Contents:Brief Introduction by Darren Wright Resources:Election TrackerEnrol to Vote Press Releases UCA resources Target Magazine NCCA Election Briefing Kit Federal Election cheat Sheet Other Resources Today’s Youth and Family News is brought to you by our National Election...For many of our young people in our community this will be their first ever election that they’ve been able to vote in. This can be an exciting time, but also a time of great disillusionment as we start to delve into issues of policy and media.
For other’s who are too young to vote there might be a sense of powerlessness, not being able to change things or have a say might be a painful experience for many young people. I know it was for me.
This might be an interesting time to give rise to a conversation about politics and faith. For me worship is a political activity as much as it is a spiritual one, let me explain more... By gathering with people to worship a God who is all about relationships and love is to stand against much of what the rest of the world holds on to. To Stand together and say “Your Kingdom Come” is a political statement that calls for the first to become last, the last to come first, the poor to be blessed and the sick to be healed. For others faith and politics should be kept seperate, but perhaps a discussion on why might also be useful in this case. Note, I've said discussion not education... It might be a good time to talk about what issues are on the mind of young people, how to vote, what happens when you go to vote, if they’ve actually enrolled to vote yet. Let’s face it, the Election is now the big news event for the next 6 weeks, young people will see it on the news, hear it on the radio, read about it in the paper and on the internet. We might as well be involved in the discussions… And as always we definitely should be asking “where is Jesus in all of this?” And as always we should be encouraging our young people to connect life and faith together... And as always we need to encourage all our Churches to stand there with the Newspaper/Internet in one hand, Bible in the other Resources:Election Trackerurl: http://electiontracker.net/Vibewire’s got this project up and running to allow a space for young voices to be heard and presented on the electronic media. “ElectionTracker.net is election coverage by young people for young people, produced entirely by volunteers aged 30 years or under. It's a set of tools designed to empower young people to retrieve information and make informed decisions about who they're going to vote for in the upcoming Australian Federal Election. ElectionTracker.net will include an overview of the policies of all significant parties, interviews with key politicians, links to government and political party websites and resources, regular feature articles, polls and tools such as "email a politician". Most excitingly, the site will feature daily articles and web logs written by 4 talented young journalists aged between 18 and 25, selected from a nationwide call for applications, who will track John Howard and Mark Latham throughout the election campaign.” Enroll to Vote by September 7thYes, young people and new residents have until 8pm on the 7th of September to lodge their enrollment forms. Take the time to encourage the young people in your churches to enroll if they have not enrolled yet.Forms can be downloaded from: http://www.aec.gov.au/_content/what/enrolment/forms.htm Keep up with the latest press releases:Each of the major and minor parties have their own websites, most of which post up all their media releases and policies. Keep yourself up to date by checking in on them every now and then.Uniting Church Resourcesurl: http://nat.uca.org.au/unitingjustice/resources/election2004/no security without justice - your faith, your vote, your voice The Uniting Church has a summary booklet, issues papers, action ideas, the President's media statements and more ... This website also includes the UCA election issues summary booklet “no security without justice - your faith, your vote, your voice.” A resource from the Uniting Church National Assembly to help Church members identify important issues facing Australia, listen to politicians with discernment, and cast an informed vote... UCA election issues papers A series of briefing papers providing more detailed discussion of the issues raised in the summary booklet. These papers have been prepared by people in the Uniting Church Assembly and Synods [staff and volunteers] to provide some viewpoints and encourage discussion in important areas of public policy in the lead up to the election. Tear Magazine “Target”url: http://www.tear.org.au/resources/target/index.shtmlTear produce a quaterly magazine called “Target.” The magazine is full of some fantastic reading and thinking about faith, politics the world and life. A regular contributor for the magazine is Dave Andrews from Queensland, he also authored “Christi Anarchy.” The magazine can also be downloaded from their website as pdf documents. The latest edition to be placed online includes the editorial “Don’t talk about politics” by Lyn Jackson in which she starts to write: “How many times have you heard that, especially in Christian circles? We don’t want to cause offence, upset others, or start arguments. Sometimes, we act as though various parts of our lives can be fenced off from our faith, which of course is impossible. So let’s talk about politics. It’s an election year, and we’re about to choose which group of politicians will lead our government for the next three years. As Christians, what are the measuring sticks we should be using? What are the issues that are important to God, and should therefore be important to us? And how can we try to make sure that these issues are being taken seriously? “ Go and check the magazine out, it’s full of interesting articles and discussion resources. Tear also release a series of Bible Studies that would be good for some youth groups. NCCA Election Briefing Kit“Politics is the life of the “polis”, that is of the community. It is the responsibility of each Christian and each Christian community to be engaged in an election. It is not just as good citizens but also as Christians that we ought to be involved in the issues that come at each election.This resource is offered to the Churches and each Christian person by the NCCA. It is not a campaign for a particular point of view. It is values based material for resourcing, educating and supporting NCCA member Churches and their members, so that we can be active, informed participants in the election. It is taking Christian social responsibility seriously.” The Full resource can be downloaded from: http://www.ncca.org.au/__data/page/974/040809_Election_Briefing_Kit3.pdf Federal election Cheat Sheeturl: http://www.yapa.org.au/election/index.htmConfused about who stands for what in the coming election? Don't know how best to use your vote? Want to know what some of the major parties are going to do for young people? The Federal Election Cheat Sheet has some fast facts to help you figure it all out. Information compiled from responses given by each party to questions posed by the Western Sydney Youth Forum (WSYF). The WSYF is supported by YAPA, and is a group of young people committed to making Western Sydney a better place for young people. Rock Against Howard - cdurl: http://www.rockagainsthoward.com/This cd has been released in the last few weeks and includes music from a lot of local musicians. Lindsay, from Frenzal Rhomb has gathered together a number of Australian artists to put together our very own "Rock Against Howard" cd. The cd includes tracks by Front End Loader, H-Block 101, Something for Kate, Youth Group, TISM and even Andrew Bartlett, the democrat's leader has a song on the cd. While the lyrics aren't always suitable for youth dicussions (well, at least at church) there might be a number of young people wandering out to purchase this cd for political and musical reasons, it might be an interesting resource to help raise some discussions. >From the website: "Rock Against Howard is a compilation of musicians who are downright sick of the Howard / Liberal / Coalition government and the evils they have perpetuated against our lovely country, and many other countries. These bands, rock bands, hip hop, dance, are all united in the need for a new government in Australia. The current government has been responsible for so many attacks on basic human rights: the rights of workers, the rights of Aborigines, the rights of children, the rights of refugees, women?s rights, the right to healthcare, the right to marry whoever we bl**dy want to marry! All these rights and more have been threatened or completely taken away by the Liberal government, under that little ball of hate with eyebrows, Johnny Howard." Other Faith and Politics Resources:Movie: RomeroMovie: Documentary on Bonhoeffer Movie: Ghandi Music: “Rock Against Howard” cd now out Book: Bonhoeffer’s “Letters from Prison” -- Darren Wright Fool Youth and Family Worker UCA NSW Synod Presbytery of Canberra Region GPO Box 221. Canberra. ACT. 2601. 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