Progressive Christian voices on faith, justice, and inclusion
Progressive Christian voices on faith, justice, and inclusion — by Jason Masters.
Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club that the country holds together by being the same. The tradition she claims says the opposite: a people is bound not by one blood or one tongue but by one law, applied to the citizen and the stranger alike. A faith-framed response to One Nation's program.
Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club that the migrant is a cost. The tradition she claims keeps a different ledger: Ruth gleaned in the harvest field and was woven into the bloodline of kings, and today's nurses, carers, students, and seasonal workers carry us still.
Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club that Australia's many languages are a problem. But the country was never monolingual, the Census refutes her fears, and the faith she claims for the nation began at Pentecost — where God blessed many tongues rather than imposing one.
Pauline Hanson told the National Press Club that migration caused Australia's housing crisis. The pain is real, but the blame is false witness. Scripture protects the stranger and names the real culprit: the hoarding of homes and the sale of the public stock.
A reply to Pauline Hanson's call for a monocultural Australia — the country has never been one culture, and the Judeo-Christian tradition she invokes commands welcome of the stranger.
A short, raw confession about staying silent during the AIDS crisis and church debates while closeted, and the guilt of having hidden.