As I write this it is just beginning to be the 4th of July in the United States now, though its been 4th July for some time here in New Zealand. The 4th of July is, of course, Independence Day. Typically in New Zealand, those members of the secular blogosphere, who consider themselves to be [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Liberty'
Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part II
February 18th, 2010 2 Comments
Recently Peter Cresswell published a guest post by James Valliant, which originally appeared on SOLO. In Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part I, I addressed Valliant’s claims that science and freedom of religion were unanimously opposed by Christians and the success of science and freedom of religion in Europe was solely [...]
Tags: Aristotle · Christian History · Dark Ages · Enlightenment · Founding Fathers · James Valliant · Libertarianism · Liberty · Mark Murphy · Nicholas Wolterstorff · Peter Cresswell · Regine Pernoud · Rodney Stark · Science and Religion · SOLO · W.E.H. Lecky
Freedom, Science and Christianity: A Response to James Valliant Part I
February 12th, 2010 14 Comments
Recently Peter Cresswell published a guest post by James Valliant, which originally appeared on SOLO. The following series is a critique of this piece. Valliant’s basic thesis is that, Both science and freedom came about among European Christians despite the best efforts of pious Christians to prevent their development, and only on a foundation of [...]
Tags: Christian History · Dark Ages · David Lindberg · Enlightenment · Founding Fathers · James Hannam · James Valliant · Libertarianism · Liberty · Peter Cresswell · Regine Pernoud · Science and Religion · SOLO
The Foreshore and Seabed Repeal: The Inconvenience of Due Process
July 2nd, 2009 14 Comments
That the state is not above the law but also subject to it is surely one of the foundational concepts of any just and free society. This notion has found its place in the writings of many influential philosophers, jurists and theologians, it can be found in the constitutions and bills of rights of most [...]
Tags: Foreshore and Seabed · Human Rights · Jurisprudence · Justice · Liberty · Māori Land · Ngāti Apa
Blackout Victory: s92a Scrapped
March 23rd, 2009 No Comments
The NBR reports that the controversial s92A of the Copyright Amendment Act will be scrapped. If you recall its implementation was to be “delayed a month while ISPs and copyright holders continued efforts to work out a voluntary agreement on how it would be enforced … if they could not agree, the clause would be [...]
Tags: Human Rights · Justice · Liberty
Blackout Victory: s92a Stalled
February 24th, 2009 3 Comments
The internet blackout is at an end and the government has responded; s92a of the Copyright Act has been officially stalled and looks rather doomed. The Herald reports: Section 92a was to have come into force this weekend, but Mr Key said it would be delayed a month while ISPs and copyright holders continued efforts [...]
Tags: Human Rights · Justice · Liberty
The Blogosphere Blacks Out
February 23rd, 2009 No Comments
Tumeke report that most of the NZ blogosphere has gotten behind the blackout, blacking out chunks of their pages and/or running banners highlighting the campaign. Tim made this mosaic showing the impact on the front pages of NZ’s top 50 or so blogs – you can see MandM towards the bottom right corner.The government really [...]
Tags: Human Rights · Justice · Liberty
Internet Blackout
February 18th, 2009 2 Comments
Over recent years [read: under the previous Labour government] we have been increasingly concerned at ill thought out, badly drafted legislation that removes power from the judiciary and confers it on other bodies within society that are not subject to the rules of evidence and due process. The anti-smacking bill is an obvious example. The [...]
Tags: Human Rights · Justice · Liberty
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
