The journey towards equality in the last few years has remained a political football. In particular, the debate over marriage equality has really put Australia very much behind the times. Religion is at the centre of this debate, however, the action taken recently by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) has been ground breaking, in a religious context. EREA is the re-branding of the religious order formally known as the Christian Brothers. EREA governs over 50 Catholic schools in Australia, and many more globally. They are a powerful player in the Catholic education sector, and their advancements in equality should be commended. EREA recently released a position paper, which outlines their stance on providing a safe and inclusive environment in their schools, which now officially includes ‘same-sex attracted and gender diverse young people’. From my point of view, the ground-breaking component of this position paper is the linking of passages of scripture to this issue. Here, EREA are making it very clear that one can interpret the bible in a positive way, which is a fantastic step forward for the Catholic faith with regards to equality. Bigots will traditionally take carefully selected passages of scripture to justify their hate, and it is encouraging to see a religious order as large as EREA using the bible in the same way, but instead, for the greater good. Perhaps this action might encourage other religious orders or even the Catholic Church more broadly to change the way in which they interpret the bible. Perhaps, this might then force our government to stop stalling on the issue of marriage equality.
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Turnbull’s ‘sensible centre’ sounds more like an androgynous zone, rather than a place on the spectrum of conservativeness. On one end of the conservative spectrum, Tony Abbott is jumping up and down, in some kind of ‘Oppositional Defiance Disorder’ boogie. For someone who claimed he wasn’t going to snipe, Tony sure seems to be trending on the snipe hashtag. On the other end of the spectrum is Malcolm. Malcolm, who was once considered to be so left, that he was in the wrong party, claims that he is now ‘Malcolm in the middle’. Perhaps, Turnbull is indeed in the middle, as he is someone who personally believes in marriage equality, but stands vehemently by the party line. I will say one good thing for Turnbull, and that is he has managed to get the conservatives to finally talk about climate change, and it seems things are starting to change in this arena. If Turnbull can take a stand and push for marriage equality, he will be long remembered for this, and will go down in history as one of our greatest leaders, for leading positive change.
'The Secret History' is the debut novel for Donna Tartt. Tartt has written just three novels, over approximately three decades. Her most recent novel, 'The Goldfinch' won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014, and was listed in the 100 Most Influential People, by Time Magazine in 2014.
Please join the discussion at our Facebook page. It all started in the summer of 2013. The movie Frozen had just come out and I took my then three-year old daughter to see it in the cinema. She instantly fell in love with it, and so did I. Fast forward to 2017, I now have three kids, and have seen pretty much every animated children’s movie made from Toy Story, through to Lego Batman. We, as a family, love watching these movies together. I find myself getting completely immersed in them. I learned how to play the opening piano riff for Frozen’s ‘Let it go’, and I have found myself listening to the Trolls soundtrack, by myself, in the car. Sure, it would make sense to have the Trolls soundtrack playing when the kids are also in the car, to entertain them, but I am equally happy to listen to it by myself, as the music is really just that good. Most recently, my eldest daughter and I went to see Beauty and the Beast at the cinema, and I am now loving the fact that I can watch these kinds of movies with her, that she is now getting older and needs more challenging films to watch. My four-year old son is now getting in to Star Wars, which is just super! Does this make me a ‘kidult’, or, are movies like Zootopia, Trolls, and Frozen just really good films in their own right? Last year I found myself having a conversation, with another adult mind you, about the merits of Zootopia, and it’s commentary on race and class. Maybe I’m reading too much in to it. As a further extension to this phenomenon, I also love building Lego with my four-year old son. He is obsessed with Lego and Star Wars, so, it makes sense that he now has a collection of Star Wars Lego – sometimes, I’m not sure who enjoys building the Lego more, me or him. Are we as adults, simply letting our inner child out through our own children, or are we just spending quality time with them. It’s hard to distinguish the two. All I know is that I can’t wait for the next kids film to watch, or the next Lego project to get stuck in to. |
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June 2018
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