fishers, surfers and casters

26 January is Australia Day, the day The First Fleet arrived on the continent’s east coast in 1788, 12 years after it was claimed by James Cook for the British Empire.

On this day we commemorate with joy:

• the discovery of a new world, full of promise, and a continuing place of hope for those displaced in other parts of the world
• our convict heritage, from which we are given our good old Aussie disrespect for those who honour class and money, including the religious elite
• all the colours and cultures of this great land

and we commemorate with continuing sorrow the start of the demise of our indigenous heritage, who governed this land with respect, love and freedom for forty millennia. 26 January is Invasion Day, the day we came and took everything, believing it were ours for the taking. On this day we pray anew for reconciliation, and the renewal of the Australian Spirit.

And on this day I say sorry for what we have done, and for how I have benefited from the theft of your land and wealth.

But most importantly, it is the day we listen to triple j’s Hottest 100, the world’s largest music poll. Congratulations to Bernard Fanning, the most popular artist in the world (and his single Wish You Well for making number one)!

Higher accolades go to Ian Frazer, who was awarded Australian of the Year for 2006. Normally this award goes to some boomer pop musician or sportsman (note sportsMAN), so I rarely give it any credit. But Ian is not only the guy responsible for the world’s first vaccine for cervical cancer (which will be made available to every young woman in the country this year), but also the Dad of one of my great mates. I spent a few days at the Frazer household up in Brisbane a couple of years ago and had a brilliant time. Who’d think I would be so graced as to have a meal with this guy? Officially the coolest guy in Australia – no question.

Phil and Dan McCredden, of whom I know very little but would like to find out more, have a web log which discerns the interface between faith and culture.

They’ve posted a marvellous piece on consumerist culture and Christianity’s response (or need thereof).

One of the biggest threats to faith by consumerist culture, in my experience, is its amazing ability to water-down our faith to personal morality. In consumerism, religious imagery, especially those seen in televangelism, reinforces individualism and capitalism by flooding the religious space with pietistic symbols and readings which lack any challenge to the consumer identity.

The Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney has a quickly growing podcasting service, mainly of sermons. I’ve subscribed and downloaded but I haven’t listened to anything yet, and I eager to hear what Phillip Jensen has to say about “What a man should know about a woman”, (of course, women everywhere know that male priests are the foremost authority on women – not).

I only found out this service through Freshread and I’m so far unaware of any other Australian godcast. Does anyone know of any other?