted Christianity, which…
Despite Fear and Powerlessness Good Friday Remains Good News
Like you, I’m wrestling with the COVID-19 changes imposed upon us. We’re adapting, steady, and we’re focused. We’re still homeschooling. We’re still reading the news in one hand, and reading the Bible with the other. We’re engaged, determined not to let the bad news sneak past us, or our prayers. We’re also determined not to let the barrage of repetitive, useless speculative analysis paralyze us. In 1939, Karl Barth, who had long since been exiled by the Nazis for refusing to sign the Hitler Oath, and for opposing the deification of the State, wrote, The Church prefers to suffer persecution…
Are Our Fears of the Coronavirus Undermining Our Freedoms?
Escaping persecution and daily threats to our freedoms and rights under a suppressive Communist government, as a refugee family, we so appreciated the liberties that Australia afforded to us on our arrival. That’s why it is so painful for me, as a legal academic and lobbyist, to watch the current violations of our freedoms taking place, which are slowly corroding our fundamental freedoms and rights – all in the name of fear. As rational, thinking fee citizens involved in upholding the rule of law and engaging in political rights, it is important to take a step back as a nation…
The Remarkable Legacy of Dr Li Wen Liang
The world needs to remember the Christian faith and remarkable courage of Dr Li Wen Liang, who worked at Wuhan Central Hospital and was one of the chief whistleblowers regarding COVID-19. Dr Wen Liang himself died of the virus. He was only thirty-four. Australia’s Sixty Minutes provides a concise summary in the pivotal role that Dr Wen Liang played in uncovering the scandal, as well as how the Communist Chinese Government is now trying to “re-write history and [falsely] claim that it was transparent all along”: But another aspect to Dr. Li Wen Liang that should not be overlooked is…
New Zealanders begin to devour each other while Jacinda Ardern smiles and waves at the nation she’s put under house arrest
Reuters have posted a glossy, sympathetic glamour piece on New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern. The mainstream media outlet’s borderline hagiographic outlined how the (socialist) Prime Minister offered New Zealanders words of “hope” as the nation entered a month-long lockdown under her Government’s anti-coronavirus, house arrest strategy. The Facebook live event was filmed ‘a few hours’ after the policy went live, with Ardern saying “I thought I would jump online quickly and check-in with everyone…as we all prepare to hunker down for a few weeks.’” According to Reuters over a million people viewed the live stream. With one viewer saying,…
Thinking Through Holding Church Amidst a Pandemic
Through the past two weeks, Christians throughout the West have had to wrestle with the problem of how to conduct the Lord’s Day Service—whether it should be held, or whether it should be postponed, or whether it ought to be even relocated online. Considering the rising rate at which the Coronavirus, also referred to as COVID-19, is being spread, Christians must, rightly, ask as to how they can apply best practice in dealing with the virus, and how to avoid the local church being a den of malaise. Should the church shutter its doors like certain businesses, sports, and other…