Blogs with keyword: Christian

Posted on Friday 18th March 2022 at 1:00am

The Anglican archbishop of Sydney has revealed profound ignorance by revealing he hasn't a CLUE what his own flock think about voluntary assisted dying law reform.

I've written previously about bishops demonstrating their ignorance, as in the example of Catholic Bishop Tim Harris who presumed most or all of his flock opposes voluntary assisted dying (VAD), when in fact a significant majority support it. This time it's the Anglican Sydney diocese archbishop who's loudly flaunting his biases.

Sydney Anglican archbishop Kanishka Raffel (pictured on the diocese website above), has launched a program calling on NSW parliamentarians to reject a bill that, with a large number of safeguards, seeks to make VAD lawful in the state. NSW is the last state in the nation that still outlaws the practice.

Keywords: Fearmonger | Fudge | Fiction | Faith | Australia | New South Wales | Frank Brennan | Margaret Somerville | Religion | Christian | Anglican/Church of England/Episcopal | Legislative reform | Lobbying: Opponents | Rhetoric: Slippery slope | Rhetoric: Suicide | Rhetoric: The 'vulnerable'

 

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Posted on Saturday 8th August 2020 at 8:39am

Support for voluntary assisted dying (VAD) in Australia continues to strengthen, including amongst religious Australians.

A recent article in The Guardian reports that most Queensland churchgoers support voluntary assisted dying (VAD), citing a recent YouGov poll commissioned by the Clem Jones Trust.

In fact, attitudes in support of VAD have been strengthening across Australia for many years, and the last few are no exception. In this analysis I explain, using impeccable Australian Election Study (AES) data gathered by a specialist team at Australian National University.

Each federal election, the AES gathers extensive demographic and attitudinal data from a substantial sample of Australians. That means we have comparable snapshots from each election in recent times, including 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 and 2007 (though attitudes toward VAD have been asked only since 2016).

Keywords: Assisted dying (AD) | Australia | Religion | Non-religious | Christian | Anglican/Church of England/Episcopal | Catholic | Analysis | Legislative reform | Poll / survey | Statistics

 

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Posted on Friday 13th October 2017 at 10:11am

Anglican and Catholic bishops seem to be going out of their way to alienate their constituencies over social policy law reforms.

Anglican and Catholic bishops seem to be going out of their way to alienate their constituencies, including in respect of voluntary assisted dying and marriage equality law reform. As a result, the writing on the wall is writ large for the continued decline of religion in Australia.

Many Australian clerics are trying their hardest to foil Parliamentary attempts to drag Australia into the 21st century on social policy. They seem to care little for the ongoing demise of their own constituencies.


Religion declining since the 1960s


Keywords: Fearmonger | Faith | Assisted dying (AD) | Australia | New South Wales | Victoria | Catholic Church | Religion | Christian | Anglican/Church of England/Episcopal

 

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Posted on Thursday 9th February 2017 at 9:53pm

There’s overwhelming evidence that it’s religious conservatives who oppose your right to choose an assisted death, despite their protestations that their opposition is nothing to do with religion.

antiassisteddyingadtheageheraldsun14jun08.gif


You only have to look to understand who is campaigning against your right to choose an assisted death in the face of intolerable and unrelievable suffering.

A case in point is a massive advertisement published in both of Melbourne’s daily newspapers: News Corp’s The Herald Sun (right-wing) and Fairfax Media’s The Age (left-wing). The ad was published in 2008 when Victorian MLC Colleen Hartland introduced the Medical Treatment (Physician Assisted Dying) Bill into the State legislature.


Keywords: Faith | Physician-assisted dying (PAD) | Voluntary euthanasia (VE) | Australia | Victoria | Religion | Jewish | Christian | Anglican/Church of England/Episcopal | Catholic | Legislative reform | Lobbying: Opponents | Rhetoric: The 'vulnerable'

 

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Posted on Saturday 24th September 2016 at 11:31pm

Father John George amply demonstrates that Catholic hubris is alive and well in the modern world, using selective and canonical arguments and resorting to the ad hominem attack.

Against current moves to legalise assisted dying, Australian Catholic Father John George invokes Nazi Germany, resorts to ad hominem attacks to dismiss those who disagree with him, and demands that the Pope’s edicts are binding on everyone regardless of their own faith or world view.

On 24th September 2016, Journalists Greg Brown and Rick Morton published an article in The Australian, Victorian coroner credited with turning tide on euthanasia, summarising recent Australian moves to legalise assisted dy

Keywords: Fearmonger | Fiction | Faith | Physician-assisted dying (PAD) | Australia | Victoria | Oregon | Catholic Church | Religion | Hindu | Jewish | Muslim/Islam | Atheist | Agnostic | Christian | Catholic | Buddhist | Rhetoric: Nazi regime | Rhetoric: Palliative care can always help | Rhetoric: Slippery slope | Rhetoric: The 'vulnerable'

 

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Posted on Tuesday 19th April 2016 at 2:00am

Lyle Shelton tweets misinformation on ABC Q&A. Is this an omen for his upcoming appearance on the program next week?

The Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Mr Lyle Shelton, is at it again.

Yesterday, he tweeted ABC's Q&A program as thousands of people do while it is on air. His tweet was broadcast live to air as shown above. What did he say as panelists were discussing assisted dying law reform?

"Sadly voluntary euthanasia quickly became involuntary euthanasia in Holland. #qanda" LyleShelton

Mr Shelton's claim is bunkum.

Keywords: Fearmonger | Fiction | Faith | Assisted dying (AD) | Involuntary euthanasia (IVE) | Non-voluntary euthanasia (NVE) | Voluntary euthanasia (VE) | Australia | Netherlands | Religion | Christian | Lobbying: Opponents | Rhetoric: Killing | Rhetoric: Slippery slope

 

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Posted on Thursday 17th September 2015 at 6:06am

Victorian Parliament Committee finds Australian Christian Lobby's evidence this week "quite surprising" and "quite contrary" to evidence already received.

On 16th September 2015, the Victorian Director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), Dan Flynn, appeared as a witness to the Victorian Parliament’s end of life choices inquiry being conducted by the Legal and Social Issues Committee. He made a number of mistaken statements, but what was most worrisome was the revelation of the ACL’s real agenda: to wind back patient rights more than a quarter century.

Keywords: Fearmonger | Flip-flop | Fudge | Fiction | Faith | Assisted dying (AD) | Physician-assisted dying (PAD) | Refusal of medical treatment (ROMT) | Voluntary euthanasia (VE) | Voluntary refusal of food and fluids (VRFF) | Withholding/withdrawal of medical treatment (WOMT) | Australia | Victoria | Belgium | Netherlands | Australian Medical Association (AMA) | Christian | Legislative reform | Lobbying: Opponents | Rhetoric: Slippery slope | Rhetoric: Suicide

 

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Posted on Tuesday 8th September 2015 at 5:16am

The Archbishop of Canterbury and other clergy attempt to persuade British politicians that assisted dying law reform will have terrible consequences.

It was inevitable, the latest attempt by senior British clergy to persuade politicians to reject Lord Joffe’s Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby—whose predecessor Lord Carey now supports the reform—nine clergy sent a letter to ‘remind’ Parliament of supposed terrible consequences.

So what points did the clerics offer to Parliamentarians, and are they valid? Let’s take a look at each of the five ‘reasons’ advanced in order to deny Brits assisted dying choice.

Keywords: Fearmonger | United Kingdom | Religion | Jewish | Muslim/Islam | Christian | Anglican/Church of England/Episcopal | Catholic

 

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Posted on Sunday 14th June 2015 at 4:28pm

Sydney psychologist Mary Ticinovic advances specious arguments against rational assisted dying choice.

In today’s Fairfax press, Sydney woman Mary Ticinovic advances a number of reasons as to why she believes that assisted dying is not merciful. The by-line identifies her as a “clinical psychologist”. But her arguments are not founded on the basic tenets of psychology. How so?

Read Mary’s opinion piece in The Age


All life is precious


Keywords: Flapdoodle | Faith | Voluntary euthanasia (VE) | Assisted dying (AD) | Australia | Christian | Catholic | Lobbying: Opponents | Rhetoric: Hippocratic oath

 

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