Whereas colonial slaves were treated as a valuable investment, like an ox, the treatment of these modern slaves is even more demeaning. There is a worldwide glut of displaced people, and modern people-trafficking is cheap. Legal slavery may have been abolished, but we now face an era of ‘disposable people’.

‘You can’t change the weather,’ we all used to say with a shrug, to make the point that some actions are well beyond the powers of puny humans. But a disagreement has opened up among U.S. evangelicals about the extent to which we can, or cannot, change the weather.

It is difficult to obtain good measures of the extent of domestic violence. Violence between intimate partners and other family members was (and sometimes still is) regarded in many countries and cultures as a normal and acceptable part of life that should not be disclosed outside the family.

Few of us have much grasp of the scientific details of the case for climate change; we cannot easily follow the spin-off arguments about emissions trading schemes, alternative energy sources, and the economic consequences of making changes; and we have little power over the solutions. We can easily feel helpless and a little depressed over the whole of the subject of climate change. Therefore we aim to produce several briefings on it throughout the year.

Until last week, most of Australians would not have heard of Dr John Elliott. Last Thursday, Dr Elliott took his life. He was 79 years old, suffering a terminal condition called multiple myeloma, was experiencing severe pain, and had been cared for by his wife for the previous seven years.

Calls for the Sheik to resign are obviously an inappropriate interference by government officials into Muslim free association and a gross intervention into religious affairs. Only NSW Community Relations Commission chairman Stepan Kerkyasharian seems to get it right when he said that ‘the position of leadership is a matter for his constituency, but he owes the rest of Australia an apology.’

As we head into the final days before the proposed cloning bill is due to be voted on in Parliament, events are being held around the nation to help people gain a better understanding of the complex issues involved and the implications of various aspects of the proposed bill.

In the past fortnight two private members bills have been presented to the Federal parliament, paving the way for experimentation on embryos. These Bills open the way for the creation of cloned human embryos, allow for the creation of embryos with more than two genetic parents, and even permit the creation of human-animal embryos (hybrids).

We’ve been spending some time trying to understand the recent events in Lebanon. We are certainly not experts on the Middle East; and like most situations of warfare, this one is shrouded in complexities that will only become clearer when hostilities have ceased. Nevertheless we thought it might be helpful to gather the facts as others have reported them, and then to offer a Christian evaluation.

International Law states that all people have the right to seek asylum in ‘a safe country’ in order to flee persecution. Asylum seekers are people who are in the midst of that process. Refugees are those who have been granted asylum in another country, having been found to be genuinely seeking protection from persecution.

Our previous briefing made some legal, philosophical and theological observations about ‘free speech’ as part of an ongoing ‘work in progress’ on the subject. This briefing will continue trying to unravel free speech theologically, by summarising the argument of The Revd Prof. Oliver O’Donovan, as found in The Desire of the Nations

‘Freedom’ is notoriously frustrating to do business with. When it is missing, we really notice its absence; but when we have it, we enjoy it often without even noticing. Nobody doesn’t want freedom, yet when we talk about it and celebrate it we can find, to our dismay, that entirely different kinds of freedom are being spoken of.

Grief’ is a complex collection of emotions that people experience when they lose anything or anyone they care deeply about. It is not limited to death or bereavement. An amputee who loses a leg or arm goes through grief. Grief travels with anyone who loads all their belongings into a van and kisses their family goodbye. A boy or girl may grieve when a romance breaks up, and husband or wife may grieve when a marriage breaks up. Grief may touch a worker who retires from a long-held position, or parents when a son or daughter leaves home for university or enlistment. It is the human response to the loss of what is good.

Next fight you’re having about the origins of ‘Boxing Day’ (boxing of presents? or decorations? or just punching each other after all that Christmas-time family tension?), do spare a thought for the loved one of the famous Christmas carol. Because come Boxing Day (which is the carol’s ‘first day of Christmas’), this person’s troubles are just beginning.