I’ve been thinking recently about the moral issues surrounding immigration. This is partly because it’s an issue I’ve never really studied in depth, and partly because it’s become a massive political football. Here’s a thought that came to me. As I understand it, the right of a refugee to seek asylum in international law has […]
Entries Tagged as 'Political Philosophy'
Some subversive thoughts on immigration
September 29th, 2025 Comments Off on Some subversive thoughts on immigration
Tags: immigration · Refugees
“Jesus – Left or Right or Neither?” Hear Matthew Flannagan Interviewed on Radio
August 3rd, 2012 Comments Off on “Jesus – Left or Right or Neither?” Hear Matthew Flannagan Interviewed on Radio
Pat Brittenden interviewed this blog’s Matthew Flannagan on whether Jesus was a political figure or not on Wednesday 1 August 2012 on his morning show on Radio Rhema. Click here to hear Matt on “Jesus – left or right or neither?”
Tags: Jesus · Pat Brittenden · Political · Radio Rhema
The Pretensions of Democracy and the Egypt Riots
February 9th, 2011 81 Comments
The secular west has a secular gospel. It is the good news of democracy. When problems assail a nation, all would be assuaged if not solved if it had more democracy. And so it has come to pass with respect to Egypt. The West is not unique in that it has its own version of […]
Tags: Democracy · Egypt Riots · Islam · Political Philosophy
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 […]
Tags: Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Free Exercise · Freedom of Religion · Harry Potter · Jurisprudence · Lord Voldemort · NZARH · Paul Rishworth · Religion in Public Life · Rights and Freedoms · Secularism · Steven Smith
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 […]
Tags: Christopher Eberle · Coercion Test · Doctrine of Religious Restraint · Endorsement Test · Freedom of Religion · Gerald Gaus · James Madison · John Rawls · Jürgen Habermas · Justice Scalia · Law Studies · Lee v Weisman · Lemon Test · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Philip Devine · Philip Quinn · Philosophy of Religion · Political Philosophy · Religion in Public Life · Richard Rorty · Robert Audi · Separationism · Stephen Carter · Terence Cuneo · Vincent Phillip Muñoz
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.
Yet Another Lawyer Agrees: Marriage Amendment Act Bill is an Affront to Freedom of Religion and Belief
March 13th, 2013 22 Comments
Barrister Ian Bassett has given another opinion describing the risks to freedom of religion and belief of Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Act Bill if it is enacted in its presently proposed form, which would include this amendment: “Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), no celebrant who is a minister of religion recognised by a religious […]
Tags: Freedom of Religion · Gay Marriage · Grant Illingworth · Ian Bassett · Louisa Wall · Marriage Amendment Act Bill · Marriage Equality · Paul Rishworth · Rachael Wong · Same Sex Marriage