From 2002-06 I had the pleasure of studying at Otago University. I also taught there in various roles as a researcher, tutor and fill-in lecturer for the Theology, Philosophy and Law schools. Otago was an intellectually rigorous and stimulating place; it’s reputation for being the one of the best Universities in New Zealand and the […]
Entries Tagged as 'Rights and Freedoms'
Studying at Otago University no Riot
February 25th, 2009 20 Comments
Tags: Student Associations · Student Riots · University of Otago · Voluntary Student Membership
Maori and Pakeha are Not Partners to the Treaty of Waitangi
February 11th, 2009 20 Comments
[For the benefit of our international readership: Maori are the indigenous people of New Zealand; Pakeha is a term used to describe Caucasian New Zealanders; The Treaty of Waitangi is a significant founding document of our nation over which many historical and current differences have arisen around its role, interpretation and application.] Recently I read […]
Tags: Jurisprudence · Role of the State · Treaty of Waitangi
Guthrie Cards as an Inchoate Genetic Database
December 4th, 2008 7 Comments
I just stumbled across this from Kiwipolemicist; it seems that if you were born in New Zealand from 1969 onwards, chances are that the New Zealand government is holding a sample of your blood. Some 2.1 million blood samples taken from newborns via the ‘heel-prick’ test are still on file today stored on “Guthrie cards.” […]
Tags: Liberty · Rights and Freedoms
In Defence of the Defence
November 23rd, 2008 2 Comments
Michael Laws has written a strong piece in the Sunday Star times on child abuse which pulls no punches and calls for a return of the death penalty. Most of what he says is spot on (well there is a bit of the ‘someone else should be doing something’ going on) but this statement is […]
Tags: Child Abuse · Due Process · Human Rights · Jurisprudence · Michael Laws · Nia Glassie
Homosexuality and the Right-Wing Socialists
November 18th, 2008 27 Comments
Lately I have been thinking I must write a post about the sacred cow of homosexuality and how it can turn the most ardent liberal into a lefty. I am not the only person to have noticed this phenomena. As Matt once commented, “Christians should be very concerned with people who will sell out their […]
Tags: Cactus Kate · Glenn Peoples · Grant Robertson · Homosexual Conduct · Stephen Franks
A Voting Guide
November 7th, 2008 13 Comments
How to choose who to vote for tomorrow, from Glenn (once again – what can we say? he is brilliant and we ran out of time *ahem*) Extract from: So who AM I voting for? (the election blog, part 3) Basic Human rights/freedomsThere are some bottom line human rights and liberties that should always be […]
Tags: ACT Party · Christian Parties · Due Process · Elections · Glenn Peoples · National Party · Rights and Freedoms · Role of the State · Welfare
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
No Defences Permitted for the Accused
June 19th, 2009 36 Comments
In, The referendum campaign is underway, No Right Turn’s Idiot/Savant gives an excellent example of an argument we see coming up a lot in the debate around the upcoming referendum on smacking. In addition to trotting out the standard ad hominem, that everyone who supports the reinstatement of the old section 59 of the Crimes […]
Tags: Bad Reasoning · Crimes Act · Defences · Idiot/Savant · Referendum · s59 · Smacking · Sue Bradford · William Blackstone