Church and State: Changing Government Policies Towards Religion in Australia

Church and State: Changing Government Policies Towards Religion in Australia PDF Author: John Stradbroke Gregory
Publisher: North Melbourne, Vic. : Cassell Australia
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description

Church and State: Changing Government Policies Towards Religion in Australia

Church and State: Changing Government Policies Towards Religion in Australia PDF Author: John Stradbroke Gregory
Publisher: North Melbourne, Vic. : Cassell Australia
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

Get Book Here

Book Description


Church and State

Church and State PDF Author: John Stradbroke Gregory
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Church and education in Victoria
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Get Book Here

Book Description


Religion and Change in Australia

Religion and Change in Australia PDF Author: Adam Possamai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000529614
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
This timely book offers a panoramic overview of the enduring significance of religion in modern Australian society. Applying sociological perspectives and contemporary theories of religion in society, it challenges conventional assumptions around the extent of secularisation in Australia and instead argues that religious institutions, groups, and individuals have proved remarkably adaptable to social change and continue to play a major role in Australian life. In doing so, it explores how religion intersects with a wide range of other contemporary issues, including politics, race, migration, gender, and new media. Religion and Change in Australia explores Australia’s unique history regarding religion. Christianity was originally imported as a tool of social control to keep convicts, settlers, and Australian Aboriginal peoples in check. This had a profound impact on the social memory of the nation, and lingering resentment towards the "excessive" presence of religion continues to be felt today. Freedom of religion was enshrined in Section 116 of the Australian Constitution in 1901. Nevertheless, the White Australia Policy effectively prevented adherents of non-Christian faiths from migrating to Australia and the nation remained overwhelmingly Christian. However, after WWII, Australia, in common with other western societies, appears to have become increasingly secularised, as religious observance declined dramatically. However, Religion and Change in Australia employs a range of social theories to challenge this securalist view and argues that Australia is a post-secular society. The 2016 census revealed that over half of the population still identify as Christian. In politics, the socially conservative religious right has come to exert considerable influence on the ruling Liberal-National Coalition, particularly under John Howard and Scott Morrison. New technologies, such as the Internet and social media, have provided new avenues for religious expression and proselytisation whilst so-called "megachurches" have been built to cater to their increasing congregations. The adoption of multiculturalism and increased immigration from Asia has led to a religiously pluralist society, though this has often been controversial. In particular, the position of Islam in Australia has been the subject of fierce debate, and Islamophobic attitudes remain common. Atheism, non-belief, and alternative spiritualities have also become increasingly widespread, especially amongst the young. Religion and Change in Australia analyses these developments to offer new perspectives on religion and its continued relevance within Australian society. This book is therefore a vital resource for students, academics, and general readers seeking to understand contemporary debates surrounding religion and secularisation in Australia.

A Neutral State? Constitutional, Legal and Historical Aspects of Church-state Relations in Australia

A Neutral State? Constitutional, Legal and Historical Aspects of Church-state Relations in Australia PDF Author: Charlotte Baines
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 512

Get Book Here

Book Description
Today, freedom of religion is important for faith leaders in Australia and also in Europe, the United States and other parts of the world. My study aims to explore how the church and state relationship in contemporary Australia has been influenced by constitutional, legal and historical arrangements. My focus is on the spheres of education, the law and legal system as these are the most common areas of church-state contention. I argue that pragmatic changes to the church and state relationship are increasingly recognising the value of religious freedom but not always protecting it as an existing human right.My data comprise a sample of nineteenth and twentieth century newspaper articles, interviews with Australian faith leaders, public submissions received from two national consultations and six court cases, all from Australia. My study is a contribution to existing scholarship on the church and state relationship in contemporary Australia.My study found that from European settlement to the twenty-first century the church and state relationship has been characterised by four different arrangements: establishment, plural establishment, liberal separationism, and pragmatic pluralism. Australia has no overriding legal or policy principle to guide state limitations on freedom of religion. State neutrality as an aspirational goal is not fully realised in contemporary Australia, as state neutrality can be used as a vehicle to discriminate against some or all faith groups. Against a backdrop of increasing religious diversity, the aspirational goal towards state neutrality is not just an academic question but an every-day reality that has consequences for Australia and Australians. Two recommendations are made. First, that a range of stakeholders from faith leaders to policy makers and academics convene a national forum with a view to reaching agreement on an overarching church-state framework that can accommodate the growth of religious diversity in contemporary Australia. Second, that as part of these national discussions, the government considers the need to reconceptualise the principles and institutions of liberal democracy that are important for accommodating religious diversity.

Religious Freedom in the Liberal State

Religious Freedom in the Liberal State PDF Author: Rex Ahdar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199606471
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 528

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rex Ahdar and Ian Leigh present a critique of how religious freedom should be understood in liberal legal systems, based on historical and contemporary controversies.

Religion after Secularization in Australia

Religion after Secularization in Australia PDF Author: Timothy Stanley
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137551380
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book Here

Book Description
Religion's persistent and new visibility in political life has prompted a significant global debate. One of this debate's key features concerns the nature and impact of secularization. This collection of essays draws together leading sociologists, historians, philosophers of religion, and political theorists in order to provide a broad and up-to-date account of religion after secularization. Contributors explore the meaning and conceptual legacies of religion, as well as the unique features of the Australian case such as religion as it relates to law, education, gender, media, and radical political movements. Intervening in the current debate, this book provides summative accounts of the historical, cultural, and legal interactions that have informed Australia’s relationship to religion and secularization. Contributors critically analyze and engage with secular political theory concerning the public sphere, while also dissecting deliberative politics and democratic practices. This book propels the debate over religion’s place in public life in new directions and promotes urgently needed public understanding.

Church and State

Church and State PDF Author: Thomas R. Frame
Publisher: UNSW Press
ISBN: 9780868409160
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 102

Get Book Here

Book Description
Few Australians realise that the Constitution does not formally separate Church and State. Tom Frame argues that some contact between organised religion and government is both inevitable and, in some circumstances, highly desirable. But there are continuing and unnecessary tensions, for which Christians are largely responsible. This book explores the nature of the tensions, and how to deal with them.

Secular Conversions

Secular Conversions PDF Author: Damon Mayrl
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316720705
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why does secularization proceed differently in otherwise similar countries? Secular Conversions demonstrates that the institutional structure of the state is a key factor shaping the course of secularization. Drawing upon detailed historical analysis of religious education policy in the United States and Australia, Damon Mayrl details how administrative structures, legal procedures, and electoral systems have shaped political opportunities and even helped create constituencies for secular policies. In so doing, he also shows how a decentralized, readily accessible American state acts as an engine for religious conflict, encouraging religious differences to spill into law and politics at every turn. This book provides a vivid picture of how political conflicts interacted with the state over the long span of American and Australian history to shape religion's role in public life. Ultimately, it reveals that taken-for-granted political structures have powerfully shaped the fate of religion in modern societies.

A SECULAR AGE

A SECULAR AGE PDF Author: Charles TAYLOR
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674044282
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 889

Get Book Here

Book Description
The place of religion in society has changed profoundly in the last few centuries, particularly in the West. In what will be a defining book for our time, Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean, and what, precisely, happens when a society becomes one in which faith is only one human possibility among others.

State and Religion

State and Religion PDF Author: Renae Barker
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134850808
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
With its increasingly secular and religiously diverse population Australia faces many challenges in determining how the state and religion should interact. Australia is not unique in facing these challenges. States worldwide, including common law countries with shared legal and religious heritages, have also been faced with the question of how the state and religion should relate to one another. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the United States have all had to grapple with how to manage the state-religion relationship in the present day. This book provides a comprehensive historical review of the interaction of the state and religion in Australia. It brings together multiple examples of areas in which the state and religion interact, and reviews these examples across Australia’s history from settlement through to present day. The book sets this story within a wider theoretical context via an examination of theories of state-religion relationships as well as a comparison with other similar common law jurisdictions. The book demonstrates how the solutions arrived at in Australia is uniquely Australian owing to Australia’s unique legal system, religious demographics and history. However this is just one possible outcome among many that have been tried in common law liberal democracies.