Death, mortality and religious diversity

Developed in partnership between the Immigration Museum and Deakin University, this exhibition examines how eight different groups in Victoria deal with death. It includes representatives of Moslem, Hindu, Christian (Catholic, Anglican, Greek Orthodox), Jewish, Buddhist faiths and those with no religion.

Study of 'post-critical' thought and religious epistemology : with special reference to Michael Polanyi, Paul Tillich and Thomas F. Torrance

Explores the foundational problem in epistemology posed by Immanuel Kant and illustrates, from the 'post-critical' position, with special reference to Michael Polanyi, Paul Tillich and Thomas F. Torrance, how they serve as alternative philosophical and religious responses to the Kantian critical philosophy.

Teaching or preaching — Max Charlesworth and religious education

In this essay I elaborate on the theoretical framework – that of Millian liberalism – that Max Charlesworth brought to many public issues, including that of the relation between education and religion. I will then apply this framework to a debate in which I have been recently involved myself: a debate around the provision of religious instruction in public schools. In the first section I expound Charlesworth’s rejection of secularism in education in a liberal pluralist state and his defence of faith-based schooling. In the second section I uncover the religious motivations behind the Victorian government’s 1950 amendments to the apparently secularist Victorian Education Act of 1872. In section three, I explore the notion of secularism more fully and suggest that the struggle between those who espouse religious instruction in state schools and those who oppose it while advocating a more general form of education about religion is a symptom of a deeper tension between liberalism and communitarianism within the culture of modernist, liberal states.

Scientific and Religious Mindsets: A Candid Look at the Perils of a Panglossian President

Through Voltaire’s novella Candide, this essay examines the differences between a scientific and a religious mindset and the consequences of poor decision-making when a political leader has a religious mindset that he misapplies to fundamentally scientific questions. By analyzing various decisions that President Bush has made, it is argued that he has a religious mindset that has resulted in several fallacious choices of extreme import, yielding considerable losses. As such, a decision-maker with power should be able to distinguish questions best answered with a scientific mindset from those that are in the realm of philosophy or religion and apply a scientific mindset to the former. A scientific mindset formulates a theory that yields testable propositions, it acquires data and uses that to evaluate the verity of the theory. As the data contradict the theory’s predictions, the theory is adjusted. The religious mindset proffers certain explanations but then holds steadfastly to them. It ignores contrary evidence, does not adjust its tenets, or alter its prescribed behaviors, attacks the integrity of those who espouse contrarian viewpoints, and commits logical falla- cies, such as inverting the causative relationship.

Governance and Religious Diversity in Australia: Multifaith relations and religious instruction in the State of Victoria

Australia, like many societies, is grappling with the reality that its population is becoming at once increasingly religiously diverse and non-religious. This is evident in a number of contentious public and policy debates, including those centred on religion and education. At the turn of the twenty-first century, and particularly after the events of 9/11, religion has featured prominently in the global media and been frequently associated with violence. This had led to the development of a number of strategies by state actors and religious communities aimed at the ‘management’ (Bouma, 1999) or ‘governance’ (Bader, 2007) of religious diversity; sometimes in partnership and, at other times, at odds with one another. The Australian state of Victoria has implemented a number of progressive policies and practices promoting positive multifaith relations and community resilience. Yet, it is still struggling with how best to oversee religious instruction and provide education about diverse religions and non-religious worldviews in government schools.