A perceptive article in today's Higher Education supplement of The Australian newspaper (not online, sorry) brings me to dip my nervous toe into the ID debate. Should the Intelligent Design approach (summary: that irreducible complexity in biological systems is best explained by a Designer) be taught in high schools—either alongside evolution or on its own?
Without being able to comment on the science, my feeling is yes—but only if the teachers have a grasp of both evolutionary theory, creationism and ID. It is rare to find teachers (wonderful people) who have had the time or inclination to stay up to date with scientific developments, let alone new ideas such as ID. These are not simple, static facts that are being passed on to students—they are profound and complex ideas about life's origins and development.
What is needed is a decent ongoing education option for teachers and syllabus directors where they can step back and consider the content of the material. Is it science? Can the theory be explained to high school students or shoudl it be left for uni? Does it require worldview commitments of students and teachers?
In my part of the world, CASE, along with specialised science and religion groups such as ISCAST will need to step up to this challenge.
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Wednesday, 26 October 2005
Wednesday, 28 September 2005
Sorrypower
A friend in advertising, Matt Andrews, alerted me to an Australia Day speech by Lowitja O'Donoghue where, in relation to the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report (about aboriginal children removed from their families), she talks about the spiritual power of saying sorry:
"I myself was one of five children taken from my mother. And to this day I still do not have a birth certificate. The report was a watershed in Australian history. It ended the silence around these experiences – and told stories that were so important to the thousands of people who have been affected. Many found that this was their first tentative step on a journey of healing. It was the catalyst which drew thousands of Australians from all walks of life to formally express their sorrow, and commit to working towards a just and equitable future. And for me it has been a time of forgiveness and a renewal of my Christian faith."
There's a connection to how I've been talking about the Da Vinci Code—I've been saying how sad and sorry I feel about the way the Church is perceived. It is often the point which shifts people's attitudes towards what I am saying about Jesus.
Sometimes, it seems, an apology can be the best apologia.
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"I myself was one of five children taken from my mother. And to this day I still do not have a birth certificate. The report was a watershed in Australian history. It ended the silence around these experiences – and told stories that were so important to the thousands of people who have been affected. Many found that this was their first tentative step on a journey of healing. It was the catalyst which drew thousands of Australians from all walks of life to formally express their sorrow, and commit to working towards a just and equitable future. And for me it has been a time of forgiveness and a renewal of my Christian faith."
There's a connection to how I've been talking about the Da Vinci Code—I've been saying how sad and sorry I feel about the way the Church is perceived. It is often the point which shifts people's attitudes towards what I am saying about Jesus.
Sometimes, it seems, an apology can be the best apologia.
Send CASE an email
Winning words
We are thrilled at CASE to have picked up two awards from the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA). One was for Tom Frame's feature article on US foreign policy and the reception of the gospel (online at our home page) and one was for my Christmas editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald last year.
Send CASE an email
Send CASE an email
Thursday, 4 August 2005
Water crisis? Us?
The economists can fry my over this one, but the stats are too upsetting not to mention it. Apparently, the amount of money needed per year beyond current spending to provide clean drinking water to everyone on earth is $1.7 billion. The amount spent around the world on bottled water every year is...$46 billion.
Here's a simple idea. Every time I drink a bottle of water (which I do, because it stops me eating junk food—pathetic, yes, but effective), I'm going to put the same amount of money into a box for a water-based charity (e.g. WaterAid. Otherwise, that Mountain Franklin is going to have a bitter ethical aftertaste.
Source: New York Times
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Here's a simple idea. Every time I drink a bottle of water (which I do, because it stops me eating junk food—pathetic, yes, but effective), I'm going to put the same amount of money into a box for a water-based charity (e.g. WaterAid. Otherwise, that Mountain Franklin is going to have a bitter ethical aftertaste.
Source: New York Times
Send CASE an email
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