ACL compiles a daily media monitoring service of stories of interest to the Christian constituency relating to children, family, drugs and alcohol, marriage, human rights, religious freedom etc. Visit the ACL’s website each day to see what’s of interest in the news. Please note that selection of the articles does not represent ACL endorsement of the content.
Abortion
NYC schools hand out morning-after pillKaren Matthews - The AustralianIt's a campaign believed to be unprecedented in its size and aggressiveness: New York City is handing out the morning-after pill to girls as young as 14 at more than 50 public high schools, sometimes even before they have had sex.
Bioethics
AIDS and medical ethics: a great betrayalMatthew Hanley - Mercator NetThe risk reduction ethic only aims to sanitise and thereby perpetuate hazardous behaviour. The September 5th edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports on the prospect of “pre-exposure prophylaxis” as a means of preventing HIV transmission. This term refers to people who are uninfected with HIV taking a prolonged course of sophisticated medications because they anticipate sexual contact with an HIV-infected person.
The end of men - and womenCarolyn Moynihan - Mercator NetIf masculinity is doomed, so is femininity, as a new book demonstrates. It would be easy to misunderstand the meaning of Hanna Rosin’s now celebrated theme “the end of men”. The title of the American writer’s 2010 Atlantic magazine article, and now of a full-blown book, signifies not the total redundancy of men as sub-species of the human race (although a biology professor recently suggested we were near that point) but the end of masculinity as we have known it.
Environment
Gunns goes into recievershipSky NewsGunns Ltd has gone into receivership after the Tasmanian timber company failed to secure funds to keep the company going, putting more than 600 jobs at risk. Mark Korda and Bryan Webster of KordaMentha were appointed receivers and will manage the group's affairs, including continuing the business as an ongoing concern to preserve the value of the assets while a sale process is conducted.
Gambling
The church, the clubs and their pokiesABCThe Catholic church and Catholic clubs are at odds over gambling reforms. The church backs them but the clubs oppose them, insisting they don’t profit from problem gamblers.
Human Rights Sherrin pulls footballs stitched in sweatshopBen Doherty - SMHSherrin has pulled all football manufacturing from its Indian subcontractors, after admitting some of its balls were made using child labour.
Indigenous
Cherbourg Mayor calls to lift racist alcohol bansMelinda Howells - ABCCherbourg Mayor Ken Bone says alcohol management plans (AMP) in Aboriginal communities are a racist policy and should be removed. The plans were introduced in 2002 and restrict or ban alcohol in Indigenous communities.
Marriage
Cold feet: Tasmania’s gay marriage bill in troubleCathy Alexander - CrikeyTasmania’s Upper House politicians seem to be gearing up to say “I don’t” to gay marriage when they vote on the issue, probably this week. Crikey runs the numbers. Australia’s best chance of legalising gay marriage in Tasmania is in serious trouble, as nervous politicians baulk at setting a precedent on the hot topic.
Gay marriage laws a 'legal minefield'Rosemary Bolger - The ExaminerState-based same-sex marriage laws would make Tasmania a ``legal laughing stock'', according to former Chief Justice and Governor William Cox. Mr Cox wrote to some MLCs about his concerns about the constitutionality of the proposed gay marriage bills before today's debate.
Same Sex 'marriage' proposal in France seeks to strike the words "mother" and "father"Catholic OnlineIf marriage equality activists have their way in France, the words "mother" and "father" will be stricken from all official documents under controversial plans to legalize same sex 'marriage'. The proposal which has outraged the Catholic Church there, where only the word "parents" will be used in identical marriage ceremonies for all heterosexual and same-sex couples.
Overseas Aid
Aid to Africa doubled but is it a vote winner?Tim Colebatch - Brisbane TimesAustralia's aid to African countries has more than doubled since 2008, as the federal government has been lobbying for their support for Australia to win a seat on the UN Security Council. Is it coincidence, or connivance? Is Australia just focusing its aid program where it is most needed?
Politics
'Labor has lost its purpose - and soul'Phillip Coorey - Sydney Morning HeraldLabor has become an electoral machine largely devoid of purpose and risks a period of "unprecedented bleakness", the former finance minister and party powerbroker Lindsay Tanner says.
Sexualisation of Society
Lingerie Facebook campaign breached advertising codes, industry watchdog saysDavid Nankervis - AdelaidenowA Facebook page promoting lingerie breached advertising codes by encouraging young women to post pictures of themselves in underwear, the industry regulator says.
J.K Rowling offers up sex, drugs in first post-"Potter" novelColin Bertram - CDTView "The Casual Vacancy" looks to adult readers with heady doses of modern day life that would make Harry Potter blush.
Other
The man on the $20 noteABC2012 marks 100 years of the "Australian Inland Mission" pioneered by Rev John Flynn who famously launched the Flying Doctor Service.
Cory Bernardi is right, in Peter Singer’s anti-human worldClive Hamilton - The ConversationSenator Cory Bernardi has been reviled for associating homosexuality with something repugnant, bestiality. Yet Australia has just awarded its highest civilian honour to a philosopher who provides a moral defence of sex with animals. Professor Peter Singer, the renowned Australian philosopher at Princeton University, believes that the taboo on bestiality is an anomaly, a prohibition that will crumble like all the others.
The Wau Wau Sisters last supperJudith Wright Centre of Contemporary ArtsLet New York's bravest and bawdiest duo show you a night of endless fun as twelve disciples, umpteen cocktails and fearless abandon combine in a night of mayhem.
Western freedom to insult can look a lot like hypocrisyAmjid Muhammad - SMHMuslims want free speech principles in the West to be applied consistently. Embassies are attacked, diplomats are killed and protesters march with unbridled aggression from east to west.
World leaders rally for blasphemy lawsAndrew Harrod Bio - Front PageIn response to the Innocence of Muslims global controversy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for recognizing “Islamophobia as a crime against humanity” and “international legal regulations against attacks on what people deem sacred.” In the statement’s wake, the number of political leaders around the world openly musing about restrictions on anti-Islamic speech has only increased.