EdComm Governors’ Symposium “Secular” Australia: Implications for Religious Freedom Rt Rev Dr Michael Stead, Bishop of South Sydney Thursday 9 November 2017
Defining “secular” u Secular humanism is an ideology that views human reason as the sole arbiter in decision making, including moral and ethical decisions, and explicitly rejects religious doctrine and texts as having any relevance. u Secularisation is the historical process by which the social and cultural significance of religion diminishes over time. u Secular (and secularism) is a political theory about the proper relationship between the church and state.
Australian secularisation? u Secular humanist version of the secularisation thesis: as scientific knowledge grows, religion and superstition will recede. u Australian evidence u Sydney Anglicans – 52% of adult attenders have a uni degree (compared to 24% of people in the Greater Sydney Area) u The rise of uninformed unbelief u 30% “No religion” - half: incompatibility between science and faith u 13% of Australians think that Jesus never existed
Definitional slippage u An oppositional definition – secular versus religious “secular” = “unreligious” /“non-religious” /“the exclusion of religion”
2 types of secularism u Hard Secularism : the removal of all religious influence and activity in the public sphere. Eg. France - “unreservedly antagonistic to religion”. u Soft secularism : no religion is privileged over another. Eg. America: “indifference towards religion or encouragement of religious pluralism” u Hard secularism leads to State “freedom from religion” u Soft secularism leads to “freedom of religion”.
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration “What has produced all the religious quarrels and wars that have occurred in the Christian world is not the (inevitable) diversity of opinions but rather the (avoidable) denial of toleration to those who are of different opinions.” “That’s how church and state come to work together. If each of them would stay within its own bounds—one attending to the worldly welfare of the commonwealth, the other to the salvation of souls—there couldn’t possibly be any discord between them.”
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Voltaire (1694-1778) French Revolution (1789-) liberté, égalité, fraternité
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Rationalism (reason is the sole path to knowledge) Voltaire (1694-1778) French Revolution (1789-) liberté, égalité, fraternité
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Rationalism (reason is the sole path to knowledge) Voltaire (1694-1778) French Revolution (1789-) liberté, égalité, fraternité 1905 - Loi de séparation des Églises et de l'État French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Rationalism (reason is the sole path to knowledge) Voltaire (1694-1778) French Revolution (1789-) American Revolution (1775-83) liberté, égalité, fraternité 1905 - Loi de séparation des Églises et de l'État French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Free Religion Rationalism 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims (reason is the sole 1644 “the hedge or wall of path to knowledge) separation between the garden of the church and the Voltaire (1694-1778) wilderness of the world” French Revolution (1789-) American Revolution (1775-83) liberté, égalité, fraternité 1905 - Loi de séparation des Églises et de l'État French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Free Religion Rationalism 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims (reason is the sole 1644 “the hedge or wall of path to knowledge) separation between the garden of the church and the Voltaire (1694-1778) wilderness of the world” French Revolution (1789-) American Revolution (1775-83) liberté, égalité, fraternité 1791 – First Amendment – 1905 - Loi de séparation “Congress shall make no law des Églises et de l'État respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Free Religion Rationalism 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims (reason is the sole 1644 “the hedge or wall of path to knowledge) separation between the garden of the church and the Epistemic Confidence Voltaire (1694-1778) wilderness of the world” Reason provide the only reliable light. Faith is French Revolution (1789-) American Revolution (1775-83) liberté, égalité, fraternité intellectually unreliable. “religious propositions [are] epistemologically illegitimate, 1791 – First Amendment – 1905 - Loi de séparation warranted by neither reason “Congress shall make no law des Églises et de l'État respecting an establishment nor experience.” of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
John Locke (1689), Letter about Toleration Free Religion Rationalism 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims (reason is the sole 1644 “the hedge or wall of path to knowledge) separation between the garden of the church and the Epistemic Humility Epistemic Confidence Voltaire (1694-1778) wilderness of the world” There are limits to Reason provide the only reliable light. Faith is human reason and French Revolution (1789-) American Revolution (1775-83) liberté, égalité, fraternité intellectually unreliable. empirical enquiry. There is a legitimate “religious propositions [are] epistemologically illegitimate, domain for religious 1791 – First Amendment – 1905 - Loi de séparation warranted by neither reason “Congress shall make no law des Églises et de l'État belief (i.e., faith). respecting an establishment nor experience.” of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” French Laïcité (Hard Secularism)
2 types of secularism u Hard Secularism : the removal of all religious influence and activity in the public sphere. Eg. France - “unreservedly antagonistic to religion”. u Soft secularism : no religion is privileged over another. Eg. America: “indifference towards religion or encouragement of religious pluralism” u Hard secularism leads to State “freedom from religion” u Soft secularism leads to “freedom of religion”.
Australia’s (historic) soft secularism u Our cultural heritage – the established Church of England u 3 examples u The founding of Sydney University as a “secular” institution (1850) u Public Schools: free, compulsory & secular u Section 116 of the Australian Constitution
1. Sydney Uni as a “secular” institution u The University of Sydney was established in 1850 as a “secular” university in contradistinction to the model of Oxford & Cambridge. Up until the University Tests Act of 1871. At that time, only men who were members of the Church of England were eligible to attend Oxford, Cambridge and Durham Universities. u secular = education was available to those of all faiths or none. “all classes and denominations … without any distinction whatsoever” u Sydney University was secular in the sense that it was not controlled by the church, + it did not privilege a particular (sectarian) theology. u “Secular” was not in tension with “religion”
Purpose: better advancement of religion u The University of Sydney Act 1850 Whereas it is deemed expedient for the better advancement of religion and morality and the promotion of useful knowledge, to hold forth to all classes and denominations of Her Majesty's subjects resident in the Colony of New South Wales, without any distinction whatsoever, an encouragement for pursuing a regular and liberal course of education… u Royal Charter of the University of Sydney 1858 the duty of our Royal office … for the advancement of religion and morality and the promotion of useful knowledge to hold forth to all classes and denominations of our faithful subjects, without any distinction whatsoever, throughout our dominions encouragement for pursuing a regular and liberal course of education…
2. NSW Public Schools: free, compulsory & secular u NSW Public Instruction Act 1880, clause 7 - In all schools under this Act the teaching shall be strictly non-sectarian but the words "secular instruction" shall be held to include general religious teaching as distinguished from dogmatical or polemical theology u “secular” meant “non-sectarian”, not “non-religious”. Secular instruction includes general religious teaching u Clause 17 – 4 hours per day of “secular instruction” and up to one hour per day for children of a particular religious persuasion to be instructed a clergyman of that denomination. u “Compulsory” (clause 20), “secular” (clause 17); not “free” until 1906.
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