Blogs

Over recent weeks at Tuesday night conversations, group members have chosen movies to share, notably Searching for Sugar Man, The Life of Brian, and more recently, Apocalypse Now. Some excellent.discussion has ensued.

Issues and questions from watching Apocalypse Now have remained with me.

The movie is set during the Vietnam War and narrates a journey upriver by US soldier, Capt. Willard. Willard has been ordered to assassinate Col Kurtz, an American commander who has ‘gone mad,’ and who employs ‘unsound methods.’

Last week I went to a Presbytery meeting.

This is rare, but I was compelled by the topic - a proposal that the Uniting Church accept same-gender marriage. (This proposal will go to the triennial Uniting Church Assembly meeting to be held in July in Melbourne.)

The meeting was well attended, and the Moderator, Simon Hansford, who chaired it, facilitated a helpful process of conversation.

Last year on Anzac Day, ABC presenter, Yassmin Abdiel Magied, tweeted,

‘Lest we forget (Manus. Nauru. Syria. Palestine.)’

Her tweet unleashed a torrent of outrage and vitriol.

One TV host said, ‘Lest we forget Yassmin you are brown, you are Muslim, and you are a girl, and that’s the only reason you have a job at the ABC.’ He then called her an’ idiot’ and a bitch.’

Yassmin took down her post and apologized.

What evidence do you need?

For a long time, I was a fan of ‘doubting Thomas’ (John 20:24-29); his willingness to ask hard questions, his unwillingness to accept at face value what others told him. In a way, he is a forerunner of the scientific method, ‘Without evidence, don’t believe.’

Now, I see other dimensions to this story. Yes, there is much to admire; yet, there are limitations in Thomas’ demand for proof.