Dr Paul Allen

The   Conversion Practices Ban Act  2024 (NSW)   (“the Act”) is now in force, having commenced operation on 4 April 2025. I  previously posted  a paper expressing concerns about the Act's operation in relation to religious freedom. In this post, I want to reiterate briefly some of those concerns  and comment on “guidance” on the operation of the Act provided by NSW government officials. I commend the previous paper to readers for more details. However, the following extracts may help set the scene for my comments on the NSW government guidance. Below, I will be referring to the “ Frequently Asked Questions ” (“FAQ”) page produced by “Anti-Discrimination NSW” (ADNSW)- the version I am commenting on was dated 7 April 2025. (ADNSW is the “online identity” of the body formally known as the “Anti-Discrimination Board” established under the  Anti-Discrimination Act 1977  (NSW); the President of the Board receives initial complaints under the Act- see s ...

In Genesis 6:1–4, the reader encounters one of the most challenging passages in all of Scripture to interpret. Here’s the passage in the ESV. When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God came into the daughters of man, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. Echoes from Genesis 1–3 People multiplying is an echo of Genesis 1. God made “man” (Gen 1:26–27), and then he commissioned his image-bearers to be fruitful and “multiply” (1:28). In 6:1, we read of this multiplication happening. The reference to God as “Spirit” in Genesis 6:3 reminds us of 1:2, the second verse in the Bible. There, th...

A young adult ministry leader from a Texas megachurch recently shared five ways believers can battle against the temptation of “secret” sexual sins, such as porn, lust, and masturbation.  JD Rodgers of Watermark Community Church in Dallas, Texas, who serves as the young adults' creative director of The Porch Ministry, warned a primarily young adult audience about the perils of sexual freedom, labeling it “one of the biggest rip-offs or scams that the world sells us.”  In a sermon titled “Battling Sexual Sin,” Rodgers began by reminding the audience that they were instructed in last week’s sermon to write on a card the thing that makes them most shameful and to submit it to the ministry. Rodgers recalled how when The Porch leaders reviewed the "thousands upon thousands" of cards, a lot of them mentioned struggles with lust, pornography addiction, homosexuality and "past sexual perversion."  He then listed five steps that all start with the letter “R” that young a...