Published on
1 July 2013
In order to maintain public order secularism in our time relies on well- established delineation of ‘public’ and ‘private’ realms. While attempting to play down divisions between social groups, secularism reinforces a distinction between public conduct and private life. In this way a moderate secularism can reduce public conflict by emphasising those aspects of public […]
Published on
10 June 2013
Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Legal Affairs, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Public Policy, Religion
News that the United States government ordered the largest US communications company Verizon to hand over details of communications of all of its customers on a daily basis is as regrettable as it is shocking. That is to say, insofar as it is regrettable it is also shocking but it is not a complete surprise. […]
Published on
25 February 2013
Posted in British Politics, Civil Liberties, Philosophy, Religion
Increasingly we are told that the ‘war on drugs’ has failed, and the evidence for this is persuasive. In spite of the challenges of legalisation it is clear that criminalising everyone associated with the drugs trade is, in the words of one report, ‘as costly as it is ineffective’. Throughout history some people have sought […]
Published on
22 November 2012
Posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Religion, Social Commentary, Virtue
Religious experience is, for many sceptical or simply indifferent secularists, something unintelligible. The idea that there is a God who can become a man and forgive sins — even that there is such a thing as God or as sin — is for them unacceptable. Religious people must remember that this is no simple matter […]
Published on
1 October 2012
Posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Social Commentary
The idea that there exists today a Christendom such as existed in the pre-modern era is as fanciful as the suggestion that the followers of Mohammed have established a truly global Caliphate. Nonetheless, to cast the recent rioters against portayals of Mohammed perceived as insulting and their political leaders as only mere descendants of clannish […]
Published on
16 August 2012
‘Modernity’, wrote Hegel, ‘is the secularisation of religion’. In many ways this is true of twentieth-century Europe during which we saw one responsibility after another pass from churches into the hands of government. Chief among these was, of course, the Welfare State, but education and moral authority followed not far behind. The last-mentioned is most […]
Published on
23 May 2012
Posted in Christianity, Religion, Social Commentary
There is a consensus among the leaders of the main political parties that, when reformed, the House of Lords should retain a number who sit as Lords Spiritual. This ‘bloc’ of peers is made up of twenty-six Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England. In a recent blog post it was argued that, were […]
Published on
3 May 2012
Posted in Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Legal Affairs, Public Policy, Religion
From a guest blogger: Regular readers of this blog will have seen posts over the last year in response to the Government’s decision to hold a consultation on whether to extend marriage to same-sex couples, as well as on developments in marriage law elsewhere. Frequently debate over redefining marriage has produced conflict between mainstream religious […]