The Golden Rule Poster shows this principle in the sacred texts of thirteen different religions and spiritualities, including the Australian Aborigines.

The Poster can be used in schools, homes, congregations, universities, workplaces, hospitals and prisons for teaching compassion, multicultural and multi-religious cooperation and human solidarity.

• Includes sacred texts from 13 different religions
• Promotes mutual respect and harmony in our multi-religious society
• Provides discussion topics for schools, homes, offices and congregations

Buy direct online at www.columban.org.au/thegoldenrule (or download the order form and post your order)

A-1 Poster (594 x 841mm)

$11.99 inc GST and $7.00 postage (Australia only)

A-4 pack of 25

$25.30 inc GST + $3.50 postage (Australia only)

Free online resources available at www.columban.org.au/thegoldenrule

For further information contact:

Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations

E. cmr.cmi@columban.org.au

T. 02 9352 8013

Every year, I try to do at least two things with my students at least once. First, I make a point of addressing them as “philosophers” – a bit cheesy, but hopefully it encourages active learning.

Secondly, I say something like this: “I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it’s no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for.”

A bit harsh? Perhaps, but philosophy teachers owe it to our students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument – and to recognize when a belief has become indefensible.

The problem with “I’m entitled to my opinion” is that, all too often, it’s used to shelter beliefs that should have been abandoned. It becomes shorthand for “I can say or think whatever I like” – and by extension, continuing to argue is somehow disrespectful. And this attitude feeds, I suggest, into the false equivalence between experts and non-experts that is an increasingly pernicious feature of our public discourse.

Firstly, what’s an opinion?

Plato distinguished between opinion or common belief (doxa) and certain knowledge, and that’s still a workable distinction today: unlike “1+1=2” or “there are no square circles,” an opinion has a degree of subjectivity and uncertainty to it. But “opinion” ranges from tastes or preferences, through views about questions that concern most people such as prudence or politics, to views grounded in technical expertise, such as legal or scientific opinions.

You can’t really argue about the first kind of opinion. I’d be silly to insist that you’re wrong to think strawberry ice cream is better than chocolate. The problem is that sometimes we implicitly seem to take opinions of the second and even the third sort to be unarguable in the way questions of taste are. Perhaps that’s one reason (no doubt there are others) why enthusiastic amateurs think they’re entitled to disagree with climate scientists and immunologists and have their views “respected.”

Meryl Dorey is the leader of the Australian Vaccination Network, which despite the name is vehemently anti-vaccine. Ms. Dorey has no medical qualifications, but arguesthat if Bob Brown is allowed to comment on nuclear power despite not being a scientist, she should be allowed to comment on vaccines. But no-one assumes Dr. Brown is an authority on the physics of nuclear fission; his job is to comment on the policy responses to the science, not the science itself.

So what does it mean to be “entitled” to an opinion?

If “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion” just means no-one has the right to stop people thinking and saying whatever they want, then the statement is true, but fairly trivial. No one can stop you saying that vaccines cause autism, no matter how many times that claim has been disproven.

But if ‘entitled to an opinion’ means ‘entitled to have your views treated as serious candidates for the truth’ then it’s pretty clearly false. And this too is a distinction that tends to get blurred.

On Monday, the ABC’s Mediawatch program took WIN-TV Wollongong to task for running a story on a measles outbreak which included comment from – you guessed it – Meryl Dorey. In a response to a viewer complaint, WIN said that the story was “accurate, fair and balanced and presented the views of the medical practitioners and of the choice groups.” But this implies an equal right to be heard on a matter in which only one of the two parties has the relevant expertise. Again, if this was about policy responses to science, this would be reasonable. But the so-called “debate” here is about the science itself, and the “choice groups” simply don’t have a claim on air time if that’s where the disagreement is supposed to lie.

Mediawatch host Jonathan Holmes was considerably more blunt: “there’s evidence, and there’s bulldust,” and it’s no part of a reporter’s job to give bulldust equal time with serious expertise.

The response from anti-vaccination voices was predictable. On the Mediawatch site, Ms. Dorey accused the ABC of “openly calling for censorship of a scientific debate.” This response confuses not having your views taken seriously with not being allowed to hold or express those views at all – or to borrow a phrase from Andrew Brown, it “confuses losing an argument with losing the right to argue.” Again, two senses of “entitlement” to an opinion are being conflated here.

So next time you hear someone declare they’re entitled to their opinion, ask them why they think that. Chances are, if nothing else, you’ll end up having a more enjoyable conversation that way.

A great article from Patrick Stokes, Lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University.  It would be a good one to share and discuss with your students (in all classes, not just Philosophy!)

Hat Tip: The Conversation, 5 October 2012

If you would like to advertise a teaching position (complimentary service for DAN members), please contact the DAN EO.

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If you’ve not discovered these films specifically designed to assist teachers in delivering dynamic lessons on contemporary key ethical issues – do yourself a favour and check out sample extracts from the Ethics Online films and teacher’s notes.

CONTACT DAN AND PURCHASE FILMS

(Australasian payment options and local postage now available exclusively through DAN for EthicsOnline)

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS – $140  includes delivery

“This is an outstandingly engaging and timely resource that will grab the attention of students and persuade them of the significance of environmental ethics like never before.”   David Potter, Head of Religious Studies, Ashby School

“This finely crafted series pulls no punches in exploring the complex web of environmental issues facing us today. Unambiguous and beautifully filmed you’ll want to see them again…a fantastic resource.“ Andrea Gilpin, The Churchyard Conservation Charity

Gaia: By comparing the life of the planet to the life of a 45 year old woman, Gaia takes us on a breathtaking journey from our beginnings to these last few seconds of biological time which have witnessed our meteoric rise to ascendancy – but at what cost? (18 minutes)

Genesis: For 2.000 years, the Genesis injunction to have dominion over nature has been misinterpreted as a licence to dominate at all costs. But while Christianity might have been more concerned with saving souls than with saving seals is it solely to blame for today’s environmental crisis? (18 minutes)

Stewards & Slayers:  Western civilisation has largely ignored Biblical and mystic calls to revere creation and today we face the stark realisation that in an interdependent world unethical stewardship of the animal kingdom ultimately afflicts us all. (21 minutes)

The Rapture: Christian fundamentalists believe that the environmental disasters we currently face are of little concern as they are signs that the Rapture is close at hand…for others however, visions of the end time have given new impetus to the principle of stewardship. (18 minutes)

All Things are Connected: While Christian colonisers, mapmakers, missionaries and mercenaries, believed that the natural world existed entirely for human gain, the indigenous Indians of the Americas experienced nature as a sacred web of interdependent phenomena. (16 minutes)

SEXUAL ETHICS – $140 includes delivery

“A valuable resource for teachers and students – well researched, thought provoking and visually stimulating” Andrew Pearce, Principal Examiner for Ethics

“A comprehensive philosophical survey that will usefully support a unit of work in this area” RE Today

Natural Law:  A rollercoaster tour of the history of sex – from the emergence of homo-erectus through to Aristotle, Aquinas, and the pioneering Kinsey Report – this film pursues an ethical theory that has dominated sexual ethics for over two thousand years – with no taboo unturned. (21 minutes)

Situation Ethics: “Love is the answer, but while you are waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions” says Woody Allen – questions this film examines in the light of Joseph Fletcher’s groundbreaking Situation Ethics, first published in 1966. (23 minutes)

Utilitarianism: Does the sexual freedom enjoyed in today’s relativistic world make for “the greatest good”?  Are consequences all that matter in ethical decision making? (24 minutes)

Kant & Sex: Kant taught that as rational beings we all have intrinsic worth and should never use others as a means to an end. But is not sex, ultimately manipulative? (21 minutes)

WAR & PEACE – $110 includes delivery

“Students will learn more from these films than from any current textbooks on Practical Ethics. All schools should have a copy!” Jules Houghton-Wood, Sixth Form, Philosophy & Ethics Teacher, Stanground College, Peterborough

Made with much skill, this film explains clearly and succinctly the challenges faced by those who have the terrible responsibility of engaging in a war and how those who are engaged should behave. Highly recommended.” General, Lord Guthrie,  Former Head, British Army

Holy War: Wars fought in the name of religion have been going on for a very long time. From Old Testament injunctions to kill, through to the Crusades and 9/11, Holy War asks are there some things worth killing for – and are there some things worth dying for?

Just War: From Augustine and Aquinas to Afghanistan and Iraq this film covers the history and development of Just War Theory and its implications for armed conflict today (19 minutes)

The Priest who Blessed the Bomb: In 1945 a Roman Catholic priest gave the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima a Christian blessing. His personal testimony and those of survivors of the bombing graphically illustrate the ethical dilemmas of just war ethics in this haunting film. (10 minutes)

Contempt of Conscience: Conscientious objection to war has a long tradition and at the outset of the Iraq war in 2003 three Quakers continued this tradition by refusing to pay the military portion of their taxes in a search for less destructive ways of resolving conflict. (9 minutes)

ABORTION – $110  includes delivery

“I congratulate you warmly on this production, well balanced and full of fascinating history. Well worth screening outside classrooms too.”

Lord David Steel, Architect of the 1967 Abortion Act

Abortion: Ancient & Modern 1: In ancient times the dangers of abortion for women were compared with the dangers of war for men and little changed for thousands of years. This film, explores legal and ethical attitudes to abortion through the ages, highlighting key ideas such as Animation, Ensoulment, Quickening and The Born Alive rule. (18 minutes)

Abortion: Ancient & Modern 2: While advances in medical technology have given us a window on the womb as never before they also raise critical ethical questions about personhood, viability, selective abortion and embryology. This film also examines the pro-life and pro-choice positions and key concepts such as potentiality and personhood. (15 minutes)

Abortion: Ancient & Modern 3: The abortion debate is nowhere more hotly disputed than within the Christian religion and this film explores attitudes to abortion from the Early Church to the modern day Army of God, highlighting key concepts such as the Sanctity of Life, Delayed Ensoulment and The Principle of Double Effect. (19 minutes)

Check out sample extracts from the Ethics Online films and teacher’s notes and read what teacher’s are saying about these ‘must have’ resources!

CONTACT ETHICS ONLINE AND PURCHASE FILMS

A first-personal journey from dust to God, Dr Nicholas Coleman

Those who attended the 2009 DAN Conference at Old Parliament House in Canberra will doubtless remember the spirited contribution of Dr Nicholas Coleman, Head of Religious Education at Wesley College, Melbourne and World Religions consultant and deputy director of the Interfaith Centre of Melbourne.

Many teachers have appreciated Dr Nick’s Yr 7-9 Religious & Ethics Curriculum and Yr 9 Matrix Unit which he has shared with DAN members. He has recently published au autobiographical narrative about seeking the ultimate reality of everything and finding the supreme identity commonly known as “God”. A first-personal journey from dust to God provides an encouraging account of the spiritual journey to enlightenment from the perspective of the perennial philosophy.  Stories and reflections are accompanied by a wide range of exercises and activities appropriate for all age groups.

Hard copies of the book are available for $25 from the author, Email Nicholas Coleman

DOWNLOAD the Introduction and Sample Exercises from A first-personal journey from dust to God

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EXTRACT from ‘Introduction,’ A first-personal journey from dust to God

…This book explains my philosophy of ‘Platonic Zen’, named after the ideas of Plato and the insights of Zen Buddhism. The philosophy has taken my whole life to formulate and grew out of my efforts to understand my spiritual experience of reality. So, it seems appropriate to communicate my philosophy in the form of stories and reflections from my life which will give an idea of what I mean by the ‘spiritual reality of the universe’. These life-stories and reflections provide a vehicle for recounting my spiritual journey to the remarkable experience I refer to as ‘God-realisation’, which is the goal of Platonic Zen and (for me) the fulfilment of all living.

Advancement to self-actualisation and God-realisation require a sensitive mind and open heart to detect the presence of a reality so obvious it’s virtually invisible. The following story illustrates the ease with which we can overlook the obvious and not see the whole of what is right in front of us.

There aren’t squirrels in my country, so I was excited to visit an English forest reputed to be full of them. Skidding my little, soft-top, Citroen 2CV to a stand-still in the car-park, I bounced out happily imagining myself to be some kind of Enid Blyton character on his way to visit the magical Faraway Tree. Striding purposefully into the musky ambience of the old growth forest, I looked eagerly everywhere for a few minutes in hope of catching my first glimpse of a squirrel, but saw nothing apart from the wood and the trees. Concluding there were no squirrels to be found, I lost interest in looking for them. Walking back to the car my gaze fell down towards the narrow leaf- strewn forest path and my attention drifted inward towards thoughts about work in London, home in Hammersmith and lunch in a minute.

In that distracted moment a flickering movement caught the edge of my sight and mind. I looked up at the trees but there was nothing to be seen. Yet my superhero spider-senses were still tingling. Something was happening just beyond the threshold of my vision and awareness – I could feel it, even though I couldn’t see it. As I vaguely wondered what was going on, it occurred again. In the corner of my eye I glimpsed a quick motion on the trunk of a nearby tree; but the movement was gone by the time I’d brought the tree into focus. For a little while more I kept imagining movements in the trees but didn’t see anything when I looked.

Eventually I realised the apparently empty forest was in fact teaming with squirrels, and all of them were scared out of their wits by my concentrated presence. Whenever I turned my attention inwards the squirrels would come out to play; but the moment I started to look in their direction something in my body-language warned them of my intention. By the time I focussed on the trees the timid little creatures had already scurried into hiding on the far sides of the trucks. My attention must have felt to them like the threatening cross-hairs of a gun-sight.

Interestingly, the squirrels were always one step ahead of my intentional thought – by the time I looked up they were gone. Thus it was only with my peripheral vision that I could catch a glimpse of them. Once I worked out they didn’t like me staring at them, I kept my eyes downcast and hoped to see them in the corners of my visual field. Thereafter, the elusive little creatures emerged from behind the surrounding tree trunks to scamper in plain sight as long as I didn’t scare them away by trying to look directly at them.

That story of looking for wild squirrels in a forest is a great symbol for seeking and finding the spiritual reality of life, the universe and everything. What we’re looking for (be it squirrels, soul, spirit, or God) is always everywhere all the time, but we don’t always see it. As the story suggests, we seek without finding because our way of seeking gets in the way of our finding. When we look with physical eyes at things in the world and expect to see spiritual realities, then we’re often disappointed because we’re using instruments that aren’t adequate to our goal. The principle at work is, ‘like only knows like.’ To see spiritual things we need to look with the inner spiritual eye of the soul, for the inner eye is suited to seeing spiritual realities that are invisible to the outer eyes of the body.

SAMPLE EXERCISES

Clearing your conscience

In King David’s Psalm 46 (verse 10) we read: “Be still and know that I am God.” To know God, we must be still in our heart and silent in our mind.

Yet, our mind is often restless because of unhappy feeling we have in our heart. Some people feel they are not worthy of God-realisation. Some people feel they do not deserve love. Some people feel themselves to be unforgivable. The last thing some people will let themselves feel is stillness, silence, happiness and the presence of God. Such unresolved negative feelings often act as distractions to our contemplation.

There’s no reason not to be happy. Give yourself permission. Do what you need to do in order to clear your conscience of concerns that won’t cease bothering you in moments of stillness and silence. Take positive action to dispel negative self-talk. Get on good terms with yourself and others so you can enjoy being present in the unity of life without distraction.

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Breathing God

Jewish Kabbalah teaches that, just as there is a physical environment around our body, so there is a spiritual environment around our soul. Through the practice of “Breathing God” we can tune in on the invisible spiritual world that surrounds and sustains us.

What we breathe is the air of the atmosphere. The English word “atmosphere” derives from the Sanskrit term “atman” meaning “soul” (literally, “breath”). The Hindu Upanishads teach that soul (atman) is God (Brahman). If atman is Brahman and we are breathing atman (soul), then we are also breathing God.

Think about that while you practice this.

Sit upright with your back straight Feet flat on the floor Hands in your lap Now notice that you are breathing Feel the steady rhythm of air incoming and outflowing Breath is life

Think of the air you breathe as “soul-stuff” As you inhale the soul-stuff of the air, imagine you are breathing in God As you exhale, imagine you are breathing out God Just sit and imagine yourself breathing God in and out

Debrief

Did you find the practise easy or difficult to take seriously? Did you notice any change in your sensory awareness during the practise? Did you notice any change in your spatial awareness during the exercise? Did you notice any change in your inner self-talk during the practise? Did you notice any relation between your body, breath and mind during the practise?

Hard copies of the book are available for $25 from the author, Email Nicholas Coleman

About the Author

Nicholas Coleman received his PhD in philosophy of religion in 1990 from the Cambridge University Divinity School for original research into Platonic metaphysics and the mind of God. Dr Coleman is Head of Religious Education at Wesley College, Melbourne; he is a World Religions consultant and deputy director of the Interfaith Centre of Melbourne. His books include Studies of Religion (Science Press, 2006), The Worlds of Religion (McGraw-Hill, 1999), The Journey of the Soul (Leftbank, 1997) and Perennial Philosophy today (Leftbank, 1994, 1996).

What are the ‘Ultimate Questions’ that you explore in the classroom with your students?

How do you engage them in the questioning process?

These are two of the key questions delegates will explore together at the 2011 DAN Conference (18-20 April, Newington College, Stanmore).

We’ll be presenting a ‘Making it Happen’ workshop at the Conference:  The Religion & Science Conversation in the Middle and Senior School Classroom. Two units of work and associated resources will be shared, and there will be an opportunity to question and discuss teaching practice in this interesting area of Philosophy & Religious Studies.

We’d like to get the conversation started before the Conference, and give both delegates and the wider DAN audience an opportunity to join in.

We have posted a few questions to get you started.  Comment on our questions, or post your own…

For each of the questions you could suggest ways of getting students involved in thinking them through. What strategies do you use? What resources would you suggest? Or would you rephrase the question?

We hope that this blog will be accessed before, during, and after the conference, and become a practical resource that is easily shared.

Simon Bennett (St Michael’s Collegiate School, Tasmania) and Eleanor O’Donnell (Melbourne Grammar School)

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Questions:

• What is the difference between knowledge and wisdom, and does this have anything to do with the nature of reality?

• Are there different ways of knowing things, or is the only knowledge ‘scientific knowledge’? If so, what questions cannot be answered meaningfully?

• What is ‘scientific method’ and ‘scientific proof’?

• How true is a ‘true metaphor’?

• Is it an exercise in futility to seek to ‘describe the indescribable’, or ‘know the unknowable’?

• Does religion have anything to say about how to live if we put aside the question of what happens when you die?

• If you take an atheist to the point of accepting the idea of transcendence – but one inconsistent with a Christian worldview –  is this something to celebrate, or is it a sell-out?

• Does it make any sense at all to ask questions ‘within time, space and causation’ about matters that are ‘beyond time, space and causation’?

• Kant thought that ‘our sense of duty’, although far from proving God, pointed toward God existing.  Other philosophers have suggested that ‘the problem of good’ is as much a problem for atheists as the problem of evil is for theists!  Have you carefully read and understood the accounts of sociologists and evolutionary biologists as to why people are ‘good to one another’?  Are these accounts convincing?

• Does a discussion of science and religion tend us toward Deism?

• Religion often claims that it is ‘true’ because it speaks to subjective truths that dominate our lives – ‘moral truths’ ‘virtues’ ‘flourishing’ and ‘becoming fully human’ and various other truths that are ‘non-verifiable’.  Does it speak to these well enough to be considered truer than its non-religious rival world views or does history show that it falls short of what it promises?

Join the conversation by adding a comment below……

2010 Excellence in Teaching Awards (Catherine Syms on Left)

In April 2010, Catherine was awarded a one year research scholarship from the Heads of Independent Schools Trust which will allow her to pursue a study proposal to investigate approaches into improving the quality and delivery of an effective RS and Values programme within the independent schools. There is no state provision for professional RS teacher training in New Zealand, nor is there currently a unified and focused RS training module in the Anglican and Presbyterian theological training colleges. This study is primarily aimed at the provision of support for potential Chaplains within Anglican schools, but will take in a wider assessment of other candidates who might be considering an RS teaching career. The study will conclude with a presentation to the 2011 Independent Schools Conference, which will provide a significant opportunity to promote the subject across the sector as a whole – in both Church and non-aligned schools.

Following quickly on the heels of this research award, and on the basis of a separate nation-wide assessment process, in July Catherine was awarded the 2010 University of Distinction/ISNZ Excellence in Teaching Award for Exceptional Professional Performance for years 7-10. The Awards Ceremony was held at the 2010 ISNZ conference in Queenstown in August and Catherine’s award presented by the NZ Minister of Education.

Congratulations Catherine!  Another great platform from which to promote RS and Values Education and to stimulate Principals into reflecting on the importance of our subject.

Contact Catherine

MANY teachers lack a basic understanding of Islam and are left feeling uncomfortable and in urgent need of guidance on issues that involve Muslim students, according to a visiting British scholar.

Peter Vardy, a specialist in religion and values education, says non-Muslim teachers are keen to be better informed to deal with a range of dilemmas.

“I think, to be honest, the biggest thing is ignorance,” he says. “They just don’t know where to turn and they haven’t had any training, so they find it difficult to actually engage with the questions young people raise because they don’t have the knowledge base. There is a thirst to be trained and better informed than they are.”

Dr Vardy, vice-principal of Heythrop College, a specialist philosophy and theology college at the University of London, was a keynote speaker at a workshop held at Ivanhoe Grammar last week to help non-Muslim teachers better engage with and teach Islam.

The grammar school’s director of world studies, Tim Bush, says often the responsibility for fostering community cohesion is handed over to schools but teachers are unsure what they can do to improve understanding.

“In many respects, teachers don’t necessarily have the resources, facilities or time to develop that, so workshops like this are absolutely critical,” he says.

Dr Vardy is passionate about using education to reduce misunderstandings about the Islamic faith.

“Islam is only one world religion . . . but it’s hugely important that young Australians have an understanding which goes beyond the superficial,” he says.

In an globalised world, it is vital that local students appreciate diversity, different cultural and religious perspectives, and can interact with Islamic neighbours on a business level.

He says interest in Islam — the world’s second-largest religion — is growing, particularly in Britain, but Australia tends to shy away from it.

“In the UK, there is a highly academic approach to religious and values education involving philosophy, analysing argument, and it is a wonderful training for becoming a barrister and other professions; it is not about indoctrination,” he says.

“This is very hard to get across to Australians because as soon as they see the word religion the hackles go up and they think this is a covert attempt to convert people to some faith or another. The idea that you can have an academic approach to these issues is somewhat alien. It is not in Europe, but it is here.”

Dr Vardy says Melbourne’s substantial Muslim population, the country’s proximity to Indonesia, and Australia’s role in the Iraq and Afghan wars, make it vital for young people to have an accurate understanding of the beliefs and practices of Islam.

“The idea of what Islam is about is often not communicated to young people, so they pick it up from the news and what you effectively then have is that Islam is associated with terrorism, and radicalism. They’ve got no idea of what Islam stands for beyond that.”

Closer scrutiny of the Muslim faith following the September 11, 2001 attacks has led to many misconceptions.

“We are not trying to convince people to be Muslim or not; it is trying to help them be better informed so they actually understand what Islamic finance is about, what Islamic bioethics and philosophy is about, and that means understanding both the strengths and the weaknesses.”

Dr Vardy believes the creation of the Dialogue Australasia Network in 1998 to foster a broad-based academic approach to the teaching of values, philosophy and religious studies was an important step. The network has 450 schools in Australia and New Zealand.

“What it tries to do is improve the academic rigour and relevance of religious and values education,” says Dr Vardy, who sits on the DAN board, which involves some of Melbourne’s private schools.

“It is about having a good academic education, of looking at this as an academic subject, which includes values, ethics, religious issues, and introducing young people to thinking deeply about these questions, not trying to tell them what they should think.”

He believes ignorance and mistrust create barriers between harmonious relations between Muslims and non-Muslims.

“Once you understand someone, you understand where they are coming from, that they are not unreasonable bigots and there is an intelligent position that can be held, you can say ‘I can actually begin to speak to this person as a human being’.”

Ivanhoe Grammar’s Tim Bush says the school’s involvement in the conference was inspired by former student and Muslim education expert Dr Eeqbal Hassim.

Dr Hassim is co author of Learning from One Another: Bringing Muslim Perspectives into Australian Schools, with Jennet Cole-Adams, director of curriculum services at the Australian Curriculum Studies Association.

The book provides information to educate non-Muslim teachers about Muslim beliefs and culture.

It all goes back to Thomas’s Ipsum esse subsistens. Dons Scotus and William of Oakham steered us away from a medieval communion of nature, society and politics. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke eventually offered us the pursuit of happiness – but ungirded, unanchored, unfocused by truth – with its accompanying government to ensure peace in an antagonistic community. A rationalist Christianity, for its part, has been all too willing to accept the modern metaphysical construct, while not just individuals but whole societies are turning from the faith.

In a series of addresses given over the last decade, to the US Library of Congress, the Catholic Theological Society of America, the First Friday Club of Chicago, the universities of St. Louis and Chicago, the 2000 International Eucharistic Congress, and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Francis George, Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago addresses concerns about the interaction of Western Culture and the Christian Faith.

Former professor of Philosophy, Vicar General of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and current president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, George holds a PhD in both Philosophy and Theology. Not only does he lead one of the world’s largest Dioceses, and is a leading spokesperson for the American Church, but he is also a brilliant thinker, in this case outlining the philosophical background that has led to the present church-state state of affairs.

In Thomas’s great medieval synthesis of Aristotelian Philosophy and Christian Theology every creature was kept in existence, George reminds us, through the active causality of the creator. God was understood, he continues, “not so much as a supreme being, but the sheer act of to-be itself … allow(ing) the medievals to see God in creation and thus to appreciate the essential connectedness of all things to God and, through God, to one another” (47).

This metaphysical account of a unifying reality, which saw violence “as not only ethically improper but ontologically inconsistent”, started to break down when God began to be conceived as separate, set apart from creatures – the initial stages of what would eventuate into the concept of the creator clockwork divinity. By the time of Hobbes, humanity could expect but solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and very short lives. Locke and Jefferson may not have been quite so pessimistic in their assessment of human destiny, but disassociation and suspicion – not communion – still underlay their City of Man world view and government no longer sought to achieve civic or social justice, but rather to ensure the protection of individual rights in an often hostile world. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, yes – but to what end they did not say.

Freedom, then, in contemporary Western society became detached from justice and truth. Or, in the words of 1992 majority US Supreme Court opinion of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, “at the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life” (49). Eventually the Western concept of freedom slid the slippery slope into the priority of economic freedom, materialism, self-absorption and litigiousness. Government is to keep us safe from disruption via insurance, prisons and homeland security. The present is made tolerable only by distraction and frivolities – all because, George assesses, of a “disenchanted metaphysics” (49).

Despite its apparent truncation, nevertheless, freedom remains enthroned, uncontested, the summit of Western values, and the often unrecognized hermeneutic of the day. Modern secularization, George continues, began when humanity started to clothe itself in the medieval attributes of God: It replaced divine power over nature with technology; it substituted divine providence in history with the myth of progress. In sum, matter had power; spirit did not. The secular West did not need to kill God à la Nietzsche; it could merely tame God, like a pet, or Hallmark poetry, brought out for entertainment or comfort – for celebrating, but not changing. If God had power, if religion could make truth claims, if Bishops had authority, we would not be free. And freedom is untouchable. The present crisis of faith, George surmises, lies in the first line of the Nicene Creed: We believe in one God, the Father Almighty.

George’s unhappy assessment of the contemporary state of affairs, then, forms the basis of his understanding of the Christianity’s role vis-à-vis culture. The greatest failure of the post Vatican II Catholic Church, he continues, is that of calling forth and forming laity engaged in the world politically, economically, culturally and socially on faith’s terms, not the world’s terms. John XXIII called the pastoral – not doctrinal – council as a response to the slaughter of Europe’s two devastating wars, the divisions of class and race, nationalism and totalitarianism. The church was to be an instrument of healing and direction in a world gone awry. Since the council, however, there seems to have been more inner reflection than outer engagement, more focus on community than conversion.

Echoing John Paul II’s Fides et ratio and Benedict XVI’s Caritas in veritate, George adds that the Christian faith must first of all – ironically – save reason from the humanity’s self-inflicted wound of skepticism, the result of which in the secular world is both atheism and moral relativism. (Under the attack of modern skepticism, even science has fallen from the pantheon of deities; it may be a practical construct that enables us to manipulate material in a pragmatic way, but should make no claims to truth in a necessary way.) In the world of religion, it is reason that purifies the faith from extreme fundamentalist claims.

In the end, however, faith must ultimately engage with culture so that the latter might be open to transcendence – the aim is to propose, not impose – and this is where George sees a necessary interfaith dialogue with Judaism and Islam as all important. As the modern nation-state becomes relativized, as national sovereignty is displaced by “social arrangements still to be invented” (92), it is the major faiths of the earth that will carry the culture. Interfaith dialogue with Islam – despite the many problems inherent therein (there is not one Islam, for example; who does one dialogue with?) – will be most significant for the human race in the next 100 years.

We should never fall into the trap, moreover, of juxtaposing bad systems and good people; we are inextricably part of a culture which can only be transformed through love. Pointing to Francis of Assisi and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, George insists that real reform comes less from management theory than from holiness, zeal. Liturgy too plays a role. Although Christian liturgy is ultimately its own goal, and should never be reshaped to serve political goals, still it is to be acknowledged that after the fall of Rome, it was the beauty of the liturgy pointing to the transcendent God that united Europe not only in worship, but also in thought and the principles of life.

Although specifically addressed to an American audience, the philosophical background in The Difference God Makes and the present applications to such themes as laity, priesthood, evangelization, interfaith dialogue, and liturgy remain valid in other Western contexts. George does not seek a return to medieval Christendom – in the foreseeable future anyway, the secular state is here to stay – but does envision a Christianity that will engage with the culture to bring forth a new age of communion open to the transcendent.

Daniel J. Stollenwerk is Director of Religious Studies, St. Peter’s College Middle School, Auckland, New Zealand. He holds a doctorate in Systematic Theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain.

19-26 MARCH 2010
Teaching Stillness & Silence Brochure and Booking Form
Perth (19/3), Brisbane (22/3), Sydney (23/3), Adelaide (24/3), Melbourne (25/3), Hobart (26/3)

We progress by stopping – Meister Eckhart

Almost everything that students experience today inhibits their journey inward towards stillness and silence. The world suggests the solution to this restlessness lies outside of oneself in the pursuit of a bigger and more exciting life. Students are therefore often over-stimulated, and as result, may lose a sense of their own personal wholeness and a capacity to engage fully with the world as balanced human beings. It is vital that education responds to such challenges by presenting and teaching an alternative way of being. We want you to consider a new learning and a new imagination for our students that locates the teaching of stillness and silence within each person at the heart of education.

In these practical seminars, Ernie Christie and Richard Browning offer complementary approaches to Teaching Stillness and Silence for Teachers of all Years, Teachers of Religious Education & Values and Chaplains.

SEMINAR PROGRAMME 9am-3pm

Part 1: Teaching Christian Meditation to Children – Ernie Christie

• A rationale for Stillness & Silence
• The contemplative tradition: Meditation as an inclusive, educational, spiritual practice
• A practical experience of Christian Meditation
• Fruits of Stillness & Silence

Part 2: Icons, Metaphor and Artful Play in the Classroom – Richard Browning

• Drinking in imagination: An affirmation of the childhood inclination
• A meditation on time using the Onkidoo Icon
• Spontaneous explorations of metaphor and nude drawings of the Tree of Life

Participants should expect intelligent contemplation, unhurried participation and creative reflection. The content is applicable across a wide range of student age groups and in Part 2, has its origins within a middle school demographic.

FACILITATORS

Ernie Christie is Deputy Director of the Catholic Education Office for the Diocese of Townsville with a teaching career spanning 28 years. Meeting Fr Laurence Freeman (Director of the World Community for Christian Meditation) sparked an interest in and led to a passion for a contemplative way of being in the Christian tradition. Ernie has since been a meditator for more than 12 years and is committed to teaching the practice to children. In what is a world-first, Ernie has developed and implemented a systematised practice of Christian Meditation in all 31 Catholic schools in the Diocese of Townsville. In his book, Coming Home: A Guide to Teaching Christian Meditation to Children, Ernie has provided a guide to training teachers in delivering this ancient practice in the classroom, with excellent and inspiring results.

‘Meditation is prayer of the heart’

Richard Browning is Director of Community at Radford College, Canberra where he is responsible for the development of the ethos and values culture of the school and RAS, the programme of awareness and service that provides the arena for students to be deeply involved in the issues that shape our time.  An activist of the imagination, story teller and artist, Richard’s chief work is the provocation of another’s imagination, achieved best through the art of listening.  Richard has led Retreats for Anglican School Principals and presented a remarkable workshop at the 2009 DAN Conference, after which one delegate commented, ‘Richard should be cloned and given to every school.’  Having such a large and noisy man teach stillness and silence might seem a little mischievous.  However, this unlikely model of inner stillness should encourage any teacher who recognises the link between the affective and deep, life long learning.

‘Listening is oxygen for ideas and the ground for respect.’

SEMINAR DATES AND LOCATIONS
(Detailed venue information will be advised when booking is received)

Friday 19 March 2010 – St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School, Perth, WA
Monday 22 March 2010 – Anglican Church Grammar School, Brisbane, QLD
Tuesday 23 March 2010 – Newington College, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday 24 March 2010 – Westminster School, Adelaide, SA
Thursday 25 March 2010 - Xavier College, Melbourne, VIC
Friday 26 March 2010 – The Friend’s School, Hobart, TAS

COST (GST inclusive) includes Seminar, Morning Tea, Lunch and Teaching CD
$140/person or $120/person (for DAN members and if more than one teacher from same school attending)

TEACHING STILLNESS AND SILENCE BOOKING FORM

For Bookings and Enquiries, please contact the DAN Executive Officer