Roundup: East African famine, climate tax, Trevor Davies, school chaplains, Tree of Life

East Africa: Behind the famine

Millions of people across East Africa are looking down the barrel of the worst famine for 60 years. Thousands of families have picked up their possessions to walk towards what they hope is better pasture land, towards countries that might hold the promise of food.

The virtuous circle of Gillard’s climate tax

‘Carbon tax’ by Chris JohnstonThe Government and the Multi Party Climate Change Committee (MPCCC) have crafted a historic package of reforms: driving long-run reductions in carbon pollution, simplifying personal tax and making it fairer, and reducing poverty traps and barriers to work.

Scribe of Redfern driven by politics

At his funeral at Pitt Street Uniting Church, former premier Kristina Keneally said: ”Trevor and I didn’t always see eye to eye but we shared three core beliefs: that South Sydney is a unique and remarkable community; that the Labor Party is the greatest political agent for social justice; and that the Christian gospels preach a message of love and acceptance.”

God’s dollar better spent on welfare

It’s not just a bunch of atheists and self-interested psychologists who are worried about the school chaplaincy program. The head of the Anglican Education Commission in Sydney, Bryan Cowling, has also cast doubt on the role of school chaplains in government schools, in part because they don’t “need to have any particular credentials”.

Presbyterians to officially allow gay clergy

Presbyterians who support gay rights were prepping sanctuaries July 10 to celebrate the passage of a new church policy that allows gay pastors to serve openly for the first time in the denomination’s history.

The Tree of Life

In the tradition of Augustine’s Confessions, The Tree of Life is the story of a single life drawn upward to God.