News
We Are Family!
CASI has produced a new discussion resource for exploring
families in New Zealand. More...
Family violence
The issue of beaten, abused and murdered children continues
to be in the headlines of our news. Should we respond by
political point scoring? Do we blame the government; the
education system; 'them'; everyone else as in 'someone
should do something'? Or should we take a good hard look
at ourselves? more...
CASI Protests Vodafone Live Sales of 'adult' content
A recent Salvation Army newsletter brought to our attention
the fact that Vodafone is now selling ‘adult’ age-restricted
content through its mobile network. CASI has written a letter
of protest to Vodafone (click
here to see the letter), and we suggest that this is
something that churches or Presbyteries may also want to
follow through on. More...
Rethinking Crime and Punishment
“We are doing our best, but it’s not working…” was
a comment made to Major Campbell Roberts of the Salvation
Army about New Zealand prisons. Major Roberts was speaking
at the launch of the Rethinking Crime and Punishment project,
which is a
joint initiative of the Salvation Army and the Prison Fellowship. More...
CASI is working to develop a discussion resource for churches
and groups around the issues of crime and punishment. We
invite you to read and comment on our initial ideas for
this resource. Click
here...
Religious Diversity in NZ
The Human Rights Commission has initiated this debate.
It began with a Draft National Statement on Religious
Diversity, which has not been revised several times.
It is an important issue for New Zealand, and for all churches. More...
CASI to Cease Operations
In May the Council of Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church of Aotearoa-New Zealand announced a decision to
cease funding CASI from 30 June 2007. At a subsequent meeting
with representatives of the Methodist Church of New Zealand
and Christian Churches (NZ) the decision was taken to wind
up the operations of CASI.
These two decision mean that CASI will cease activities
from 31 December 2007, but we will seek to operate as normally
as possible until that date. More...
Issues for 2007
CASI members met in February to think about and plan for
the issues that we see as important for this year ...more
Race Relations in New Zealand - Book
In March 2005 Capital City Forum and the NZ Human Rights
Commission jointly sponsored a highly successful forum
on race relations. The papers from that Forum have now
been published as Race Relations: Issues and Practicalities.
The Forum drew on speakers with a wide range of experiences,
and each key-note speaker was bracketed with an example
of their topic in practice. Topics covered included community
relationships; constitutional issues; issues for Maori;
and issues for Churches. The book is intended to be very
practical, with ideas for building better relationships
between the communities. Published as a
contribution to the 2006 Human Rights Commission Diversity
Action Programme.
Race Relations: Issues and Practicalities available
now from CASI
Interchurch Bioethics Council (ICBC)
The ICBC is a specialist group nominated from the Anglican,
Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, to examine bioethics
issues in more depth. It was set up initially as the Inter
Church Commission on Genetic Engineering specifically to
make submissions to the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.
Their task is to consult and advise the churches and community
on a Christian perspective on ethical, theological, spiritual
and cultural issues in the use of biotechnology. To find
out more go to the Anglican
Social Justice Commission website's section on the ICBC.
Towards a Robust Society
Church Leaders' paper presented to political parties July 2005 |