Published on
24 September 2008
Why does religious freedom matter? We (or at least those of us brought up in this country) have of course all grown up in a society in which religious freedom has long been taken for granted. It is something that has been achieved by means of long struggles over the centuries. Whenever we want to […]
Published on
14 May 2008
It is sometimes said that the role of the Attorney General is where law and politics meet. Law and politics met also in Sir Thomas More – along with something else of course, that is, faith. Although I share his faith, the precedent is not an altogether comfortable one. Thomas More held the office of […]
Published on
5 March 2008
Introduction For Richard Dawkins the truth needs to be told: ‘If this book [The God Delusion] works as I intend, religious people who open it will be atheists when they put it down’ (2006, p.5) So, Dawkins clearly believes that the truth needs to be communicated. Truthful knowledge ought to be sought and promoted. This […]
Published on
4 October 2007
This talk will aim to raise some questions about the relationship between the concept of the Rule of Law, its importance as a constitutional principle and natural law theory. After examining the relationship between these concepts, it will consider recent trends in Government and Parliament which touch on issues of conscience, and discuss what room […]
Published on
13 June 2007
In the invitation that those present this evening have received, my paper was introduced as follows: The daunting challenges facing humanity today cannot be met simply by putting in place better science and more effective structures. They are of another order, and beyond the capacity of the United Nations, the World Bank, big business and […]
Published on
28 March 2007
I’m sure we are all more or less in agreement about what we mean when we spell the word Enlightenment with a capital ‘E’. We are talking about the movement of ideas which came to dominate men’s minds during the 18th century, reaching an explosive climax in the French Revolution. But that as we know was […]
Published on
21 August 2006
At the age of fifty-six – thirteen months after his resignation as Lord Chancellor of England, ten months before his arrest, and two years before his death – Thomas More wrote the epitaph for his tomb, had it engraved in stone, and sent a written copy to Erasmus for publication. More explained this odd action […]
Published on
24 November 2004
Introduction In contemporary Europe, perhaps no subject is as controversial as the idea of a European Constitution and the question of whether it should be ratified by the Union’s member states. In one sense, this is nothing new insofar as the precise form, nature, and origins of constitutions has been debated throughout Europe for centuries. […]