Times have changed: In the instructions for Obadiah’s “Scripture” lesson (volunteer teaching at a local public school), we were told to bring examples of different books along to introduce the idea of books have various purposes (tell a story, travel tips, recipes etc.), leading to a discussion of why John wrote the gospel of John.
But one of the sorts of books they suggested was a street directory. Who has those? Not Obadiah – who has too many books anyway.
* * *
Should have thrown away his shot: People are still flocking to see Hamilton the musical. But here’s an interesting detail that is not in the musical. Aaron Burr, “the damn fool who shot him,” was the grandson of the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” preacher John Edwards, and his father founded what became Princeton College.
* * *
Quote of the week: Rod Dreher in the Benedict Option argues the church “losing its cultural respectability … is freer to be radically faithful … as fiercely and creatively a minority as we can manage …
“The sad truth is, when the world sees us, it often fails to see anything different from non-believers. Christians often talk about ‘reaching the culture’ without realising that, having no distinct culture of their own, they have been co-opted by the secular culture they wish to evangelise. Without a substantial Christian culture, it’s no wonder that our children are forgetting what it means to be Christian and no surprise that we are not bringing in new converts.
If today’s churches are to survive the new dark age, they must stop being ‘normal.’”
* * *
Busting a myth: Anne Summer’s new book “The Choice,” based on previously unpublished census data reveals that 60 per cent of single mothers in Australia have experienced domestic violence at the dads of a previous partner. The stat for women generally is 17 per cent. As Summers points out, most single mothers have to face the choice between intimate partner violence and poverty.
The myth that is busted: is that many women choose single parenthood. Instead, it is a choice forced on them by men.
* * *
Inconvenient truths: the case of a ten-year-old Ohio rape victim who travelled across a US state border to get an abortion. Was such an inconvenient story for the pro-choice movement that it was widely disbelieved at first. Plenty on the left thought the timing was too good (on the heels of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade) to be true, too. But determined digging by the Washington Post found the story is accurate.
Many anti-abortion activists oppose exemptions for rape and incest, and this is showing up in some of the anti-abortion laws being passed in conservative regions of the US.
But the cases of the ten-year-old and others that will emerge will stretch the pro-life movement to go beyond what voters are likely to accept. Obadiah wonders if the US pro-lifers have built in enough protection and support for mothers, especially in extreme cases like the ten-year-old. Whether the new pro-life regimes in conservative States are pro-life or merely pro-birth will be put to the test.
* * *
Good interview: Kudos to Michael Jensen, author and Anglican Minister for an interview with Sydney’s best-known atheist, Peter FitzSimons. Author and SMH columnist. My old colleague Fitz described himself as being disarmed by Michael, who said he was married to the Lord’s Prayer, but not to its recital in parliament. When Fitzy raised the issue of taxing the church, Michael simply asked for equal treatment with other groups.