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Entries Tagged as 'Rights and Freedoms'

Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society @ Auckland University this Monday

September 8th, 2011 No Comments

As part of AUSA’s Human Rights week at the University of Auckland, and in association with Thinking Matters, Matt and I will be giving a free public lecture with Q&A on the topic “Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society” on Monday 12 September from 7-8.30pm in Clock Tower Lecture Room 032. The Facebook page for [...]

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A Godless Public Square: Do ‘Private’ Christian Beliefs Have a Place in Public Life? on Video

August 26th, 2011 4 Comments

Thinking Matters and Evangelical Union hosted an event at the University of Auckland for Jesus Week entitled A Godless Public Square: Do ‘Private’ Christian Beliefs Have a Place in Public Life? This event was essentially a conversation between Theology, Philosophy and Law on the topic of Religion in Public Life. It featured Matthew Flannagan - Analytic Theologian, Glenn Peoples - Philosopher and Madeleine Flannagan - Legal Scholar [...]

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A Godless Public Square: Do ‘Private’ Christian Beliefs Have a Place in Public Life? Part III Madeleine Flannagan – Law

August 26th, 2011 139 Comments

A few weeks ago, as part of Jesus Week at the University of Auckland, Thinking Matters and Evangelical Union hosted an event entitled A Godless Public Square: Do ‘Private’ Christian Beliefs Have a Place in Public Life? This event was a conversation between Theology, Philosophy and Law and featured Matthew Flannagan - Analytic Theologian, Glenn Peoples - Philosopher and Madeleine Flannagan - Legal Scholar. The video is still [...]

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“Confronting the Challenge of Secularism” Madeleine to Speak at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture

August 11th, 2011 13 Comments

Not too long ago I wrote a post entitled We’re Going to San Francisco! In it I announced that in November 2011 Madeleine and I will jointly be giving a paper to the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, and that I will be giving a paper to the Evangelical Philosophical Association Annual Meeting and also [...]

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Klingon Cloaking Devices Unmasked by Boat People

July 15th, 2011 15 Comments

It was inevitable.  Sooner or later a boat filled with desperate people would set out from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, whatever, for New Zealand.  We have been “protected” to date only by an accident of geography–New Zealand’s relative distance.  Australia has faced the problem for decades. A group of Sri Lankan poor (allegedly Tamils previously [...]

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The New Zealand Association of Rationalist Humanists and the Privileging of Secularism

December 20th, 2010 189 Comments

The New Zealand Association of Rationalist Humanists (“NZARH”) has a statement of aspirational ideals for the New Zealand state on their website. Entitled “The Tolerant Secular State” it is anything but. The first two sentences of the document exhibit a confusion which is inherent throughout (and commonly found in discussions of church and state): “The [...]

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The Separation of Church and Self: Rethinking Separationism

December 16th, 2010 119 Comments

Is it just for a pluralistic society to ground its public policy on religious premises? What role should religion play in such a society? Debate over questions like these has figured in theology, philosophy, political science, jurisprudence and popular culture for centuries. In contemporary Western pluralistic society the debate continues. Even for those unfamiliar with [...]

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Middleton Grange, Free Exercise and the Gay Rights Movement UPDATED

July 26th, 2010 284 Comments

Over at GayNZ.com’s Proclamations of the Red Queen blog, Craig Young is in a celebratory  mood. Middleton Grange, a Reformed Evangelical Christian school has been forced by law to pay reparations and have their management undergo “human rights education” because they dismissed a netball coach on the grounds that he openly engaged in homosexual conduct. Middleton [...]

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Contra Mundum: Secularism and Public Life

June 1st, 2010 63 Comments

Legal scholar Stephen Carter stated, One good way to end a conversation – or start an argument – is to tell a group of well educated professionals that you hold a political position (preferably a controversial one such as being against abortion or pornography) because it is required by your understanding of God’s will. In [...]

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Guest Post: No Official Religion in God’s Own?

April 6th, 2010 124 Comments

David Simpkin is a Hamilton based lawyer with an interest in church-state issues. He studied law at the University of Auckland and holds a BA majoring in history and political studies. David is married to Susan and has a infant son, Caleb. He attends Whitiora Bible Church in Hamilton. David writes: As a holiday weekend that coincides with [...]

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