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 […]
Entries Tagged as 'Social Commentary'
Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society @ Auckland University this Monday
September 8th, 2011 Comments Off on Freedom of Religion in a Secular Society @ Auckland University this Monday
Tags: Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Events · Freedom of Religion · Human Rights · John Rawls · Rights and Freedoms · Separation of Church and State · Thinking Matters
Contra Mundum: Separating Church and State
September 2nd, 2011 87 Comments
Co-authored by Matthew and Madeleine Flannagan The late Philosopher Richard Rorty once described religion as a “conversation stopper”, something that polarises discussion and ends or prevents fruitful dialogue. Rorty was an advocate of, “the happy, Jeffersonian compromise that the Enlightenment reached with the religious. This compromise consists in privatizing religion — keeping it out of […]
Tags: Contra Mundum · First Amendment · Investigate Magazine · Separation of Church and State · Separationism · Steven Smith · Thomas Jefferson · Wall of Separation
Career Choices: Our Version of Child Slavery
August 17th, 2011 48 Comments
The following appeared in a recent edition of Sunday News. As you read this, please bear in mind that what is described here is officially fictional. The line from the Commentariat is that this sort of thing never actually occurs and certainly could not exist. The official Commentariat talking points are that human beings are […]
Tags: Welfare
Jesus: The Cold Case a Guest Post by Glenn Peoples
July 27th, 2011 18 Comments
Glenn Peoples shares his thoughts on TV One’s recent episode Jesus: The Cold Case. Like a number of others tonight I have just watched Jesus: The Cold Case on TV One, presented by Bryan Bruce. Here are my thoughts on what I have seen. First off, who is Bryan Bruce? Bryan Bruce is an award winning producer, […]
Tags: Glenn Peoples · Guest Post · Historical Apologetics · Historical Ignorance · Jesus The Cold Case · TV One
“Are there Good Reasons for Abortion?” Wendy Savage and Madeleine Flannagan Debate on Unbelievable?
July 24th, 2011 50 Comments
This week, the UK’s Christian Premier Radio show, Unbelievable?, aired an episode on the topic “are there good reasons for abortion?” The episode saw host, Justin Brierley, moderate a debate between this blog’s Madeleine Flannagan and Professor Wendy Savage, a representative of Doctors for a Women’s Choice. A range of topics related to the issue of […]
Tags: Abortion · Feticide · Justin Brierley · Unbelievable? · Wendy Savage
Ethics in Journalism – Hear Matt’s Interview on Radio Rhema
July 23rd, 2011 6 Comments
On Thursday Matt was interviewed on Radio Rhema by their breakfast host, Tim Sisarich, on the topic of ethics in journalism. This was in the wake of the media frenzy over the Israelis killed in the Christchurch earthquake and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key’s rebuttal to claims that they were spies. The Murdoch saga was […]
Tags: Journalism Ethics · Radio Rhema · Tim Sisarich
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.
