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AUSTRALIAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY |
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| 'Spiritual capital' is reflected in what a community or organisation exists for, aspires to and for what it takes responsibility. If an organisation operates out of values of service and is focussed on the wellbeing of people, it can be said to have high levels of spiritual capital. MORE...
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Reflections on Vincent Miller, Consuming
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| What follows is a precis of the Presidential address given at the 2001 conference of the Australian Association for the Study of Religions, Melbourne, July 2001. A more detailed version can be found in Australian Religion Studies Review 14(2) 2001 pp 5-16. 'Blackleg Churches' forms part of a longer study by Marion Maddox, For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics (299pp., Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library 2001), available from The Parliament Shop, Parliament House, Canberra ACT 2600, telephone (02) 6277 5050; fax (02) 6277 5068. Retail price A$20.00 MORE...
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| Historically, in both Britain and Australia, welfare provision as been perceived as the moral responsibility of the state. While some have considered assistance as the right of those less fortunate, government welfare policy has shifted away from this perception towards one of the mutual obligation of citizen and state. While this position might seem entirely reasonable, its expression through recent policy has arguably not always been in the interests of either welfare recipients or Australian society. Given the churches crucial role in social justice (both through local programs and denominational agencies) the outcomes of policy have a direct impact on the operation of welfare and church organisations. MORE...
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| Why did Australia not manage to make any progress in the fight MORE...
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| Opinions are always changing, particularly on such a topical issue as should Australia be a republic? However, it is interesting to look at responses to a survey in 1993 and the relationship of answers to religious identification and behaviour.
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| In this issue we will continue our exploration of what the 1993 National Social Science Survey can tell us about the religious factor in Australian society. In organising the diverse material in the survey which can be related to different aspects of religion, we have used a classificatory system proposed by Charles Y Glock (1965). In our March issue we considered Glock’s ideological dimension or what Australians believe. In June we considered the ritual dimension in terms of the religious practices of Australians. MORE...
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| Our sense of satisfaction in life is effected by many factors. For example, feeling good about the neighbourhood in which we live can contribute to our feeling good about life as a whole. The 1993 National Social Science Survey looked at a range of factors, most of which are represented in the graph of ‘comparative contributions’.
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| Many factors influence the choice of spouse. Among them are similarity in outlook and background. Some religious groups have strongly encouraged people to find their partners within their own religious group. They have argued that differences in religion can be a cause of marital unhappiness. It might also be added that when the parents have different religious affiliations, it can affect the children (Nelson, 1990). However, in recent years, the religious barriers between denominations have not been as rigid and, in some denominations, less concern has been expressed about people marrying outside their denomination. Some researchers have suggested that the fact that more people appear to be marrying outside their religion tells us that religion means little to them. One American researcher wrote in 1985 that ‘religion seems to have become increasingly irrelevant to the choice of mates in modern society’ (Hargrave, 1985, p.206). He, and others, have argued that this is another piece of evidence of the ‘secularisation’ of society (McCutcheon, 1988, p.215). The national Housing and Population Census allows us to examine the extent to which Australians are married to people who share the same religion or denomination.
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| Job security concerns many people in our society. It seems to be a fact of many occupations, a characteristic of contemporary society. Yet, it has many disadvantages for the work-force, and for the sense of well-being in our society. Ultimately, it becomes an issue of social justice. Mariah Evans and Jonathan Kelley have written a small paper on how Australians see the problem. MORE...
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| Harvey Cox is best known for his book The Secular City. While he continues to have a great interest in interpreting the movements of human beings in their social situations, his focus has changed greatly. His book, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century, describes the Pentecostal movement in many of its manifestations around the globe. It was published by the Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, Massachusetts, in 1995. The book is written with great sympathy, yet not uncritically. It is the most enjoyable and insightful book I have read in a long time.
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| Robert Wuthnow is one of the most prolific contemporary American writers in the area of sociology of religion. He is Professor of Social Sciences at Princeton University. His interests are broad and cover many areas of the American culture and the relationship of the churches to it. His book, Christianity in the Twenty-first Century, is a useful review of the directions which in the churches of America are moving. Some of the themes he discusses will be very familiar to Australians. Others are remote. Wuthnow looks at five areas of challenge: the institutional structures of the church, ethical challenges, doctrinal challenges, political challenges and cultural challenges. In the issues of Pointers through 1997, we will use his themes as a starting point for our own reflections on the future directions of the Christian faith.
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| In 1996, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a report of a survey regarding voluntary work in Australia. The survey was conducted among people 15 years and over in the 12 months prior to June 1995. Information was sought from 56,000 people across Australia.
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| by David de Vaus and Ilene Wolcott, Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne, 1997. ISBN 0 642 26436 8
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| In a series of articles throughout 1997, I have summarised and commented on the challenges for Christianity in the 21st Century described by Robert Wuthnow, a prominent American Sociologist of Religion. We have looked at challenges to the institutional structures of the church, to the provision on an ethical basis for life, and in developing faith in the context increasing pluralism. This article looks at the political and cultural challenges for Christianity as it prepares for the 21st century.
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| Generation X is generally defined as those born between 1963 and 1980. They are now between the ages of 18 and 35. An article in Context, a Canadian bulletin on church related research published by World Vision Canada, (Spring 1998, vol.7 no.2), described that generation for churches in terms of the following characteristics. MORE...
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| The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria commissioned CRA to prepare an annotated bibliography of studies investigating the issues surrounding rural youth who move to the city, and to locate programs and services designed to help them make the transition.
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| Values of the Older Generation
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| The 2001 Census figures on religion were released on Monday 13th June 2002. Most of the trends are similar to those of previous years, but there are a few surprises and a few issues to which attention needs to be drawn. MORE...
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| The latest report on Marriages in Australia (Marriages and Divorces 2000), reveals that the trend toward civil celebration is continuing. In the year 2000, 47.2 per cent of couples used a religious celebrant and 52.8 percent used a civil celebrant. Within the civil celebrant group, only 14 percent were official registrars. Most couples have continued to choose licensed civil celebrants.
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| A survey conducted by the Christian Research Association of Uniting Church attenders in 2000 for Uniting Education found very few business people in the churches. Of all people under 60 in the sample of 4500 attenders in 250 Uniting churches survey around Australia, MORE...
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| In many parts of the world, religion has a geographical nature. People of one religion or denomination live in one part of town, while those of another religion live in other parts. It would appear that when religious groups are concentrated in particular areas, and groups do not mix socially with each other, there is a greater chance of violence. Over recent decades, many new religious groups have found a home in Australia. MORE...
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| In the last edition (Pointers vol.10, no.3), male and female subcultures presented in Australian Youth Subcultures on the margins and in the mainstream (Australian Clearing House for Youth Studies, 1999) were explored. This article examines some of the themes emerging from the section on ethnic youth subcultures, focusing on the themes of identity and conflict.
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| Outside of the responsibilities of work and other commitments, paid and voluntary, education, family/household responsibilities what do Australians do with their time, aside from sleeping and eating that is? MORE...
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