Tag: Social Justice

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Social Impact

Standing with refugees

While our Federal Government still takes a hard line approach to refugees and asylum seekers, many Australians want to do more to help those coming to Australia for safety. There are a number of practical ways members of the Australian community can help.

The Uniting Church WA has been a long-time supporter of the Coalition for Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Detainees (CARAD), who provide support to refugees and asylum seekers in Perth. Recent cuts to the Status Resolution Support Service mean that up to 500 people in Perth may lose access to this program, leaving them without any form of income. Individuals and groups, such  as Uniting Church WA congregations, can help by donating items to CARAD’s Food Bank or organising a fundraiser to donate cash.

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Social Impact

Messages from the aether: August 2018

Domestic and family violence, climate change and voluntary assisted dying (VAD) were some of the pertinent issues discussed at Uniting Church in Australia’s 15th Triennial Assembly meeting in July. Elsa Samuel reviewed these sites that advocate and inform on these issues.

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Social Impact

A Christian response to racism

President of the Uniting Church in Australia Dr Deidre Palmer has called on Australians to respond with love, hospitality and inclusion to a surge in anti-immigration rhetoric in Australian public life.

“Jesus’ great commandment to his followers was to love God and love your neighbour. As Christians we believe all people are created in the image of God and deserving of respect and dignity. Racism is incompatible with the Christian faith,” said Deidre.

In recent weeks, inflammatory opinion pieces have suggested a ‘foreign invasion’, a neo-Nazi has been allowed to air his views on a news channel; there has been more fearmongering about so-called ‘African gangs’, and a Senator has used his maiden speech to honour the White Australia Policy and call for future migration to “reflect the historic European-Christian composition of Australian society.”

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Social Impact

15th Triennial Assembly Meeting

The 15th Triennial Assembly Meeting opened on Sunday 8 July in Melbourne, and Dr Deidre Palmer was installed as President of the Uniting Church in Australia.

Members of the meeting have already discussed some proposals on marriage;  heard from the National Task Group, which is the body appointed by the Uniting Church to respond to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse; discussed sovereignty for Australia’s First Peoples; and have adopted a statement that commits the Uniting Church to repudiate all teaching and theologies that justify domestic violence.

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Social Impact

Moderator’s Column: Christ the controversialist

Some people love a good controversy. They write letters to the newspaper, attend rallies, join movements and engage in vigorous debates.

I am not such a person. I have, however, attended a number protest marches. My first was at the age of nineteen when I joined a couple of hundred other Christians, carrying crosses near a nuclear shipyard that planned to name a new nuclear submarine ‘Corpus Christi’, Latin for ‘the body of Christ’. We could not reconcile giving such a sacred name to a weapon of mass destruction.

More recently, I spoke at a rally on behalf of the suffering Rohingya people, and at Palm Sunday peace rallies I have felt compelled to join many other people giving support and solidarity to  poorly treated refugees.  I have reluctantly at times engaged in controversial issues, sometimes forgetting that Christ, who I claim to serve, was controversial. It seems that on some of the issues of the day, Jesus entered the controversy.

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News & Announcements

Start a Social Justice Action Group

The Social Justice Unit of the Uniting Church WA recently launched its Social Justice Action Groups (SJAG), to provide support to those thinking of advocating social justice issues and don’t know where to start.

“Social Justice is such a core part of the identity of the Uniting Church,” said Geoff Bice, Social Justice Consultant for the Uniting Church WA. “Setting up a Social Justice Action Group in your community is a key way of co-ordinating and localising action. I think it also demonstrates our dedicated love for others, through social justice, as a fundamental expression of the gospel.”

The Social Justice Unit can assist groups to put their plan into action whether it is to run an event, start a letter writing campaign or volunteer with a local service provider. A SJAG can be based in a congregation, a region or with a bunch of friends. It’s a great way to connect with like-minded individuals who aspire to make a difference in social justice.

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Social Impact

Record crowd at Perth Palm Sunday walk

Former Premier of Western Australia, Dr Carmen Lawrence, and now Professor in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia, addressed a record crowd of close to 1 500 people outside St George’s Cathedral at the Perth Palm Sunday Walk for Justice for Refugees, held on 25 March.

Dr Lawrence drew attention to the cruelty of Australia’s refugee policies, saying, “We know that the current policies are costly, costly in human terms and financial terms, and cruel, unutterably cruel, defying the refugee convention to which we’re signatory.”

Newly installed Anglican Archbishop of Perth, Kay Goldsworthy AO, Australia’s first female Archbishop, in one of her first major public appearances as Archbishop added her voice to the call for a humane response to people seeking safety saying, “Australians are a compassionate people. Instead of limbo and uncertainty, we can offer safety, freedom and a future.”

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Social Impact

Polar parallels on a journey of the heart

Colleen Geyer, General Secretary of the Uniting Church in Australia travelled across Canada last year with a group of seven Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (Congress) leaders, as part of the Moderator of the United Church of Canada (UCC), Rev Jordan Cantwell’s, Reconciliation Dialogue.

The purpose of the trip was to take a look at the way another church had worked through sovereignty and treaty discussions with its First Peoples, to better inform the conversation the Uniting Church is currently engaged in. She shared her experience with Revive.

Our journey began in Vancouver where we met students at the UCC’s Native Ministries Consortium Summer School and visited the Vancouver School of Theology.

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Social Impact

President’s message: Standing alongside First Peoples this Survival Day

The President of the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA), Stuart McMillan, has called on governments state and federal to speed up negotiation of treaties that recognise Indigenous sovereignty.

In a video message released to coincide with 26 January, Stuart has urged all Australian governments “to give First Peoples a voice into the political processes which affect their lives.”

“First Peoples in Australia have not only survived but they have withstood injustice and today stand proud.”

Since 2015, the Uniting Church has been exploring what recognising sovereignty and treaty for its partners in the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

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Social Impact

Editorial

So much has been going on in Australian politics in the lead-up to printing this edition of Revive. In a landslide victory, Australia has voted yes in the marriage equality postal survey, and crazy things are happening around our Federal MPs concerning dual citizenship.

But a horror situation is also unfolding on Manus Island.

I’ve struggled to keep up with news on this situation, I think because I feel utterly helpless. But as Revive goes to print, around 600 men have been abandoned by the Australian Government at the Manus Island Detention Centre. They fear for their safety if they leave. Their food, power and water has been cut and I can’t even imagine the mental anguish they must be going through.

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