Notes: Wednesday, February 13-Tuesday, March 26, 2013 (part 2 of 2)

10. A couple of recent items regarding 'established religion'

10.1 Mr. Rudd on how State agnosticism in Australia promotes multiculturalism, foreign relations, and the 'health' of society

"When people come to this country, I am all for people doing whatever they want to preserve the cultural inheritances they brought to this country."

This was assisted by Australia not having an established state religion, he said.

"We are all equal under the law and on questions of faith there is no preference of one against the other . . . and we have been an extraordinarily healthy society as a result," Mr Rudd said.

He said the diversity of faiths within modern Australia facilitated engagement with the Asia-Pacific, which "relatively monocultural" European countries found more difficult.
[ellipsis in the original,
"Nation's strength is its embrace of diversity, says Kevin Rudd", by Sarah Martin, dated March 7, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/nations-strength-is-its-embrace-of-diversity-says-kevin-rudd/story-fn9hm1gu-1226591936801]

Labels: Confessional State, multiculturalism

10.2 When the Colony of New South Wales had an 'established religion'

On Saturday, March 9, 2013, I read an interesting item in the "ON THIS DAY" section of the "HISTORY" page of the Sydney Daily Telegraph for that day (presumably Vol. 1, No. 2792, ISSN 1038-8745, published by Nationwide News Pty. Ltd.). Unfortunately, I forgot to rip it out and keep it, so I reproduce it here to the best of my knowledge:

1826 Letters Patent found the Church and Schools Corporation, privileging the Church of England and placing New South Wales government schools under its control, giving it the status of an established religion in the colony.

I could not find the text of that item online, and nor could I find via the "Advanced Search" page of The London Gazette website the text of the Letters Patent in question, but here are some related webpages which I found via Google, listed roughly in, from my point of view, descending order of utility:

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-thomas-hobbes-2645

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/broughton-william-grant-1832

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/therry-john-joseph-2722

http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=945875

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bathurst-henry-1751

http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21634192?q=Corporation+of+the+Trustees+of+Church+and+School+Lands&c=book&versionId=25962366

http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/album/albumView.aspx?itemID=971395&acmsid=0

Labels: Anglicans, colonialism, N.S.W.

11. "In the evening[ of Friday, March 15, 2013], the Governor[ of New South Wales], accompanied by Dr Helen Crane, opened the “Consluencias” art exhibition at the Museum of Freemasonry, as part of celebrations marking the 125th Anniversary of Freemasons NSW & ACT, at The Masonic Centre, Sydney."

The quotation in that headline, including its italics, comes from the webpage titled "Friday, 15 March 2013", downloaded from the "Diary of Engagements" section of the official website of The Governor of New South Wales:

http://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/news/diary-of-engagements/friday-15-march-2013/

(That engagement came to my attention via the Vice-Regal notices on p. 31 in the classifieds section of the "Weekend Business" supplement of The Sydney Morning Herald, Weekend Edition, March 16-17, 2013, No. 54738, ISSN 0312-6315.)

Labels: Freemasons, Marie Bashir

12. Mr. Salt on family size in Australia

See the article "Big family loses out to work-life balance", by Bernard Salt, dated March 21, 2013, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/big-family-loses-out-to-work-life-balance/story-e6frg9jx-1226601970873

See also the article "Mainstream mums: 40, with two children", by Rick Morton, dated March 21, 2013, downloaded from The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/mainstream-mums-40-with-two-children/story-e6frg6nf-1226601981073

Labels: demography, families, social trends

13. What Proud Schools events look like

See the article "Colourful day of celebration", by Mel Smith ("a Country Organiser and the Officer attached to GLBTI issues" for the New South Wales Teachers Federation), on p. 13 of EDuCATiON, the Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation, March 11, 2013, Vol. 94, No. 2:

http://www.nswtf.org.au/journal/education-94-02/index.html

(That article came to my attention via Mr. Muehlenberg's blog post "A Minute To Midnight: Sexual Suicide in the West ", dated March 13, 2013:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2013/03/13/a-minute-to-midnight-sexual-suicide-in-the-west/)

Labels: education, G.L.B.T., Proud Schools

14. More from Prof. Feser on Prof. Krauss's A Universe from Nothing

See Prof. Feser's blog post "Forgetting nothing, learning nothing", dated Wednesday, February 27, 2013:

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/forgetting-nothing-learning-nothing.html

I especially liked this paragraph:

So, “nothing,” Krauss finally acknowledges, is “the absence of something.” So far so good. He’s acquired some knowledge of English over the last few months. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t taken that remedial logic course. For we are also told that nothing is a “physical quantity” which can be studied through “empirical” means. All of which entails that the absence of something is a physical quantity which can be studied through empirical means. Wrap your mind around that. Your couch has length, width, depth, mass, etc. and can be seen and touched. And it turns out that the absence of your couch has length, width, depth, mass, etc. and can be seen and touched. Does the absence of a couch look different from the absence of a cat? Do they weigh the same? And how many absences can you fit in one room? Don’t scoff! It’s sciiieeeeence!
[italics in the original]

Labels: philosophy

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Tuesday in Holy Week, A.D. 2013