40 lessons from 40 years of living, more religion in politics + more

A new survey by the Church of England found that “four in 10 people did not believe Jesus was a real person, with a quarter of 18 to 34 year olds believing he was a mythical or fictional character.” The same study revealed that fewer than ten per cent of people read the Bible or prayed regularly.

This article from the Sydney Morning Herald last week said, “the constitutional lawyers will hate it and the atheists might scream, but maybe it’s time we stopped being so particular about this church vs state thing. Maybe what politics needs now is more religion.” It’s surprising, to say the least, that a Fairfax paper would publish such a point of view. But as always, we’re happy to see religion getting fair treatment in the public sphere. Read the whole article.

Over on The Gospel Coalition US site, this article caught our eye. The author says, “as a way of reflecting on my long, unbroken track record of unsurpassed mediocrity, here is a list of things I’ve learned, discovered, and experienced, and that I now think.” Highlights include:

1. Being married might be the most sanctifying thing in your life, if you’re doing it right. It definitely is the most sanctifying thing in your life if you’re doing it wrong.
33. That moment at the end of Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, when Emma Thompson finds out Hugh Grant isn’t married? Gets me every time. (Also the scene in Casablanca when they drown out the Nazis with “La Marsellaise.”)
[number 40 is pretty awesome too, but you’ll have to read the post to find out what it is].

The media were relentless in their mocking of Tony Abbott last week, after he suggested that the “wholesome instinct” of loving your neighbour was leading Europe into what he called “catastrophic error.” Today, at the launch of a religious freedom roundtable – convened by Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson – the Attorney General George Brandis defended Abbott. The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Brandis as saying, “The incessant sneering and ridiculing of the former prime minister, Mr Abbott, on account of his religious faith was bigotry at its most shameless – made worse, if possible, by the added hypocrisy of the fact that many of those who engaged in that sneering were the very same people who like to pose as the enemies of bigotry.”