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As mentioned in the subject,
there is a high cynicism warning for the rest of this post, if you find
my cynicism offensive please turn away now. So... if you have not turned away... I find it interesting that there has been (on a number of email lists that I am on) almost no mention of Sorry Day and a huge amount of posts (recently) on Thanksgiving Day (http://www.thanksgiving.org.au/). My cynical side is urging me to NOT support this national day of thanksgiving on the basis that it would be supporting a project that our PM supports. This is a PM who does not seem support Sorry Day or seem to support Aboriginal issues, who has performed horrendous acts to our Indigenous relations and to ATSIC of recent and not-recent dates. And who has heard much about Mabo day lately? I also find it interesting that this is a day that is being pushed by some of the more conservative spectrum of the (C)hurch (http://www.acl.org.au/home/index.stw) and being heavily supported by the PM, Treasurer and Gov General. (http://www.acctv.com.au/articledetail.asp?id=2792). My cynical side nudges me in the darkness and suggests that this could be a strategic alliance being formed, already the ACL (http://www.acl.org.au/home/index.stw) has voiced support for our PM over many issues (http://smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/27/1082831558618.html) showing that the two not only have similar political and religious ideals. My cynical side reminds me that this (could) also lead to support from the Family First Party, (http://www.familyfirst.org.au/) who's membership/leadership had been supported by such religious groups (at least in SA). With the election coming soon the Liberal Party would be best served by making good links with such organisations. Someone on another email list (who might also be on this email list) has written "that the Prime Minister has in recent days suggested that the Australian Heads of Churches and National Council of Churches do not speak for the churches, but that the Australian Christian Lobby does" This is a frightening prospect for me to even attempt to contemplate, seeing that this seems to be the trend for the Liberal Party, an example would be to cynically suggest that since the UN and the Liberal Party did not see eye to eye the UN no longer served a purpose. Moving on from this I cynically suggest that it could be possible that since the AHoC and the NCC and the Party do not always see eye to eye on a number of issues that this could possibly move could be seen to move us from a group which speaks on behalf of all of the churches to a group that speaks on behalf of the conservative right christian groups in Australia. (did i just compare the AHoC and NCC to the UN?) This frightens me a lot. Theologically I could also see where this has come from, the ACL is very much made of Christian leaders who (broad generalisation here) would like to see our political system move further to one full of Christians, an Australia with Christian Laws, Christian Leaders and a majority Christian faith, this is what we as Christians are called toward (http://www.ausprayernet.org.au/our_ministry.php) ... isn't it? Convert the masses. "In the short-to-medium term, such a political program may appear to have little chance of success, but this does not prevent the organisations concerned from focusing on selected policy areas where they believe they can make an immediate difference. Two such areas are abortion and gay rights; another is censorship." We're more likely to have people want to come to church if we are being celebratory and thankful than if we are being sorry and repentant. Therefore such a National Day whereby people are thankful for what God has given them, rather than repenting and saying sorry for those things which have been done (for a large part) in God's name would receive much support... This is much a day to be evangelical and spread the news than it is to be thankful... infact, my cynical side suggests that the primary goal of this is to "evangelise" and the secondary role of this day is to be thankful. My cynical side also asks if there has been any other consultation with religious groups or cultural groups about this particular day, whether this is purely from a (Christian) perspective? This week is Pentecost. The lectionary stories of Genesis tell us the story of the people building a tower to the heavens. They tell us of a God who said "as one voice you can do anything" and so sent them to the four corners of the world and made them speak different languages. The Gospel readings tell us of another time where God came to the people in the form of the Holy Spirit and they all heard their own language... for the first time since the building of that tower those people were one again. I see this move, the move for a thanksgiving whilst not supporting the Sorry day as a diversive move, one that will once again have our "one-ness" challenged. I hope and pray constantly that the (C)hurch will continue to be challenging, continue to be repentant, continue to sit along the suffering, continue to call our politicians to account as ONE voice. This "Thanksgiving day" is, unfortunately one which I see as more divisive than uniting. We as a community need to repent, this is God's call to us from the John the Baptist, we must be ready to repent, we must be engulfed by it, we must turn away. Being Thankful without being repentant is ignoring the call that we have been given. Be sorrowful on Saturday, repent, sit with the suffering, do something that will change the way that you and we as a community interact, speak someone elses language, or hear them in your language.... that's what Pentecost is for... hearing others. I'm babbling, and I'll stop now... after all, its not like any of this is new... I apologise if this is offensive to anyone, but i fear that if I did not voice my concerns over this initiative that I would implode. Shalom Darren Wright Canberra |
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