Rejoicing in monotony, religious freedom + why ordinariness is no protection from evil

Did you notice that Tony Abbott is back in the news this week, after giving a speech in America to the Alliance Defending freedom in which he spoke on the importance of family? The media reaction has been less than complimentary. Eternity contributor Michael Jensen writes, “ironically, the reaction to Tony Abbott’s decision to speak to the Alliance Defending Freedom proves that group right when it claims that our religious freedoms are under threat as never before.” Read the whole article, here.

Regardless of whether you’re a routine-lover or hater, this article in Christianity Today makes an unexpected point: “Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. . . . The repetition in nature may not be a recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.” Read the whole article, here.

Veteran journalist Giles Fraser writes about high-ranking Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann, after a hand-written plea for clemency from Eichmann to the then Israeli Prime Minister was released earlier this week. It turns out that Eichmann, the man responsible for the deportation of millions of Jews to death camps, was a pretty ordinary fellow. Fraser’s conclusion, though not especially Christian, is quite damning: “…ordinariness is no protection against doing great evil … Which is precisely why the moral message of his story remains profoundly unsettling: if ordinary people were capable of such great evil, then, given the right circumstances, so are the rest of us.” What do you think?

Fuel your faith every Friday with our weekly newsletter

Our most Southern state has been battling a series of trying times lately, not least an out-of-control bushfire and a tragic accident involving a young mother. Here, a Hobart minister offers a prayer for a city in mourning.