Notes: Saturday, July 2-Wednesday, November 30, 2016

1. A couple of recent items regarding The High Court of Australia

1.1 Dr. Maley on the High Court's Gay Marriage ruling

See The Centre for Independent Studies' (C.I.S.'s) Occasional Paper 147 The High Court, Democracy and Same Sex Marriage, by Dr. Barry Maley (a Senior Fellow at The C.I.S.), published by The C.I.S., Sydney, July 2016:

https://www.cis.org.au/publications/occasional-papers/the-high-court-democracy-and-same-sex-marriage

or go straight hither:

https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2016/07/op147.pdf

(That Paper came to my attention via Dr. Maley's opinion piece "DEFINITION NOT MADE IN HEAVEN" on p. 12 in the "COMMENTARY" pages of The Australian, Tuesday, July 26, 2016, Second Edition, No. 16100, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited, available at The C.I.S.'s website under the headline "Marriage deserves a referendum, not a quickie plebiscite", with the same date:

https://www.cis.org.au/commentary/articles/marriage-deserves-a-referendum-not-a-quickie-plebiscite

Labels: Constitution, G.L.B.T., H.C.A., law, marriage

1.2 The plebiscites in 1898 and ’99 which "were held in each of the Australian colonies to ensure that the people approved of the Constitution before it was enacted in Britain" "are treated by the High Court as part of the basis for popular sovereignty in Australia."

The quotations in that headline come from the opinion piece "Plebiscite a casualty in the debate over marriage laws", by Prof. Anne Twomey (a Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Sydney), dated October 7, 2016, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/legal-affairs/plebiscite-a-casualty-in-the-debate-over-marriage-laws/news-story/7847b6a78619996ac6435e78c30d59ec

(That article came to my attention via the version printed on p. 28 in the "LEGAL AFFAIRS" pages of The Australian, Friday, October 7, 2016, Second Edition, No. 16163, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited; if I recall correctly, the headline was "Let's not demonise plebiscites in the heat of the debate over our marriage laws".)

Labels: H.C.A., morals

2. "The Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) Scholarship Foundation will award 20 scholarships for disadvantaged students in 2016. The ABCN Scholarship Foundation, at the request of our donors, allocates some scholarships in specific categories including Indigenous, refugee, LGBTI and State-based scholarships. … Early in 2016, the Citi Pride network proposed raising funds to support a student identifying as LGBTI, in recognition of additional challenges faced by LGBTI students in their senior years of schooling. The scholarship is funded by individual donations from Citi and other corporate employees, with Citi matching individual donations."

The quotation, excluding my ellipsis, in that headline comes from the "ABCN Scholarship Foundation Statement August 2016", available for download from the "News and Media Releases" webpage at the A.B.C.N.'s website:

https://www.abcn.com.au/about-us/news-and-media-releases

Or go straight hither:

https://www.abcn.com.au/sites/default/files/ABCN%20Scholarship%20Foundation%20Statement%20August%202016.pdf

See also item 6.3 of this issue of "Notes".

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

3. "The first stage of the National Domestic and Family Violence Bench Book is available on the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration's website."

The quotation, including its hyperlink, in that headline comes from the media release "New resource to assist victims of family violence", dated August 18, 2016, downloaded from the official website of the Attorney-General for Australia (The Hon. Sen. George Brandis Q.C.):

https://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Mediareleases/Pages/2016/ThirdQuarter/New-resource-to-assist-victims-of-family-violence.aspx

Labels: feminism

4. H.M. Victorian Government's Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships 'learning resources' are available here:

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/Pages/teaching-and-learning-materials.aspx

Or go straight hither:

http://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/ResourcePackage/ByPin?pin=2JZX4R

See also the Media Release "Victoria Leading The Way On Respectful Relationships", dated October 10, 2016, attributed to the Victorian Minister for Education (The Hon. James Merlino M.P.), downloaded from the official Premier of Victoria website:

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/victoria-leading-the-way-on-respectful-relationships/

(and also available under the same headline (though with all the letters capitalised) and with the same date at Mr. Merlino's own website:

http://www.jamesmerlino.com.au/media-releases/victoria-leading-the-way-on-respectful-relationships/)

Labels: education, feminism, G.L.B.T., morals, multiculturalism, relativism, Victoria

5. Dr. Morrall on a supposed change in Christian political philosophy:

… The ‘conventional’ notion of many Christian thinkers about human government as part remedy, part punishment for the Fall of Man, led to a depreciatory view of political institutions and activity.
The position began to change round about the time of the economic, social and cultural revivals of the tenth and subsequent centuries. With the loss of distrust for human reason and its achievements came a gradual strengthening of belief in the natural character of political life as beneficial for man and corresponding to an inherent need of his being. Classical sources familiar to the medieval philosophers of the twelfth century, particularly Cicero and the Timaeus dialogue by Plato, had spoken of Nature as the inspiration of the life of men in society. But the biggest single source of the revival of belief in the naturalness of political activity was the return of knowledge of Roman Law as collected by Justinian in his Corpus of Civil Law. This was beginning to be studied in the Italian legal schools, particularly Bologna, in the eleventh century. Throughout the Middle Ages Bologna was to remain the great centre of legal studies for both Civil and Canon Law.
[italics in the original, my ellipsis (and deleted dashes where a word spanned two lines; for the original format of the text, see the Appendix to this post),
pp. 158 f., Ch. 6 ("EPILOGUE: MEDIEVAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS DILEMMA"), The Medieval Imprint: The Founding of the Western European Tradition, by John B. Morrall, published by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1970]

Labels: morals

6. Prof. van Onselen, approvingly (or at least sympathetically), on Conservativism as Retarded Progressivism: "Conservatism in its purest form is about slowing down the pace of change to ensure that adjustments in policy settings when they do happen are well thought through."

(Note that by using the word 'retarded' I intend no allusion to what is these days called being developmentally delayed.) The quotation in that headline comes from the opinion piece "Fringe-dwelling reactionaries tarnish true conservatism", by Prof. Peter van Onselen, dated October 22, 2016, downloaded from (behind the paywall at) The Australian's website:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/peter-van-onselen/fringedwelling-reactionaries-tarnish-true-conservatism/news-story/84662346c74564581fd974b3d61873df

(That article came to my attention via the version printed under the same headline (though with all the letters capitalised), with the same author, on p. 22 in the "COMMENTARY" pages of the "INQUIRER" section of The Weekend Australian, October 22-23, 2016, First Edition, No. 16176, ISSN 1038-8761, published by Nationwide News Pty. Limited.)

Labels: liberalism

7. "It’s always been the case that the scheme has been designed, and these changes are also designed, to try and ensure that as many mothers are participating in the workforce and are able to re-participate after the birth of a child, having provided for a fair amount of time to bond with the child after birth." (The scheme in question is H.M.A. Government's paid maternity leave scheme.)

The quotation in that headline is attributed to the Federal Minister for Social Services (The Hon. Christian Porter M.P.) in the interview transcript "ABC Radio National Breakfast with Fran Kelly", dated October 24, 2016, downloaded from Mr. Porter's Ministerial website:

http://christianporter.dss.gov.au/transcripts/abc-radio-national-breakfast-with-fran-kelly-0

Labels: economic rationalism, economics, family, feminism, P.P.L., tax, work

Reginaldvs Cantvar
St. Andrew's Day, A.D. 2016

Appendix: Item 5's quotation in its original format:

[p. 158]
… The ‘conven-
tional’ notion of many Christian thinkers about human
government as part remedy, part punishment for the
Fall of Man, led to a depreciatory view of political in-
stitutions and activity.
The position began to change round about the time
of the economic, social and cultural revivals of the tenth
and subsequent centuries. With the loss of distrust for
human reason and its achievements came a gradual
strengthening of belief in the natural character of poli-
tical life as beneficial for man and corresponding to an
[p. 159]
inherent need of his being. Classical sources familiar to
the medieval philosophers of the twelfth century, par-
ticularly Cicero and the Timaeus dialogue by Plato, had
spoken of Nature as the inspiration of the life of men
in society. But the biggest single source of the revival of
belief in the naturalness of political activity was the re-
turn of knowledge of Roman Law as collected by Justin-
ian in his Corpus of Civil Law. This was beginning to be
studied in the Italian legal schools, particularly Bolog-
na, in the eleventh century. Throughout the Middle
Ages Bologna was to remain the great centre of legal
studies for both Civil and Canon Law.
[italics in the original, my ellipsis; note that, in the original, the first line of the second paragraph was indented,
pp. 158 f., Ch. 6 ("EPILOGUE: MEDIEVAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS DILEMMA"), The Medieval Imprint: The Founding of the Western European Tradition, by John B. Morrall, published by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, 1970]

Notes: Monday, March 28-Friday, July 1, 2016 (part 2 of 2)

7. Some recent utterances by H.H. The Pope

7.1 H.H. The Pope on State religion

7.1.1 "States must be secular. Confessional states end badly. That goes against the grain of history. I believe that a version of laicity accompanied by a solid law guaranteeing religious freedom offers a framework for going forward. We are all equal as sons (and daughters) of God and with our personal dignity."

The quotation in that headline is (a translation of) the beginning of an answer by H.H. The Pope to an interview question; the interview was conducted by Guillaume Goubert and Sébastien Maillard "at the Vatican, at the Santa Marta residence, on Monday, May 9", 2016 for La Croix, and the translation (headlined "Pope Francis Weighs in on Pedophilia, Same-Sex Marriage and the Refugee Crisis", dated, and last updated, May 18, 2016) is available in full at THEWORLDPOST's website:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sebastien-maillard/pope-francis-la-croix-interview_b_10008372.html

The translation (credited to Stefan Gigacz and headlined "INTERVIEW Pope Francis", dated May 17, 2016) is also available at La Croix's website, but you might encounter a paywall:

http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Pape/INTERVIEW-Pope-Francis-2016-05-17-1200760633

(The only difference between the two translations of the interview part in question is that the one at La Croix's website has an upper-case H in the word "History".) The complete untranslated transcript is apparently available (headlined "Entretien exclusif avec le pape François : l’intégralité" and dated May 17, 2016) behind a paywall at the same website here:

http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Pape/Entretien-exclusif-avec-le-pape-Francois-Le-devoir-du-christianisme-pour-l-Europe-c-est-le-service-2016-05-17-1200760627

and a sample of that text is available (headlined "Le pape François à «La Croix» : « Un État doit être laïque »", dated May 16, 2016) here:

http://www.la-croix.com/Religion/Pape/Le-pape-Francois-a-La-Croix-Un-Etat-doit-etre-laique-2016-05-16-1200760526

That extract contains the text of the question and answer of most interest to me. The original French of the quotation in my headline seems to have been

Un État doit être laïque. Les États confessionnels finissent mal. Cela va contre l’Histoire. Je crois qu’une laïcité accompagnée d’une solide loi garantissant la liberté religieuse offre un cadre pour aller de l’avant. Nous sommes tous égaux, comme fils de Dieu ou avec notre dignité de personne.

RT.com has an article ("‘State must be secular, single-religion states end badly’ – Pope Francis to French Catholic paper", May 17, 2016) which contains translations of much of the text of His Holiness's answers in that excerpt:

https://www.rt.com/news/343258-pope-french-catholic-paper/

See also the Catholic News Service article "In French interview, pope talks about religious freedom, abuse crisis", by Cindy Wooden, dated May 17, 2016:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/in-french-interview-pope-talks-about-religious-freedom-abuse-crisis.cfm

and item 3 of this issue of "Notes".

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Francis Bergoglio, liberalism, morals, religious liberty, secularism, Social Reign of Christ

7.1.2 "I bow before the mercy of the Lord, who willed that Armenia should become, in the year 301, the first nation to accept Christianity as its religion, at a time when persecutions still raged throughout the Roman Empire."

The quotation in that headline comes from (a translation, presumably from Italian, of) H.H. The Pope's Address during His Holiness's visit and prayer at the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral in Etchmiadzin, Armenia, on Friday, June 24, 2016:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/june/documents/papa-francesco_20160624_armenia-cattedrale-etchmiadzin.html

The Pope's apparent approval for State religion in that Address doesn't necessarily contradict His Holiness' disapproval cited in the previous item, given that The Pope's reason for that disapproval is that State religion "goes against the grain of history". But it's harder to reconcile that disapproval with the approval seemingly expressed in the following quotation:

The history of your country runs parallel to its Christian identity preserved over the centuries. That Christian identity, far from impeding a healthy secularity of the state, instead requires and nourishes it, favouring the full participation of all in the life of society, freedom of religion and respect for minorities.
[translation, from Italian, of the Address of His Holiness during the meeting with the Civil Authorities and Diplomatic Corps at the Presidential Palace in Armenia on Friday, June 24, 2016:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2016/june/documents/papa-francesco_20160624_armenia-autorita-cd.html
or see this Vatican Radio article:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/06/24/pope_francis_addresses_armenian_civil_authorities/1239768
The original Italian of that quotation was presumably
La storia del vostro Paese va di pari passo con la sua identità cristiana, custodita nel corso dei secoli. Tale identità cristiana, lungi dall’ostacolare la sana laicità dello Stato, piuttosto la richiede e la alimenta, favorendo la partecipe cittadinanza di tutti i membri della società, la libertà religiosa e il rispetto delle minoranze.
(http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2016/june/documents/papa-francesco_20160624_armenia-autorita-cd.html)]

Harder, but perhaps not impossible; perhaps when The Pope spoke critically of Confessional States, His Holiness understood 'Confessional' in the sense of, as we in Australia would usually say, 'denominational', and thus the criticism would not necessarily apply to a State which confesses Christianity 'generically'. (Just to be clear: I'm only trying to understand The Pope, not defend His Holiness, and the more likely explanation for The Pope's discordant statements seems to me to be that in the La Croix interview, His Holiness spoke his mind, whereas in those two Armenian addresses, The Pope read texts prepared, at least partly, by someone else.)

Labels: Church and State, Confessional State, Francis Bergoglio, liberalism, morals, religious liberty, secularism, Social Reign of Christ

7.2 More from H.H. The Pope on the death penalty

See the (prepared, or transcribed, or something else?) text of H.H. The Pope's June 21, 2016 English-language video message to the Sixth World Congress Against the Death Penalty (Oslo, June 21-23, 2016), available at the Vatican's website here:

http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160621_videomessaggio-vi-congresso-contro-pena-di-morte.html

or see respectively the following Vatican Radio, Holy See Press Office bulletin, or NEWS.VA webpages:

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/06/21/pope_francis_video_message_to_death_penalty_conference/1238843

http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/06/22/160622c.html

http://www.news.va/en/news/francis-video-message-at-a-congress-against-the-de

Labels: death penalty, Francis Bergoglio, morals

8. "Over five years the Coalition will invest $5.4 million to support a Pacific Women Mentoring Programme, connecting female leaders in Australia with emerging leaders in our region across both the public and private sectors."

The quotation in that headline comes from the media release "The Coalition's Policy for a Safe and Prosperous Australia", contributed by The Hon. Julie Bishop M.P. (Minister for Foreign Affairs), dated June 23, 2016, available at the official Liberal Party website here:

https://www.liberal.org.au/latest-news/2016/06/23/coalitions-policy-safe-and-prosperous-australia

(and also at Ms Bishop's website here:

http://www.juliebishop.com.au/coalitions-policy-safe-prosperous-australia/)

See also the webpage with the same headline at the same website, but with a little more detail, here:

https://www.liberal.org.au/coalitions-policy-safe-and-prosperous-australia

Labels: feminism, foreign affairs

Reginaldvs Cantvar
Feast of The Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, A.D. 2016