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50 years of the Pill

50 years of the Pill

"The Pill was the best invention men could have thought of for themselves." This statement was extracted from an article written by Angela Shanahan for the Weekend Australian 'Inquirer' 17-18 April, noting that the Pill was introduced 50 years ago. Her comment: \'Beware harmful side effects, including sexual enslavement\' raises several intriguing points about women, sexual health and moral responsibility..

  • Nurse practitioners are very special, forget the dollars

    A recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald spoke of the dollar savings of the nurse practitioners in New South Wales, who depending on their speciality, can monitor particular medical situations within the community and can even prescribe particular medications appropriate to their specialisation. While not being medical doctors, they have more specialised training than traditional registered nurses, and can take some of the burden from the GPs.

  • An inappropriate word - allegation

    In a recent article from Tasmania, a hate web site supporting the Port Arthur mass murderer Martin Bryant, made the ludicrous statement that a former detective who was on the case, was one of the shooters, and the writer of the article referred to this as an \'allegation\'.

  • (Mis)Representing God

    Jesus is "the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" according to Heb 1:3. Or as Paul said in Col 1:15: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation". If we want to know what God is like, we simply have to look at Jesus.

  • Returning from the UK and job hunting

    At any one time there are over one million Australian young who live and work overseas, many in England and the USA. There is a constant turn-around, with some coming and some returning. Also, of course, there are many, many young people from all countries travelling on working visas within Australia – some of whom hope to migrate here 'for good'.

  • The whistleblower, the anecdotal and official versions

    Truth in War is such a precious commodity that Winston Churchill claimed it required a multitude of lies to protect it, and it seems to many that this principle has a reality in areas of institutional life where the whistleblower is left \'out in the cold\'.

  • Big Bucks and the Gospel

    The proclamation of the gospel can never take place apart from the surrounding culture. Indeed, it is done in some sort of culture all the time – it does not exist in a vacuum. Thus all our efforts at Christian proclamation will be affected one way or another by the time, place and culture we live in.

  • The value of volunteers

    Surf Life Saving clubs in NSW are in financial crisis. Randwick City Council has introduced a levy to enhance beach safety, which necessitates a higher running cost to the surf clubs. General manager of Surf Lifesaving NSW, Matt Hanks, thinks that other councils in the Sydney area should consider following suit.

  • Why should we be surprised at all?

    After 11 September 2001 (9/11) when Muslim terrorists piloted passenger aircraft into the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC, the great debate was whether the security forces were asleep on the job. Numerous articles and television documentaries since, have illustrated where the mistakes were made and how information was not passed on to other security agencies, to the point that\'s it\'s a wonder more terrorism had not succeeded.

  • Anecdotally, China is in Christian transformation

    When it comes to Christianity in China, conflicting information is being reported. There are two very different stories coming out of Christian Press wire in China. There are reports of religious persecution, with pastors from both registered and house churches being arrested and jailed, but there are also stories of Christian development, evangelism and Christian grass roots astonishing growth.

  • So Who Wants To Be a Prophet?

    There are plenty of thankless and miserable jobs one can get into. One would imagine that being a full-time septic tank cleaner would not be high on the list of favourite jobs. You might have some other candidates to add to such a list.

  • Palestinian Christians a dearth of resources

    The message of Jesus' great commission has relevance to the Middle East in the twenty-first century, says Mark Tronson, Chairman of Well-Being Australia, a Baptist minister and cricket chaplain. Matthew 28:19 states: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost".