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Search Results: secularism

  • RELIGION

    Sharing the journey with agnostics and Qantas

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 November 2011
    27 Comments

    The Pope believes agnostics and Christians are on a shared journey, committed to peace and human dignity. The concept of the shared journey has consequences for the life of the Church, as in the Bishop Bill Morris saga, but also for events such as the Qantas controversy.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Reflections on Gillard's atheism

    • John Warhurst
    • 17 October 2011
    10 Comments

    Gillard's atheism puts her in stark contrast to her immediate predecessors Kevin Rudd and John Howard. We consider several implications of Gillard's position, including her relations with church-state issues and community attitudes towards gay marriage and euthanasia. 

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  • RELIGION

    Making friends not foes of rights and religion

    • Frank Brennan
    • 13 September 2011
    5 Comments

    The Church of the 21st century should be the exemplar of due process, natural justice and transparency. While there can be little useful critique of the final decision of Pope Benedict to force the early retirement of Bishop Bill Morris, there is plenty of scope to review the processes leading up to it.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Doubting democracy in Muslim Turkey

    • William Gourlay
    • 22 June 2011
    7 Comments

    Much has been made of Turkey as a model for reform and democratisation in the Muslim world. If the Turkish experience is indicative, then the process of establishing robust and viable democracies in the Middle East will be long and slow.

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  • RELIGION

    Pope's theory on clergy sex abuse

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 16 June 2011
    33 Comments

    Benedict uses large theoretical constructs to reflect on the condition of Western societies and the Church. This can simplify complex realities and provide a focus for reflection and conversation. But the weaknesses of this approach are revealed when he blames bad moral theory for sexual abuse by the clergy.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The religious beliefs of Australia's prime ministers

    • John Warhurst
    • 11 November 2010
    12 Comments

    Nine prime ministers have been observant Christians. Two have been conventional Christians. Ten have been nominal Christians. Five have been articulate atheists or agnostics. One was a nominal atheist or agnostic.

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  • RELIGION

    No rain on Pope's UK parade

    • Peter Scally
    • 22 September 2010
    5 Comments

    If British MPs think that, on balance, support for the Pope is a vote-winner, they are probably right. That tells us a great deal about the views of ordinary British people — as opposed to the views of the relatively small band of metropolitan 'opinion-formers' who work in the media.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Gillard's atheism belongs in the closet

    • Michael Mullins
    • 02 August 2010
    43 Comments

    It could have been a mistake for Gillard to 'come out' as an atheist, as if giving witness to a firmly held religious belief. Abbott did better by declaring candidates' religious views a private matter that should not distract from voters' judgment of their policies.

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  • RELIGION

    Speaking for country, speaking for self

    • Frank Brennan
    • 07 July 2010

    Fr Frank Brennan's address to the Melbourne College of Divinity Centenary Conference, Trinity College, University of Melbourne, 6 July 2010.

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  • EDUCATION

    The trouble with school ethics classes

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 16 April 2010
    22 Comments

    The Sydney Anglican diocese is concerned that proposed ethics classes in schools might attract students away from existing scripture classes. This looks more like a matter of turf wars, of seeking to maintain numbers and so justify their continuance.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    The silent narrative of trees

    • Thor Beowulf
    • 07 December 2009
    5 Comments

    Trees are recognised as powerful cosmological agents in many of the earth's myths, rituals and religious beliefs. A worldwide 'bell ringing for climate justice' on 13 December will signify a vocal, moral and spiritual re-engagement of churches with nature.

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  • INFORMATION

    Bringing theology home to the academy

    • Gerard Goldman and Terry Lovat
    • 24 November 2009

    It has been suggested, but surely not seriously, that the public university’s prime motive in including theology among its disciplines might be around financial benefit.

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