May 2006 Letters to the Editor

Southern Cross | 1 May 2006

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Moral rights missing
Continuing with the “everything you needed to know about copyright” theme, the excellent article in April SC did not cover the issue of moral rights which, since December 2000, became part of our copyright legislation. Moral rights concern creator’s rights to be credited and not have their works subjected to derogatory treatment. These laws will come into play for churches when extracts of films are shown, and copyright works are reproduced. Your readers should be directed to the Australian Copyright Council web site (http://www.copyright.org.au) which has a free information sheet on moral rights, as well as other copyright areas that may be of interest to churches.
Polly Seidler
Newtown, NSW

Keep martyrdom in check
I am very grateful for the Reformation and what it achieved, and glad to have reformers and martyrs like Cranmer remembered and celebrated (SC, April). However, let us beware of exalting them to the heights of infallibility and regarding their words as equal or even superior to those of the Bible itself.
Ros Brennan
Leumeah, NSW

How to help the holy land
I am encouraged and moved by the articles on the Middle East (SC, April). Having just returned from Israel, I found both Messianic Jews and Palestinian Christians were and are pleading for more tourists to boost their economy. How can we help though to support them in their stand for Christ and to stand against discrimination?
Kate Fauchon
San Remo, NSW

Congratulations on new look
The new SC looks sensational! Congratulations to the whole team.
Craig Schwarze
Annandale

No denying the marriage struggle

I’m writing in response to Tracy Gibson’s and Amanda Ballantyne’s response to the article on our research into ‘Christian spirituality and relational wellbeing’. They were concerned about guilt for people struggling with difficult marriages, and about the message being sent to divorcees.

There are several respects in which our report agrees. ‘The data indicates that the Christian populace also has many broken, distant, and insecure relationships,’ especially among Christian young people. ‘Christians are not immune from the effects of sin,’ we concluded. Indeed in the realm of home-work conflict, Christians are doing no better than their peers; and although less Christian marriages are insecure, distant, and discordant than those of their non-religious peers, we noted how inappropriate it would be for Christians to declare that they were somehow superior. Another booklet, meant to be read alongside our report, highlights the Bible’s recognition of a ‘dark side’ to marriage and family life. Our struggles are, sadly, normal; yet the Bible never despairs for family. Under the redemptive work of Christ, marriage and family relationships can grow and change. Our published material shows readers how to access Anglicare services for building better relationships.

We were thankful for the Southern Cross summary of our findings, but we also hope people will examine the material on its own terms (http://www.moorebooks.com.au: Social Issues Executive, ‘Healthy Relationships Kit’). We remain glad that there is some evidence of the Lord’s work in our lives; but as we concluded in our report, our results are only as useful as ‘one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.’

Andrew Cameron
Moore College, Newtown, NSW

Going it alone

The message of finding contentment as a single person by pursuing a network of healthy relationships within one’s Christian community was emphasised by each of the contributors in Kym Fuhrmann’s report (SC, April). This is a welcome message. Too often Christians reinforce the unhelpful and unbiblical notion that the only way for singles to find contentment is to find a partner. Therefore it was not only self-contradicting but also disheartening that Kym concluded her own otherwise helpful reflection with anecdotes of seeking to remedy her own singleness by pursuit of a partner.

Tessa Rossington
Helensburgh, NSW

As a single Christian guy in my mid-20’s I can empathise with Kym’s experience and am encouraged by her openness. Seeking out a wife/husband is one of the most difficult tasks that can befall a person, especially in a society where we make the choice alone; without much support or guidance from those around us. We must hold to the knowledge that Christ has it all worked out and trust to his good timing and judgement.

Andrew Tacon
Summer Hill, NSW

Evolution a fizzer in design war

I do like Ross Weaver’s peculiar logic (Letters, SC, April) that “because something looks like it was designed is not the same as being designed”. Likewise, he could also say that, “because something looks like it evolved is not the same as having evolved”.

Neither evolution nor Intelligent Design are capable of empirically scientific proof (observation, experiment and replication). Similarly with theories of universe origins where creation and speculation theories claim, “Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, either ‘God or a Big Bang’ brought everything into existence...” So take your pick – God or a Bang !

Some scientists believe in God, a Bang or both – until the Bang becomes a little fizzer and is replaced by some other plausible speculation which captures the imagination. At least intelligent design is plausible enough to discuss and debate.

Are evolutionists so fragile, discriminatory and threatened they must censor ID from our classrooms in case students may learn something or exercise faith in Someone, and this makes the politically correct feel nervous?

Jack Blair
Glenhaven, NSW

To find Ross Weaver stating that “Intelligent Design is nothing more than a re-statement of St Thomas Aquinas’ teleological argument” (my italics), suggests to me that he has failed to read carefully not only some of the books written by ID proponents, but also my article in the March issue as well!

Even if we disregard all talk of a “design inference”, (and the existence of a Designer is a further inference), this new scientific movement is of great value in exposing the claims of atheists when they speak of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as established fact and state gleefully that mankind is now entitled to consign all talk of a Divine Creator to the rubbish bin of history. We now know much more about the world than was the case in Darwin’s time.

The matter of whether “inference” is a legitimate response to what we believe we experience in the world, is another question altogether. It may not be “logical”, but if we ban it altogether, then almost everything goes out the window, including the whole scientific enterprise.

John Reimer
Earlwood, NSW

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