Bethyada of True Paradigm offers us this guest post. I find it interesting because I wrote some thoughts about the New Zealand Association of Rationalist Humanist’s position on the issue of religious trusts having tax exemption in Equality or Hegemony: NZARH and Religious Trusts back in 2008. There I pointed out that humanist trusts that […]
Entries Tagged as 'Public Policy'
Guest Post: Does Tax Exemption for Churches Directly Cost Taxpayers?
April 17th, 2010 152 Comments
Tags: Bethyada · Charity · Ken Perrott · Tax Exemption
Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part II
February 19th, 2010 8 Comments
This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the common law concept of property rights and the claim […]
Tags: Crown Minerals Act 1991 · Property Rights · Resource Management Act 1991 · Rights and Freedoms · Sub-Soil Land Rights · William Blackstone
Property Rights: Blackstone, Locke and the Legislative Scheme Part I
February 17th, 2010 10 Comments
This two part series looks at the state of property rights under the current legislative scheme in New Zealand. Particularly I address attempts to suggest that the passage of Acts such as the Crown Minerals Act and the Resource Management Act have not significantly altered the common law concept of property rights and the claim […]
Tags: Crown Minerals Act 1991 · Edward Feser · John Locke · Property Rights · Resource Management Act 1991 · Rights and Freedoms · Sub-Soil Land Rights · William Blackstone
Can State Appropriation of Minerals in Privately Held Land be Justified? Resources Needed
January 20th, 2010 18 Comments
I am currently undertaking my second-to-last paper in pursuit of my Bachelor of Law (LLB). Due to a complicated bunch of factors involving the potential staleness of my papers, if I do not apply to the New Zealand Council of Legal Education for a completion certificate with an LLB and a Professional Legal Studies certificate […]
Tags: Jurisprudence · Law Studies · Minerals · Mining Law · Property Rights · Sub-Soil Land Rights
View Episode 2 Pacific Viewpoint TV Panel on Abortion & Parental Consent Here (Feat. Madeleine)
December 17th, 2009 17 Comments
Episode two of the television panel discussion I participated in on parental consent/notification for abortion is now available for viewing online here at Pacific Viewpoint TV. (Episode one can be viewed here). The show runs for 30 minutes; in this episode I appear as a panel member (last time I was an audience member). Panelists […]
Tags: Abortion · Bev Adair · Cushla McNabb · MandM on Video · Pacific Viewpoint · Paul Hutchison · Reverend Tavale Matai’a · Setita Millar · Sex Education · Ula Sangyum

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.





The “Three Strikes Bill” Moves Forward
January 19th, 2010 2 Comments
I am cautiously optimistic at today’s announcement that the Sentencing and Parole Reform Bill a.k.a. the “Three Strikes Bill” will be moving forward as part of the government’s legislative program. In my post Three Strikes: Proportion and Protection, which was published in the New Zealand Law Students Association publication LEX, I argued that the “apparent […]
Tags: Justice · Public Policy · Punishment · Three Strikes Bill