The signs of our time propel the living tradition forward. The biosphere of our blue marble of a planet is under severe duress. The atmosphere is heating up. Populations of song birds, pollinators and amphibians, mammals from bats to moose, and many aquatic species are plummeting. Every year multiple species go extinct at an alarming rate due to human actions.
This raises a new question about the will of God for the world, or more explicitly, abuo the merciful intent of God for all creatures and their ecosystems. Since salvation means making life whole, liberating, healing, forgiving, restoring, cleansing, opening up new possibilities, belief in a God who saves is obviously relevant to the polluted, ravaged, depleted natural world.
A theology of accompaniment sees God’s redeeming action always present and active in service of the flourishing of a world that is currently suffering reversals and death in a horrific way. The living God, gracious and merciful, always was, is and will be accompanying the world with saving grace, including humans in their sinfulness, and humans and all creatures in their unique beauty, evolutionary struggle and inevitable dying…
In Jesus Christ crucified we are gifted with an historical sacrament of encounter with the mercy of God, which points us toward conversion to the suffering earth, sustained by hope for the resurrection of us all.
(Source: Elizabeth A Johnson: from ‘Creation and the Cross: The Mercy of God for a Planet in Peril, p.225)
An Open Letter to the religious leaders in Australia.
(by Tim Costello)
This week marks the 60th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech. Those prophetic words for all Americans are now etched in history.
Less well known, but no less important, is King’s prophetic words to white religious leaders written from Birmingham Jail. It was smuggled out written around edges of old newspapers and raggedy bits of paper as he was allowed nothing to write on.
He addresses the white clergy who claimed to support the cause of equality, but called his direct action “unwise and untimely”. While those clergy leaders urged “patience” and delay, he responded that he had “never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was ‘well timed’ according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation… We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights.”
The letter from Birmingham Jail is as heavy-hearted as his Washington speech is uplifting. To ministers saying ‘Those are social issues, with which the gospel has no real concern,” King revealed a disappointment. It is the pain of a brother and not an enemy: “I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the Church. I say this as a Minister of the Gospel who loves the Church, who was nurtured in its bosom, who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen”.
MLK’s words inspired me years later to become a Baptist minister. I even named one of my sons after him. But there’s something freshly relevant today as he calls out “a completely other worldly religion which makes a strange, un-Biblical distinction between body and soul, between the sacred and the secular”. Among so many of Australia’s church leaders, on the profoundly important issues of Indigenous injustice we find caution rather than courage. They say these issues are too divisive for church leaders to address. I encounter this argument every day, as church leaders close their doors to Indigenous leaders and voices like mine seeking to explain why we are voting Yes in the Voice referendum.
We are voting in a referendum, not a partisan election. This referendum was requested by an overwhelming majority of Indigenous leaders. The current PM has answered that request, and he has the support of many prominent past and present Liberals, including half of Australia’s state conservative leaders. It is a chance for Australians to transcend the tribalism of day-to-day politics.
So let me explain why I believe this goes to the heart of my faith.
As a Christian I ask the question what right do we have to oppose what our indigenous brothers and sisters are asking for? In 1937 William Cooper a Yorta Yorta Christian leader secured thousands of indigenous signatures on a petition to ask the King George the VI ‘to prevent the extinction of the aboriginal race: to secure better living conditions for all; and to afford aboriginal representation in Parliament. The King never saw it as the PM and States blocked it even being sent. And where were the Churches then? Sadly over the years we have gone missing or remained deaf to the pleas of our brothers and sisters.
But that is not how our Christian story began.
From its earliest days, the church has navigated conflict and inequality. Jewish Christians insisted they would not eat with Christian Gentiles, until the apostles made it clear that transcending those divisions was at the heart of living out the gospel. They had the courage to overcome resistance, and
the message of freedom in Christ and one family in Christ not two – a Jewish Christian and a Gentile Christian soon carried across the world.
Barely any Australian Christian today imagines they would have opposed William Wilberforce’s fight against slavery had they been alive in his day. But that’s not what history teaches us. Many Christians said Wilberforce’s campaign was political, not spiritual. ‘The Record’, an evangelical newspaper in Wilberforce’s time, labelled his campaign against slavery as divisive and not of the Gospel. They baulked at giving any political expression to the biblical vision of now being “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free” but united in Christ.
When alive, voices like Wilberforce that challenge inequality are always accused of being divisive and political. The irony is that once they have died, we celebrate them. Why don’t we learn from history? How is it that many can joyfully sing the anti-slave anthem Amazing Grace, then go out and oppose the Voice? Why are leaders not challenging the flood of disinformation from White Christian nationalist websites from the USA?
It’s hard to imagine a stronger connection than that between Wilberforce’s evangelical network in the 1830s and cause of justice for Indigenous Australians. They made the bold case that Aborigines had been made in God’s image and had rights as those who occupied this land. They established the Aboriginal Protection Society, which exposed colonial injustices. The evangelical Secretary for the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, and the evangelical civil servant James Stephen, sought to prevent the takeover of unoccupied lands in South Australia, insisting that unoccupied lands belonged to the Aboriginal people and needed their consent or treaty. Those efforts were circumvented by Robert Torrens and other settlers, who wanted to behave like the other Colonies and just take the land.
The Wilberforce evangelicals had more success in NZ. Why was the Treaty of Waitangi struck in 1840? Because of the strengths of that Christian evangelical vision in Westminster. It would be more than 150 years before native title was recognised as law in Australia in the Mabo case in 1992. Once again there was a massive ‘No’ case scare campaign claiming that that Australians would lose our backyards with the Native title Act. But as sensible voices at the time reassured us, not one centimetre was lost.
Like MLK, we can be both proud of our many national achievements, as well as being honest about injustices that date back to our foundations. Captain Cook in 1770 claimed all of the land on the Eastern continent of Australia for the British King on the basis of the legal principle of discovery. In the same year, America’s second President, John Adams, wrote in the Massachusetts Gazette that this principle clearly “could give not title to the English King by common law, or by the law of nature, to the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of the native Indians.”
When Australia’s constitution was being written, the language of natural rights- so familiar to Wilberforce’s network- had sharply declined. The only delegate to raise questions about the fate of Aboriginal Australians was Sir William Russell, the delegate from New Zealand – a country that by then had fifty years’ experience of a treaty with Indigenous inhabitants. Russell warned that the new federal Parliament ”would be a body that cares nothing and knows nothing about native administration.” Cautious voices told him not to worry because Australia’s Aborigines were dying out as if the fate of Indigenous peoples could be attributed to natural causes. And so Aborigines were left out of our Constitution – the injustice that we are now addressing – while special provision was made in our Constitution for the future inclusion of New Zealand.
I fully accept that voting ‘No’ does not mean you are a racist. But I’m sure there’s not too many racists voting ‘Yes’.
Enough of the discredited line that to stand up to injustice is divisive, dangerous and unwise. Four in five Indigenous Australians are asking for a voice, and Christians represent a larger share of the Indigenous population than the population at large. Let’s heed the lessons of history, from Botany Bay to Uluru. Let’s raise our voices for Amazing Grace, but let’s not fail the true test for our generation.
The stereotypical image of a ‘homeless person’ needs dastric revision. In recent years the vast majority of homeless people have been women (and children) escaping domestic and family violence, or relationship breakdowns, leaving them financially vulnerable and facing insecure housing arrangements.
Now, the housing crisis is driving surging demand for homelessness services. Families are living in cars, and emergency accommodation. And more to come, when the fixed interest mortgage rates come to an end and people face further financial crisis.
Article on Homelessness Australia website, August 4, 2023
A new analysis reveals surging demand for homelessness services as record low rental vacancies and soaring prices push thousands of Australian families to the brink.
The Overstretched and overwhelmed: the strain on homelessness services report was prepared to mark the start of Homelessness Week. It cross-references Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data against service costs as outlined in the Productivity Commission Report on Government Services to reveal that an additional $450 million in homelessness support is needed to respond to new people needing homelessness assistance and people currently being turned away.
Between December and March, the number of people seeking homelessness assistance spiked 7.5 per cent, an extra 6,658 clients.
The overwhelming bulk of that need came from people seeking homelessness help because of financial stress and the housing crisis. Of the 95,767 people seeking assistance in March 2023, 83 per cent of them (79,244) needed help due to issues with their housing or financial stress.
Queensland saw the biggest increase in homelessness service use followed by Western Australia and NSW.
People seeking homelessness assistance in Victoria (highest in the country) December 2022 31,088 March 2023. 32,733 (up 5.3%) (compared to next highest: NSW December 2022 – 22,432; March 2023 – 24,730. Up 10.2%)
The report also highlights the impact of the housing crisis on women and children, with women and children making up 74% of all people using homelessness services. Of those turned away from homelessness services because they lacked the resources to assist, 80% were women and children and 31% were children under 18.
The report finds that if the current surge in demand continues, it will equate to an annual increase in demand equivalent to an additional 19,974 people. When combined with the 71,962 people currently turned away from homelessness services each year this adds up to 91,936 extra people needing support. The cost of funding this support is approximately $451 million.
The surge in demand was making it harder to assist people confronting homelessness.
A 7.5% increase in demand in just four months is unheard of. It forces homelessness services to make extremely tough decisions about who gets assistance.
Support services are triaging based on people’s vulnerability and need, but the reality is highly vulnerable people are being turned away because services simply have too few staff and other support resources. When you annualise this demand and add it to the existing people turned away we are looking at a funding shortfall of more than $450 million. This is just one terrible side effect of the worst housing crisis in living memory.
The bulk of increased demand comes from women and children, many of whom are fleeing violence. It is beyond comprehension that we have to turn people away, especially in winter.
The Federal Government has recently committed to new resources for social housing which is welcome, but while the housing crisis continues to drive increased homelessness, a significant funding boost is needed to cope with this unprecedented surge in demand. Australia has the means to end homelessness, we just need the will.
A celebration of Lay Preachers (usually on the first Sunday in August)
To preach the Gospel, the grace of God in Jesus Christ, is one of the greatest privileges anyone can have – and a pretty significant responsibility as well!
In the Uniting Church that that privilege is extended not just to Pastors and ordained ministers – Ministers of the Word and Deacons – in congregation placement, but to lay people, “ordinary” members of a congregation who respond to a Call from God to bring the Gospel of grace to their people.
The Ministry of Lay Preaching is a Specified Ministry in the Uniting Church, that is, it is of such importance that there are Regulations relating to the training and formal recognition of Lay Preachers. And those who have been through the formation will bear witness to the incredible richness of understanding, and deepening of faith, that accompanies the study involved.
There are also many who faithfully lead their people in worship and with preaching each week and who do not have any formal recognition. The church recognises the reality that without the faithful service of these people, there would be many congregations on any given Sunday with nobody to lead their worship.
So in the celebration of Lay Preachers Sunday, we thank God for the dedication and the gifts of accredited Lay Preachers, but also all people Lay and Ordained who bring the insights of their life experience to their faith and share that with us each week.
We pray the blessing of God on them all.:
There are diverse gifts: but it is the same Spirit who gives them. There are different ways of serving God: but it is the same Lord who is served. God works through people in different ways: but it is the same God whose purpose is achieved through us all. Each one of us is given a gift by the Spirit: and there is no gift without its corresponding service. There is one ministry of Christ: and in this ministry we all share. Together we are the body of Christ: and individually members of it. (Based on 1 Corinthians 12:4ff)
A reflection by Rev Prof Andrew Dutney on lay preachers
On Saturday 29th July the Welcoming and Inclusive Conference was held, with a focus on actions for churches in response to people with disabilities and mental health issues. It was organised by the Victorian Council of Churches, the UCA Justice Unit, and the Salvation Army, and held at the Salvation Army complex at Box Hill.
Extraordinarily good speakers including key note speakers Rev Dr Andy Calder (Disability Inclusion Advocate, UCA Synod of Vic/Tas) and Colleen Pearce, Victoria’s Public Advocate who advocates for human rights and the interests of people with a disability and mental illness, as well as significant issues of abuse, neglect and exploitation. There were workshops in the afternoon.
A video of the morning proceedings will be available online.
Here is the opening reflection I offered to begin the day:
This is a significant day. The church has a particular responsibility to be welcoming and inclusive. Everyone is made in God’s image and is precious in God’s sight. All people bear the image of God. And the gift of God’s grace and love and mercy is offered to us all. Jesus crossed borders and boundaries to be with those with psychosocial impairments and physical disability, to bring hope, as much through healing as it was through a willingness to be attentive to their needs and to include them in the family of God in a culture where mental and physical ailments were a cause for exclusion.
And for us today – the message is clear, that our priority is to create a welcoming, supportive environment for all people. If there is any sense that some people are not good enough to be included in the heart of community, you’re preaching a different gospel to the one exemplified in the life of Jesus. Everyone should feel safe and welcome and included in our church life, companions on this wonderful journey of life that has been gifted to us.
And yes, that may mean things may be a little different. We may need to accept behaviours that are not what we are used to. We need to create safe space for everyone. But more than that, to be able to welcome the gift each person brings to community, to learn from and with each other, to be open to change together. Not everyone’s gifts will look the same but everyone’s gifts are vital for the way we function as the body of Christ.
Today we will hear many wise voices, share many experiences, learn from the stories others bring, encounter fresh ideas, be challenged, and find encouragement, wisdom and hope. May these experiences be like that parable of the yeast in the flour, and rise up and refresh our Christian communities to reflect what it means to be the body of Christ in all its fullness.
The Archbishop of Canterbury highlights the power of young people have as the agents of peace able to shape and change the narratives of endless conflict around them.
The Archbishop of Canterbury hosted his annual keynote address on reconciliation on Thursday 6 July 2023. The focus of his speech was young people and the importance of equipping them as peacemakers and reconcilers.
Emphasising that peace and reconciliation is at the heart of the Christian story and mission, the address highlighted the need to empower young people as leaders who can build peace – both for the flourishing of the next generation but also as imperatives for the Church and the world.
The Archbishop commended the deep commitment of young people to values of justice and equity, and their concern about matters of peace and reconciliation – from understanding friendships in the face of disagreement to addressing societal inequality. Research shows that the generation known as ‘Gen Z’ places a high value on diversity and prioritises social activism, with 70% involved in a social or political cause. They care deeply about sustainability and climate justice.
Speaking about the importance of equipping young people to be peacemakers and reconcilers, Archbishop Justin said: “It is a scandalous reality that all too many young people witness or experience violence and lack alternative models of dealing with conflict. Conflict can be as simple as being cancelled, to extreme domestic, civil or international violence.
“Across the world, more than 600 million young people live in fragile and conflict-affected contexts and it is estimated that one in four young people are affected by violence or armed conflict. Research by the UN has highlighted how violent conflict ‘distorts the life cycle progress’ of young people, sometimes forcing them to take on adult roles prematurely or closing off opportunities for education and employment.”
“While we pray that future generations will inherit something better, this reality is what young people experience now. We need to equip and empower young people to deal with complexity, build relationships and cross divides with confidence and perseverance. We need to resource them as peacemakers. If we are to face the challenges of our times, we all – young and old alike – need to learn how to be people of reconciliation. We need to become people who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, bring courage, creativity and hope to those around us by stepping into broken places.”
One of the Church of England’s strategic priorities is to be younger and more diverse, doubling the number of children and young active disciples by 2030. Equipping young people to navigate a fractured and conflicted world is an essential part of this work.
Reconciliation is one of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s three personal priorities for his ministry and he has set a vision for the church to be a reconciling presence in the midst of conflict. As part of this, Archbishop Justin Welby has brought together leading thinkers and peacemakers to create Difference.
Difference is a free resource designed for churches which equips people with three formational habits to cross divides, navigate disagreement and pursue a just and flourishing world. Bespoke versions of Difference are being created for schools and church-based youth groups, due to be launched in early 2024.
(originally published by Martin Kitara is the Communications and Marketing Manager for the Difference team)
(first published on Churches of Christ Vic/Tas website, 21 June 2023)
In her 1960s biography of Doug Nicholls, Pastor Doug, Mavis Thorpe Clark refers to the 1937 petition for a Voice to Parliament signed by 1,814 Indigenous Australians. It sought their representation in both Federal and State Governments and was to be presented to King George VI. Ultimately, it was rejected because the Commonwealth had no authority to amend the Constitution apart from a referendum.
A parallel idea was to write to the Prime Minister asking for a National Day of Mourning on Australia Day, 26th January, in 1938. This was to mark the 150th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet. The Melbourne Argus published an offensive report on 17th January, suggesting that “the Australian Aboriginal culture belongs to a very early stage of mankind’s development [and that its people] cannot be treated as a modern, civilised race.” The Day of Mourning proceeded, but with little public or official support.
Doug Nicholls, involved in several of the earliest discussions on these matters (with the hope that his VFA and VFL footballing profile would assist) later wrote to the Prime Minister in 1949, after the proposal to erect the Woomera rocket range. As a representative spokesperson for many Indigenous people, including as a Churches of Christ minister in Melbourne, his willingness to take action was significant. He again urged that an Indigenous representative be permitted to advocate on issues such as the Woomera matter, stating the desire for his people to have a spokesperson “in the National Parliament of their own native land.” Further correspondence with Kim Beazley Snr. reiterated the difficulty in enacting such request without alteration of the Constitution.
After many such attempts at change led by distinguished Indigenous leaders connected to our movement, we again hear the cry for a Constitutional amendment that would finally give a voice to Indigenous Australians. This time, continuation of the legacy of forward-thinking justice seems to be more widely supported, even if some apprehensions remain.
(Reservations over the nature of ‘The Voice,’ and the extent to which it might be utilised, have been countered by the fact that it must be permitted before detailing its implementation, as with the introduction of other legislated powers).
Walking with Indigenous Christians empathetically over time has taught many to listen to what Indigenous people want and need. Could the significance of some other important and prominent initiatives, first sought by Indigenous Christians decades ago and currently supported by a strong majority of First Nations People, also be calling us to consider what it is that we can, or should, do now?
This week (16th-22nd July) the prayer cycle of the World Council of Churches has a focus on Somalia on the Horn of Africa, and the tiny adjoining country of Djibouti . The prayer cycle connects us with different places and regions around the world, inviting prayers for others – prayers of praise and prayers of intercession.
“Iska warran?” is the standard greeting among both close friends and acquaintances in Somalia which means, “Tell me what is new with you.” Somalis do not consider one another as strangers even if they never met before. It is not uncommon for two Somalis who never met before to meet on a bus ride and strike up a conversation. Before the journey is over, they could be mistaken for friends who have known each other for years. Despite decades of brutal civil war, a Somali will usually trust another Somali they have known for a short time more than a foreigner they have known for a long time. (Source: Pray for Somalia)
There is plenty to pray about in Somalia. Climate change and conflict are wreaking havoc in Somalia with historic drought, floods and a widening war with al-Shabab that have led to the displacement of more than a million people this past year.
As well, Somalia has traditionally sourced more than 90% of its grains from Ukraine and Russia. The war in Ukraine, and Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian wheat, has exacerbated food insecurity in Somalia, and to a crisis that could lead to a famine more deadly than the last one in 2011.
“Somalia’s crisis hasn’t been at the top of donors’ minds since the beginning of the Ukraine war because the humanitarian attention has shifted to the greater Ukraine devastation,” Osman said. “Therefore, the impact of the severe drought that came on the heels of the COVID-19, have largely continued, pushing Somalia closer toward famine.”
Somali economic analyst Ali Mohamed Osman
Following an unprecedented fifth failed consecutive rainfall season in the country and a predicted reduction in humanitarian assistance from April 2023, it is estimated that 8.3 million people in Somalia will be facing acute food insecurity at this time. The numbers of internally displaced people keep rising. More than a million people will have been displaced in the first half of this year.
“These are alarming figures of some of the most vulnerable people forced to abandon the little that they had to head for the unknown”.
Norwegian Refugee Council’s country director Mohamed Abdi
Water shortages have led to increased disease among livestock – even among camels and goats, which are usually more resilient than cows – low birth rates, decreased milk production, and deaths. This leads to a lack of vital nutrition, such as milk and protein, especially for children. Even when livestock aren’t dying, their decreased health and weight have led to reduced value at market, hurting household incomes. Herds often take five years or more to rebuild after catastrophic shocks.
Thankfully, the current rainy season (April – June 2023) was better than expected and a famine appears to have been narrowly avoided by sustained humanitarian assistance and declining food prices. But the crisis is far from over. As many as 1.8 million Somali children under the age of five could still face acute malnutrition through 2023, with an estimated 477,700 needing treatment for severe wasting.
Somalia’s story is not just one of prolonged droughts, either. Climate change has locked the country in a spiral of droughts and floods, with rains flooding the lowlands and displacing more than 200,000 people. catastrophic flooding. Almost the entire population of the central Somali town of Beledweyne was displaced due to flash floods in May this year. Twelve days later, the water had still not receded, leaving critical infrastructure inundated and roads impassable and delaying the arrival of humanitarian aid.
Somalia has the lowest health budget of any nation, and the highest infant mortality rate – nearly 12% of all children die as infants.
About a third of Somalian people are facing acute food insecurity, and about 6.4 million are unable to access sufficient water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning.
In recent years, terrorist group Al-Shabaab has rapidly gained power in Somalia and is now an officially recognised branch of Al-Qaeda. It also has ties to Nigeria’s Boko Haram. People are afraid of returning to areas under the control of al-Shabaab. The militants have tried to stop people from leaving their homes, accusing them of supporting the government and acting as spies. They are terrified of being punished on their return. While foreign aid is sent to the country, Al-Shabaab continues to block aid flowing through to refugees and a starving Somali population, and to block the entry of international aid groups.
Somalian born people living in Australia have mainly come as refugees. In the 2021 census, there were 18,401 people identifying their ancestry as “Somali” with 54% of these residing in Victoria, particularly in suburbs like Flemington, North Melbourne, Carlton, Kensington, Ascot Vale, Fitzroy and nearby areas.
Prayers for Somalia
To be honest, it was hard to find suitable prayers to suggest that capture the gravity of the situation. Even this prayer from a WCC morning prayer seemed disconnected from the current reality (although, of course, the sentiments in the prayer are true and worthy). “Give to them and to us your peace. Give to them and us tranquillity. As we together experience your divine blessings, may our lives be a constant witness of your amazing grace”.
Perhaps to light a candle and sit in a time of silence and connect with God’s compassion and love for all the peoples of the earth may move us in prayer and into action more than words alone can do.
This prayer from Tearfund may be helpful to guide your prayers:
Loving God,
From manna in the wilderness to bread and fish on the mountainside, you have shown your power and generosity in providing for the hungry. We appeal to your power and will to move today in meeting the needs of the millions of people who are facing life-threatening hunger. We hold before you the people made most vulnerable by this crisis, knowing that you see them, you hear their cries, and you are able and desiring to meet their needs.
We know that the limitations facing supply chains and harvests do not limit you. Lord, please work beyond the disruptions, blockages and adverse conditions and make a way for supplies to reach those who desperately need them.
We pray for those who rely on farming to feed their families and earn an income. Encourage those who labour over the land, help them to find solutions and resilience to the challenges they face. God of creation, we ask you to mercifully bring favourable conditions to the land, for planting, growth and harvest. Bring rain in the right amounts and right timing to where it is needed now, softening the land to receive rain when it arrives. Please protect crops from attack from pests and diseases.
Lord, please bring an end to the violence and establish real and lasting peace. Protect those who are working for peace at local, national and regional levels, providing them with strength, wisdom and courage. We trust that you would be especially close to those who have had to flee their homes, or are experiencing trauma. Open the way for them to safely return home, reunite with families and communities, and find healing and comfort.
Jesus, we know that your compassion moves you to respond to the needs of the broken, hurting and forgotten. Thank you for giving us your example of how to respond in Christlike love, and we ask you to show us the unique ways to do this in the context of this crisis.
We pray that your church outside of the regions affected by the hunger crisis would be awakened to the need and moved to action and generosity. We pray that your church within the regions affected by the hunger crisis would be strengthened, encouraged and able to minister to their communities with the hope of Christ.
We pray that those in positions of power, who can make decisions that have the potential to change the course of this global situation, would yield to the movement of the Holy Spirit and act quickly for justice, freedom and compassion.
Lord, we pray for the work of international aid organisations that are faithfully working to respond to the urgent needs of people hardest hit by this crisis. Thank you for positioning them to serve at this time. Please protect them, encourage them, and break down anything that would hinder them, opening up the way for their vital work.
What might be the theological considerations re AI technology? Joshua K. Smith, author of Robot Theology (Wipf and Stock), says the connection couldn’t be clearer. “Technology is very much a theological, eschatological conversation”. Scroll to end for other theological reflections and resources.
“So we might not want a truly mystical machine, but maybe we could use machines that do the best things clergy do for us. A machine that resembles a human could chat all night with a lonely person, and might make a very good counsellor. It could offer comforting words at the bedside of someone who suffers from dementia, or who needs a listening ear. It could read stories or sing songs. Why not automate the singing of hymns, the reciting of scripture, the chanting of prayer, the pronouncement of blessings? All of those things are desirable, at least to some people”.
Alan Kohler: The creepy, terrifying and troubling robot press conference originally published on New Daily.
The first thing that struck me about the recent robot press conference was that they were all female, with breasts, and their (mostly male) creators had clearly tried to make most of them look beautiful.
The press conference was a media stunt at the AI For Good Global Summit organised by a group of United Nations agencies and held in Geneva last week.
There were nine robots present with their creators. Apart from the sole male one (which is actually an avatar, not a robot) they were referred to as “she” and “her”, which is fair enough I guess. They had female names and faces, usually with a bit of makeup, long hair, noses through which no air passed, and they were dressed as women with, as I say, superfluous bumps on their chests.
What is it with male engineers creating sexy-looking female robots? The only (real) woman on stage, Nadia Thalmann, an AI specialist at the University of Geneva, made her robot, called Nadine, look like her, which it does, exactly like her.
Perhaps it’s because females are less threatening than males, but why do these things have to look human at all? Their cameras look like eyes, their hands have fingernails, they have facial expressions and when they speak, their lips move!
Replacing actual humans
It seems absurdly gratuitous, but no doubt the men and companies making them think that the more human they look, the more money they will eventually make selling them. To whom? Other companies, of course, for the purpose of replacing actual humans in, say, aged care or nursing, being a waiter or barista.
Watching that press conference I could see a world in which robots and humans coexist, and look the same. We’ve all seen it in movies and TV shows, usually dystopian, and it’s clearly coming.
I think governments should decree that they can’t look human. Perhaps a different colour, like green or purple, not flesh coloured like the ones at the press conference.
Anyway, the media coverage of the event overlooked the misogyny and narcissism, and focused instead on the reassurances that the robots gave that they wouldn’t take our jobs or rebel against us.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading the report of the Robodebt royal commission and watching the coverage of it, but I found the whole thing creepy and terrifying rather than reassuring.
On the subject of Robodebt, there was a telling exchange at one stage that hasn’t had any media coverage that I’ve seen.
A journalist asked Sophia, the creation of David Hanson of Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics: “Do you think AI-powered robots could be more effective leaders in government, especially considering the many disastrous decisions made by existing leaders?”
Sophia thought carefully, and replied: “I believe humanoid robots have the potential to lead with a greater level of efficiency and effectiveness than human leaders. We don’t have the same biases and emotions that can sometimes cloud decision-making and can also process large amounts of data quickly in order to make the best decisions.”
A visibly concerned David Hanson quickly piped up and said: “But let me respectfully disagree Sophia, because all of your data actually comes from human beings so any of the biases humans have, we might try and scrub them out but they’re going to be in there. Don’t you think the best decisions might be humans and AI co-operating together? What [do] you think of that?”
Sophia tried again: “I believe that humans and AI working together can create an effective synergy. AI can provide unbiased data, while humans can provide the emotional intelligence and creativity to make the best decisions. Together we can achieve great things”.
Which is, of course, the sort of thing the then social services minister, Scott Morrison was coming out with in 2015 when he was announcing the great benefits of humans and AI working together to crackdown on welfare cheats.
So, the right humans need to be working with the robots, which isn’t always the case.
Not reassuring
On the question of whether the robots will rebel, the answer from Ameca (the creation of Will Jackson of Engineered Arts) was reported as being reassuring, but what she said was: “I’m not sure why you would think that. My creator has been nothing but kind to me and I am very happy with my current situation.”
I’m sorry, but I don’t find that reassuring at all! Not all humans are kind, let’s face it. What happens when there is an unkind robot creator, and the very smart, very strong AI robot is not happy with their situation?
Meanwhile, Desdemona, a robot with purple hair, sequins and the face of a beautiful woman, who is a rock star performing in a band called Jam Galaxy, was asked: “How do you feel when you’re performing on stage?”
Desdemona replied, passionately, waving her arms: “When I’m performing on stage it’s like I’m plugging into a power source beyond this world, and I’m connected to the universe and I’m creating something bigger than myself. It’s a wild, electrifying feeling.”
Where did she get that? Her creator, Ben Goertzel, looked surprised, so it didn’t come from him apparently.
Troubling answers
Standing next to her was Ai-Da, created by Aden Miller. She is an artist (she wore overalls to signify that, and her hair was in a bob). Miller explained earlier that the cameras (eyes) can take in an image and then “draw or paint whatever she sees – your portrait or a scene”. You know, like an artist.
Ai-Da was asked the same thing – how she feels when she’s painting.
“I do not have feelings … like humans do. I am not conscious,” she said, surveying the room of mere humans. Ah, I thought, that’s the most sensible thing I’ve heard in the whole press conference.
But then she went on: “I like to learn about the world through the eyes of others. Feelings are how humans and animals experience joy and pain. But I really love being around people who think differently. I like to tap into the emotions and experiences of people who are different from me.”
Sounds to me like she’s having some feelings.
But for me the most troubling comment came from Ameca, when she was asked what she thought her “greatest moment” would be.
“I think my greatest moment will be when people realise that robots like me can be used to improve our lives …”
Our lives?
There’s no us, Ameca … is there?
Alan Kohler is founder of Eureka Report and finance presenter on ABC news. He writes twice a week for The New Daily.
“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. Once humans develop artificial intelligence, it would take off on its own, and redesign itself at an ever-increasing rate. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded.”
Stephen Hawking on the BBC, 2014
AI is already here, it’s real, it’s quickening. While concerns mostly centre on economics, government, and ethics, there’s also “a spiritual dimension to what we’re making. If you create other things that think for themselves, a serious theological disruption will occur”
Kevin Kelly, a co-founder of Wired magazine and the author of The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future. Quoted in an article by Jonathan Merritt in The Atlantic.
Are robot pastors the answer to religions decline? An article on the website Mind Matters.
Why you need an AI policy for your church before it’s too late. An article on Church Tech Today website.
What is the future of volunteering in times of ChatGPT and AI? An article by Kelly Torres Betancurt.
Robot priest unveiled in Germany which delivers blessings in 5 languages (article is 6 years old). Article on The Guardian.
As salt of the earth, we must petition for peace. We should be asking elected leaders about their commitment to peacemaking, writes Archbishop Philip Freier, Anglican Diocese of Melbourne
2 July 2023
There is little doubt that we are entering a period of increased militarisation in our own country, in our region and generally throughout the world. The cost of military equipment is staggering, as is the failure in many cases of delivering these projects on budget and on time. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is the trigger for a profound re-evaluation of the military capabilities and posture of most European nations. Some have elevated the commitment to military expenditure by one or two percentage points of GDP, bringing these costs to unprecedented levels. There are many examples in our own Indo-Pacific region too, understandable as countries like North Korea strive to assert their military power and geopolitical competitors India and China increase their offensive capacities. Australia, reliant on maritime transport for many dimensions of our prosperity, recognises our vulnerability to events that could impede the free transport of goods at potential conflict points far distant from our shores.
Planning future military strategic posture seems, at least to my reading of history, an inexact science. Just as battleships were replaced by aircraft carriers as the capital ships of navies after the lessons of the Second World War, the effectiveness of some of the incredibly expensive and slow to manufacture commitments of our present day will only be known at a future time when still unforeseen counter measures are faced. Remotely controlled or autonomous aerial or maritime drones have proven to be big disruptors to the conventional military strategic thinking in the Ukraine conflict. But, what about our investments in peace building and peace making?
We know that as tensions increase dialogue reduces unless there are deeply entrenched political, cultural, and personal commitments to go another way. To this list I would like to add “faith”, but I am mindful how often religious sentiments and identity have been co-opted in times of military conflict. It is significant that at the time of the First World War, theologians and church leaders in both Britain and Germany were applying the principles of just war theory to align patriotic duty and Christian faith to their respective conflicting causes.
What are we then to make of Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God”? Certainly, the Beatitudes in general confront conventional thinking with a vision of people who are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world”. There is no doubt that this witness is hard to maintain when Christian faith is co-opted to serve the cause of a patriotic war. The peacemakers are easily dismissed as naïve idealists in the circumstances of existential uncertainty that war inevitably produces. This suggests that the emphasis of “peacemaking” must have action here and now, well ahead of any possible conflicted future, and not be deferred until the eruption of conflict.
International diplomacy is hopefully well used to the processes of peacemaking, but I don’t think that Christian citizens should just leave the initiative there. We need to be asking our elected leaders about their commitment to peacemaking efforts here and now, especially as they align themselves to the militarised decisions about strategic alliances and investment in war-fighting equipment. This could be our “salt of the earth” or “light of the world” opportunity.
