The first encyclical on social teaching by Benedict XVI has finally appeared, some four years after it was first signaled. The question many will be asking is, has it been worth the wait? It is a long and complex document that addresses several fronts… At times he seems to promote a highly idealised vision of an economy based on giftedness. At other times he makes quite prescriptive pronouncements on energy consumption. The encyclical covers so many areas any account will need to be selective… I would like to focus on two elements which I think are of long term significance, particularly in light of the context of the document, which is globalisation.
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, firm, global, individual, macro, moral, rome
Economics commentator Ross Gittins on financial crisis, greed and the good life.
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, firm, global, individual, macro
The Centre for Public Christianity (CPX) sent Brian Rosner to the Third Annual Conference on Happiness and its Causes at Darling Harbour, in Sydney, on the 8-9 May. Here is the first of his reports.Spruiked as the leading forum on human happiness in the world, the conference was attended by over 2,000 people from around the globe and from a wide range of backgrounds…
Categories:
briefing
Tags: australia, community, global, individual, moral
…The debate about how to alter the economic system will doubtless continue, but it will do so along two very different lines. One debate will be about putting in place the best rules for the system. This is the legitimate responsibility of governments which will doubtless be exercised in consultation with business leaders, professional academics and the general public. But another debate will be about the extent to which people will stop worshipping what the [Australian] prime minister called the ‘false god’ of ‘unfettered free markets’. As society moves into a debate with religious overtones, it might be helpful to briefly lay out a religious perspective, which will at the very least have the benefit of making sense of terms such as ‘worship’, and ‘false god’…
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, firm, global, individual, macro, moral
Talk about the economy needs to be set in a broader conversation about the values that underlie its workings. There is a space for deeper reflection on the human condition, which will help us understand why greed and fear so dominate in human affairs, and what hopes we may reasonably entertain for the betterment of humanity.
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, firm, global, individual, macro, moral
The cultural critic Neil Postman has famously remarked that we are ‘amusing ourselves to death.’ Our every waking moment is filled with pleasure and entertainment, and yet, paradoxically, our lives are coloured by a strange malaise, by the dull weariness of boredom. Never have we been more entertained; never have we been more bored.
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, global, individual, moral
Leading Australian economist Ian Harper discusses the financial meltdown.
Categories:
briefing, commentary
Tags: australia, firm, global, macro, moral
A presentation by Peter Murphy, CEO of Christian Super in Australia, providing an update on the global financial crisis (May 2009) and what is happening from an Australian perspective. It concludes with a brief reflection on its implications for Christian stewardship.
Categories:
briefing, commentary
Tags: australia, global, individual, macro, moral
Recommendations of Anglicare Australia, Catholic Social Services Australia, UnitingCare Australia and the Salvation Army.
Categories:
commentary
Tags: australia, community, global, individual, moral