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
‘Re-educate’ doctors to promote abortion and contraception: EU report to face vote next weekHilary White - Life Site NewsAn Italian commentator is adding to the alarms being sounded in Europe over the threat of a European Union Report on “sexual health and reproductive rights.” The draft document, which is scheduled for a vote October 21st and 22nd, proposes to mandate the “re-education” of doctors and medical students to promote abortion and contraception.
Charities & Philanthropy
Why philanthropy mattersGina Anderson - ABC This week, the Forrests didn't just donate tens of millions of dollars to university research - they also sent a powerful message to society about the value of giving, writes Gina Anderson. The news that Andrew and Nicola Forrest have decided to donate $65 million to university research in Western Australia is just wonderful.
Children & Family
How the West really lost GodTom Ascik - Mercator NetThe first social grouping is the family. As Aristotle has it, we are social animals, and as the book of Genesis has it, it is not good for man to be alone. For all three great monotheistic religions, the experience of worship is social. Religion fosters the family; the family finds its natural place in religion; and the family depends on religion.
Classification
Lingerie ad pulled for being in poor tasteNine MSNAn Adelaide lingerie ad has been pulled from television screens, after the Advertising Standards Board agreed with complaints that it was in poor taste. Censors have pulled a lingerie ad from television after upholding a complaint likening it to "soft-porn".
Drunk girls vomiting and bare-breasted mermaids among art works on display at Adelaide's Cathedral Art ShowTim Williams - Adelaide NowIt would be no surprise to find paintings of drunk girls vomiting in Rundle Mall, bare-breasted mermaids or nude women in a trendy West End gallery. It's another thing to find them adorning the interior of Adelaide's biggest church.
Drugs & Alcohol
Getting drunk makes women more vulnerable to rape. Why shouldn't we say so?SMHA string of highly publicised sexual assault cases have rocked the United States in the past year. Slate magazine's Emily Yoffe takes a controversial stance on the issue.
Police apply pressure to drug supply chainsABCACT police are putting pressure on the supply lines of drug dealers, in their latest attack on the illegal trade. Officers have shifted their focus to stopping those who bring illegal substances into the ACT. Police are appealing to the public to report anyone displaying the most common signs of unexplained wealth or unusual visitors.
Education
Another scandal rocks South Australia's education departmentCaroline Winter - ABCTo South Australia now and the latest scandal over child protection in the education department. In this case, the department paid a student to remain silent when he was wrongly accused of using pornography websites at school.
Euthanasia
Death Bill plea failsJennifer Crawley - The MercuryThe Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill was defeated in the Tasmanian Parliament last night by 13 votes to 11. Members opposing the Bill said it left vulnerable members of society exposed to abuse and coercion and sent the wrong message about the value of life.
Voluntary euthanasia bill voted downAndrew Darby - SMHAustralia's latest contest over voluntary euthanasia has been narrowly defeated in the lower house of the Tasmanian parliament.
Health
Japan withdraws support of controversial HPV vaccine over safety concernsThaddeus Baklinski - Life Site NewsWhile jurisdictions throughout the Western world continue to promote the HPV vaccine, the Japanese government has pulled its support of the controversial drug and sent formal notifications to local health officials saying that it should not be administered until safety concerns are investigated. The vaccines in question, Gardasil and Cervarix, are meant to combat Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), thought to be the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. HPV is known to cause multiple types of cancers, including cervical, anal, penile, and throat cancer.
Homelessness & Poverty
Catholic Health Australia wants GPs to look for poverty symptomsBrian Davies - The Catholic WeeklyGeneral practitioners should screen patients for chronic diseases that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has identified as a key risk factors that generate poverty, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) told a NSW Health Ministry summit in Sydney this week.
Human Rights
Eat cats and dogs, cleric tells starving Syrian childrenNews LtdAs Muslims around the world celebrate the end of the Eid al-Adha holiday by sharing festive meals and spending time with loved ones, children trapped by the Assad regime in besieged areas around the Syrian capital are being left to starve. In some areas children have died from severe malnutrition, according to one NGO, and a Muslim cleric has issued a religious ruling allowing the eating of dog and cat meat in an attempt to keep them alive.
Overseas Aid
Federal government savings will start with AusAID bureaucracyDavid Crowe - The AustralianThe Coalition is widening its search for public-sector cuts after learning of a surge in staff at key agencies, adding new targets to its earlier plan to save $5.2 billion on salaries and expenses.
Politics
MPs behaving badly: we're fed up with themJosh Gordon - The AgeThe moral framework of many politicians is out of alignment with public expectations.
Bowen says reform expense entitlementsSky NewsFederal Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen says the opposition will look sympathetically at sensible changes to the system governing the expense entitlements of parliamentarians. West Australian Liberal backbencher Don Randall is the latest MP under scrutiny after claiming $5000 in travel expenses for a trip to Cairns for 'electorate business,' when he was taking possession of an investment property in Queensland.
Religious Freedom & Persecution
ChristianophobiaAlan Johnson - Faith JournalIn a vast belt of land from Morocco to Pakistan there is scarcely a single country in which Christians can worship entirely without harassment. Now, in some of those countries, the Christian presence is very small; in Morocco, for example, I think there are only a few baptisms every year. But in a country like Egypt, where the Christian population is over 10 per cent and the country has ancient Christian roots, over the past 30 years or so, something like 60,000 Coptic Christians have left Egypt.
With the country at the mercy of Islamists and criminals, Libya asks the Church to leaveAsia NewsSources tell AsiaNews about a country split in two. Chaos and violence prevail in Benghazi and Cyrenaica. Under constant threats, nuns, priests and Catholic staff cannot work. In Tripoli, where men and women religious care for sick migrants, criminal gangs can strike at any time. Eritreans, Somalis, Malians and immigrants from other parts of Africa hide away in convents for fear of being killed.
Other
Michael Williamson's wife Julie-Anne gets more than $1 million in superannuationAndrew Clennell - Daily TelegraphUnion crook Michael Williamson's now estranged wife Julie-Anne Williamson will walk away with well over $1 million of her husband's superannuation in an agreement he reached with the Health Services Union over his crimes. The union says it did not want to give Mr Williamson a dime, as he has agreed he already owes it $5 million, but it is understood the unemployed former union boss has been given $20,000 and Mrs Williamson, having filed for divorce, was going to be entitled to half his "defined benefits" superannuation so union lawyers settled with her.
US bikie gang, Mongols, will cause havoc for Australian police, says US crime expertAlex Mann - ABCThe Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang will cause havoc for Australian police, a former organised crime investigator in the United States has warned. Richard Valdemar, who retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department, says Australians should be worried about the arrival of the Mongols on Australian soil.