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Ace, Kevin! Kevin Rudd's Christian and Conciliatory politics

I noted yesterday the interest in Australian PM Kevin Rudd that has been bringing people to this site. It predictably continued after that post. That interest caused me to dig around and see what was being said about the man.

Of course the fires in Australia have been holding people's attention. Rudd silently weeping on TV impressed even cynical reporters: Rudd's human face.  Writing on his BBC blog of Rudd's response to the terrible fires that have been engulfing Australia, BBC's reporter in Australia Nick Bryant noted: 

Breaking down repeatedly as he was overcome by sadness and anger, the leader who appeared on the breakfast programmes last Monday morning in the immediate aftermath of the weekend's fires was unrecognisable from the technocrat with the almost robotic turn of phrase who parliamentary sketch-writers - and foreign bloggers - have found so easy to caricature.

He has now called for a day of mourning to help the nation process this tragedy: Kevin Rudd calls national day of mourning for Victorian bushfires

Odd that for many he is seen as a technocrat. For that is not what comes out in the act he is best known for, his speech apologising on behalf of Australia's government to the stolen generation, his first substantive act on assuming government.   Full Text of Kevin Rudd's Sorry Speech.  It is a masterpiece of a true apology in the context of politics, an apology that opens up new horizons for both former oppressed and oppressor. I have written of Kevins Rudd's Sorry Speech,  as well as various stories as this apology was anticipated.

A truly gracious act is remembered - and celebrated by artists among others. His words were incorporated into a song: In Australia, From Apology, a Hit Song Grows. 

Praying with Obama and Blair

Tony Blair and Barack Obama have been together at the US National Prayer Breakfast. A little unfortunate that Blair appears to have upstaged Gordon Brown in meeting the new president, but representation was not of course the point of the occasion, despite The Times headline:

Blair beats Brown to Obama meeting and reveals true depth of his faith

Notwithstanding the possible upset to political protocol, Blair's words were key as he called for religious faith to be restored "to its rightful place as a guide to our world". His words were inspiring:

Text of Tony Blair's Speech to National Prayer Breakfast

After talking about some of his experiences in the Holy Land he continues:

.... Today, religion is under attack from without and from within. From within, it is corroded by extremists who use their faith as a means of excluding the other. I am what I am in opposition to you. If you do not believe as I believe, you are a lesser human being.

From without, religious faith is assailed by an increasingly aggressive secularism, which derides faith as contrary to reason and defines faith by conflict. Thus do the extreme believers and the aggressive non-believers come together in unholy alliance.

And yet, faith will not be so easily cast. For billions of people, faith motivates, galvanises, compels and inspires, not to exclude but to embrace; not to provoke conflict but to try to do good.

Governing with a humble touch

A mistake? Surely not? Three of them? Impossible!  At last an opportunity to aologise.

The Pros and Cons of Admitting a Presidential Error

To anyone who has followed politics in Washington in recent years, the image of a sitting president admitting error is a striking shift. The presidencies of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were marked by the resistance of both men to confessing mistakes; Mr. Bush’s advisers long made it clear that he viewed such acknowledgments as akin to admitting weakness.  But there was President Obama on Tuesday night, pleading guilty in a succession of television interviews to mishandling the collapsed nomination of Tom Daschle to his cabinet. “I screwed up,” Mr. Obama said.

This is new ground, at least in recent political terms. And as the article points out the Republicans are being quick to exploit it. And a good number of democrats too are skeptical. But its part of a deliberate move by the new President to make major changes to the way things happen.

“There were two words: not just ‘mistake,’ but ‘responsibility,’ ” Rahm Emanuel, Mr. Obama’s chief of staff, said in an interview. “You had a culture here that was pervaded for a while with the sense of anything goes.” “People like the fact that he said he made a mistake,” Mr. Emanuel said.

Blake's Jerusalem banned by leading British church

Link: Blake's Jerusalem banned by leading British church -Times Online.

This deserve some comment!  Maybe next week.

Peace at Home, Peace in the World

A small town in China tells the world about how to make peace

Link: Peace at Home, Peace in the World -- Beijing Review.

Tangchi Town is more famous than ever, not for its hot spring spa that it has always been well known for, but for its new culture. Its reputation has attracted visitors such as Greg Budd, a writer from Australia and his entourage, as well as experts from many other countries, including representatives from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A small town with more than 2,000 years of history and about 48,000 residents, Tangchi Town in Lujiang County, central China's Anhui Province is now a synonym for peace and harmony. ...