Faith & Worldview Blog

04 Jan, 2018 A Letter from Patricia

Last year I received a hand-written letter from 'Patricia', responding to something I had written on changing Ausralia's marriage laws, in which I argued that society should support the norm of marriage as a couple raising their own biological children.  I enjoyed reading Patricia's thoughtful letter, which was clear and well-expressed. Here is her letter and my reply.

18 Nov, 2017 After the SSM Party is Over: Troubles and Opportunities Ahead

This week Australia received the very unsurprising news that a majority of those who voted in the postal-survey supported Same Sex Marriage.  Four out of five people voted, and of those who voted, three out of five voted 'yes'.  No-one could say Australians are united on the SSM marriage issue, but it is clear that parliament must soon modify our marriage laws to degender marriage.  In Australia's political system even 55% support from voters is considered a landslide.  The 61.6% is being hailed as a crushing victory.

29 Sep, 2017 Three more thoughts on the Australian Marriage Debate

The marriage survey keeps rolling on – Australians still have more than a month until the survey finished on November 7. I keep pondering which way Australia will go with marriage, and what difference it will make. I've always been intrigued by situations where people vehemently disagree with each other on important issues. Sometimes in such cases the two sides engage in real debate, but at other times it's a case of ships passing in the night. The not-so-great Australian Marriage Debate sits firmly in the second category.

14 Sep, 2017 Notes on Same-Sex Marriage and the “Plebiscite” (Survey Vote)

This post offers answers to questions about the same-sex marriage plebiscite.

23 Aug, 2017 More on the Marriage ‘Plebiscite’

In a previous post I offered some thoughts on the plebiscite to change the definition of marriage in Australia's Marriage Act.   Here are some more reflections in the light of responses received to that post. Anyone who speaks up in favour of retaining the current definition...

12 Aug, 2017 The Postal Vote and Marriage

It seems Australia is making its way to a postal vote on whether we should change our marriage laws to remove reference to gender, i.e. to make same-sex marriage lawful. Whatever the outcome of the postal vote, the parliament will still have to decide, and our...