CLICK HERE TO EMAIL THE SUDANESE AMBASSADOR



Australia has joined the chorus of nations condemning the decision of a Sudanese court sentencing Meriam Ibrahim to death for the alleged crime of apostasy.



Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced this week she had instructed Australia’s Ambassador to Sudan to raise Meriam’s case with the Sudanese government.



Hundreds of thousands of people around the world are continuing to pray for Meriam Ibrahim.



In the last week, rumours of Meriam’s imminent release started circulation on the internet.



Meriam’s lawyers have spoken about the outpouring of support for her case.



“Meriam is very encouraged by the international support she is receiving from the international community. She hopes that people stand with her and her family until she gets her freedom.”



Sudan outlawed apostasy in 1991 yet Amnesty International reports that to-date no one has been executed for the ‘crime’… all have recanted their faith.



Meriam is the first person to refuse to recant.



Please keep Meriam, her husband Daniel and their family in your prayers.



CLICK HERE TO EMAIL THE SUDANESE AMBASSADOR

The Greens sure are committed.



Last week in the Senate they tried and failed to remove the Lord’s Prayer from parliament.



Since 1901, the prayer has been recited at the start of each sitting day in the senate and house of representatives by the president and speaker respectively.



A group of committed pray-ers is always present in each chamber. No one is forced.



Australia did not become what it is in a vacuum. Christianity had a profound impact on the development of western institutions, including parliament.



While not everyone in Australia is Christian (although more than 60 per cent tell the census they are), nothing changes the fact that Christianity made a significant contribution to making Australia what it is today.



It is a simple fact that Christianity is part of our cultural heritage in a way that other religions are not. That is no disrespect to them. The ethics and ideas of other religions simply did not have the same impact on the formation of western values and the Australian nation.



As the pre-European peoples of this land, indigenous people, are of course a huge part of our cultural heritage. Recognition of their cultural heritage is also acknowledged in parliament each day and that is fair enough. The Greens have not sought to remove this.



Most of us would condemn the cutting down of a 113 year old tree, but when it comes to our cultural heritage the Greens are happy to fell any vestiges of the values of our past.



Greens Senator Richard Di Natale cites the separation of church and state for wanting to remove the prayer.



This misunderstanding of the concept is becoming wearisome. The Greens and others who abuse this concept are attempting to cloak their secularism in neutrality and objectivity, but in reality seem to be excluding Christianity in order to substitute their own secular irreligion.



Australia was founded with the principle of separation of church and state but it was never meant to keep religious ideas, people or even prayers out of public life.



It was simply to ensure that Australia, unlike Britain, did not have an established church constitutionally entwined with the state.



The idea was for all religions to be allowed to flourish without any being favoured by the state.



This in no way precludes the Lord’s Prayer being recited or the Muslim MP Ed Husic swearing an oath on the Koran, as he did when he was appointed to the front bench during the previous government.



There is a clash of ideas and values occurring in our political discourse. That’s fine, that’s healthy, that’s democracy.



Suggesting that someone’s faith has no place in the workplace, as Senator Di Natale did, is anti-democratic. Why are Di Natale’s views superior?



Australia would not be the nation it is today if ethical ideas informed by faith were disbarred from the public discourse.



Whether people believe in God or not, the ideas of the teacher Jesus embodied in the Lord’s Prayer are worth reflecting on.



The idea that humans are not the font of all power is especially worth meditating on. Especially in parliament.



Meanwhile, the Greens have vowed to keep fighting to remove the prayer in the same way they are relentlessly campaigning to redefine marriage.



It is time to push back on their vision to deconstruct our civic and family life.



They are a small political party but they have a big voice. Seasoned with grace, we should start to use our voice. Silence is no longer an option.

ACL's Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton was interviewed by UCB Australia while participating at Easterfest in Toowoomba late last month.



He shares some of his beliefs about the role of Christianity in today's society and the importance of maintaining a strong Christian voice in politics.



Click the YouTube video above to watch Lyle's interview.

Towards Belief will be available on DVD in May 2013. Pre-order your copy today and receive a special discount!



Towards Belief is a 10 part series bringing together respected academics, apologists and Christian leaders to respond to the top belief blockers of our time.



The series is hosted by pastor and CEO of Olive Tree Media, Karl Faase, who travels to America, the United Kingdom and Australia to interview leading Christian thinkers including:

• Professor John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford and Adjunct Professor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA)



• Professor Richard Swinburne, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford



• Os Guinness, author and social critic, and a previous reporter for the BBC



• Amy Orr-Ewing, Director of Programmes for OCCA and the UK Director for RZIM Zacharias Trust



• Dr John Dickson, Co-Founder of the Centre for Public Christianity



• Joel A'Bell, Lead Pastor of Hillsong Australia

ACL's Chief of Staff Lyle Shelton and Communications Director Katherine Spackman will be speaking at this year's Easterfest.



Easterfest is Australia's largest festival about Easter…not just at Easter, but about Easter. Celebrating its message draws thousands of people from across the country to make the pilgrimage up the mountain to Toowoomba.



The ACL staff will participate in 'The Forum' presented by Bible Society, facilitating group discussions on challenging issues of life and faith.



On the Friday, Lyle will be facilitating two group discussions: Are We There Yet?…response to world poverty and Addicted to Technology? The pleasures and pitfalls of living in the digital age. In the evening, Katherine will be a panel guest in a discussion on The Sexual Individualism of the iWorld.



Lyle will also be a key panel guest on Saturday on Being a Voice in the Political Arena and Christians in Politics - A history of advocacy of those in need. He will also be a key panel guest on Sunday on Responding to the crisis in child well being in Australia, and will facilitate a discussion on One Heart…Church Unity. 



On Sunday evening, Katherine will be the primary speaker on Human Trafficking, facilitated by David Wilson and including guests Destiny Rescue.



If you're able, we encourage you to come along and participate in this event as we celebrate the true meaning of Easter.



Details are as follows:



Date: 29th-31st March



Where: Queen's Park, Toowoomba



Cost: Click here for a detailed breakdown of prices



Visit the Easterfest website to register your attendance.

The ACL’s Director for ACT Richard Thackway’s letter to supporters in the territory is now available online.



This year is shaping up to be a big one for the ACT. Already, we have seen a significant difference between those in our community who share a faith position, and those who refrain from one. This is not surprising when we consider the history of secularism in the Assembly, which has produced a spirit of separation rather than cooperation and unity. 



The recently appointed Speaker for the ACT Legislative Assembly, Mrs Vicki Dunne, has sort to redress this issue by reaching out to the faith community in the ACT with a plan to begin the new Assembly year with an ecumenical service on Monday 11 February 2013. 



Click here to continue reading.

The ACL has  just become aware of a letter by ACT Chief Minister Ms Gallagher in which she declined the Speaker of the House Vicki Dunne’s invitation to a church service to mark the beginning of the Assembly’s 2013 year on 11th of February at St Paul’s church in Manuka.



Ms Gallagher said “Members have been able to maintain a secular approach to our practice and tradition” and at the end of the letter stated “Should the Assembly actually be presented with an opportunity to express its view on this matter I can confirm that the Labor MLA’s would not support it or any other attempt to alter the secular character of our Legislative Assembly.”



ACL’s Managing Director Jim Wallace said it was disappointing for those in the ACT who had a Christian faith that Ms Gallagher declined to attend a ceremony that would be important to those who believe that the our society stands out as a civil one because of its Christian fundamentals, and would want to see Christ continue to bless and preserve it.

The current concerns about proposed Federal Anti-Discrimination legislation have echoed some of the concerns surrounding a bill before the Tasmanian Parliament to amend its Anti-Discrimination Act.



The two major area’s ACL has concerns  with relate to:



1. Extending the “offence to offend” component of the current Act to encompass pretty much any characteristic e.g. age, political affiliation, sexual orientation etc. Currently such terminology is limited to 7 gender specific attributes linked to sexual harassment prohibition.



2. Changes to exemptions for faith-based schools that would threaten the ability of religious schools to maintain their ethos through selective enrolment. The suggested changes would allow schools to apply for an exception if the school was at capacity on a case-by-case basis. Such requirements, we believe, are onerous and not applicable to the majority of faith-based schools who are not fully enrolled.



ACL has been lobbying for the “offence to offend” component of the current Act to be unchanged and the school exemption clause to be a general one i.e. just as single-sex schools can positively discriminate in selecting students of one sex, schools which are set up to serve a particular faith community must be allowed to uphold the purpose and intent of their schools by selecting students of a particular faith, should they choose to do so.



In November the school exemption portion of the amendment bill was voted down (by the Liberals and Greens - for very different reasons) in the lower house while the “offence to offend” changes were passed. The Upper House will debate the bill early in 2013.



The Liberal Party has been very supportive of both of our positions on these proposed changes – particularly on the school exemption question. They agreed that the proposed exemption was not the best option for any of the faith-based or independent schools in Tasmania and would have actually been worse than the current situation for many of those schools (removing the current ability for all schools to apply for an exemption for a defined period).



The Liberals support a general exception for all faith-based schools (removing the need to apply for an exemption) – as currently exists in every other state and will move for the general exception to be made a part of this Bill when debate begins in the Upper House next year.

The Centre for Public Christianity recently interviewed president-elect of Campion College, Dr Ryan Messmore about private faith and public life. In this interview with CPX's Simon Smart, Dr Messmore argues that there is a place for religion in society.







 

A Citywide Inter-denominational Christian Conference



In May 2013 citywide Churches, Christian organisations and Christians in the Marketplace are delighted to bring Dr David Yonggi Cho to Melbourne for the River of Life Conference.



The purpose of the two-day conference on Thursday 9 and Friday10 May 2013 is to " To accelerate the capacity of the 21st Century church to bless the city and nation".



Today the Australian church is immersed in a world that is experiencing massive social, technological, economic, military and environmental changes. During similar times of uncertainty in South Korea Dr Cho started from humble beginnings to help grow the Christian population of South Korea to over 30%.  Today we need similar hope and inspiration for the Australian church in the 21st century.



Many people can teach principles of leadership but what we need is growth in faith.  Dr Cho has raised the faith of the church during previous visits to Australia and this conference will raise our faith capacity to live out the Christian faith in our everyday world.



The ACL is partner of this event and will be a conference exhibitor on Friday, May 10th.



Bookings for the event are filling up fast with 90% of the bookings sold for the Thursday.



For more information and to register visit http://www.riveroflifeconference.org/