Bashar’s father Hafez al-Assad was brutal but never used chemical arms. And do you know which was the first army to use gas in the Middle East? By Robert Fisk December 08, 2012 “The Independent” —  The bigger the lie the more people will believe it. We all know who said that – but it still […]

Andrew Dutney 27 NOV 2012 WE’VE BECOME COMFORTABLE WITH TREATING VULNERABLE “OTHERS” AS WE WOULD NEVER WANT TO BE TREATED. MEASURED AGAINST THE GOLDEN RULE, IT POINTS TO A NEGLECTED, ENFEEBLED, IMPERILLED Amnesty International has confirmed that conditions for asylum seekers that Australia has sent to Nauru are wretched. There is poor sanitation, inadequate accommodation, overcrowding, and […]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-11-15/israel-and-hamas-must-negotiate-peaceful-truce/4372706 Israel and Hamas ‘must negotiate peaceful truce’ www.abc.net.au Vice-president of the Australia-Palestine Advocacy Network, Reverend Gregor Henderson, discusses the deescalation of violence in Gaza.

Mehdi Hasan Political director of The Huffington Post UK Posted: 15/11/2012 20:09 As Palestinian militants in Gaza fire rockets into Israel and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) bombard the Strip ‘in retaliation’, here are ten things you should probably know about Gaza: 1) “PRISON CAMP” David Cameron once referred to Gaza as a “prison camp” […]

Marilyn Lake The legacies of our past weigh heavily on us. Our attitudes toward asylum seekers – those who appear on the horizon, from over the seas, not-white in appearance and uninvited – have deep roots in our formative history as a nation. Indeed, such attitudes were constitutive, in a quite literal way, of our […]

Report One Damascus (Agenzia Fides) – New meetings and new initiatives for the inter-religious popular movement “Mussalaha” (“Reconciliation”), which proposes a “reconciliation from below” starting from families, clans, the different communities of Syrian civil society, tired of the conflict. While the country is torn by conflict, peace initiatives and meetings are multiplying, being born in […]

David Liepert, Canadian Muslim Leader Whether or not it turns out (as I expect it will) that Middle-Eastern Muslim mobs were duped by jihadist radicals — provoked by an old, fringe video to provide cover for their own planned attacks on Muslim-friendly American forces in Egypt, Libya and Yemen — those mobs are a worse […]

Jennie Ryan at 12:02 PM ET
[JURIST] Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu on Sunday called for former US presidentGeorge W. Bush and former UK prime minister Tony Blair to stand trial at the International Criminal Court for their roles in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Tutu argues that The immorality of the United States and Great Britain’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003, […]

4/09/2012 As Australian church leaders, we stand together to express our grave concern at the passing of legislation to allow for the offshore processing and indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Core to the Christian faith is the principle of “welcoming the stranger”, and Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan guides us as we seek to […]

While hoping that the Pacific Solution Mark II – with the unworkable, unethical “no advantage” rule – will in fact stop the boats in the short term, despite the Abbott static, we need to build greater trust and co-operation with the Indonesians so that those asylum seekers, other than Sri Lankans, determined to get on […]

The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) is deeply disappointed at the recommendations of the Houston Panel on Asylum Seekers. And we are dismayed by the enthusiasm with which the Parliament has passed legislation that will see Australia close its doors to asylum seekers arriving by boat. http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2012/08/16/3569184.htm

Why truth and politics don’t mix. BY THEO ANDERSON Why can’t politicians just tell us the truth? Why would it be such a surprise if the president said that our behavior is frying the planet, that we don’t seem to care much, and that our indifference to climate change is an act of collective suicide? Why […]