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Whose Religion? Which Secularism? Australia has a Serious Religious Literacy Problem.

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Published Date: 07 Jul 2021

Presentation Date: 24 Sep 2015

ABC Religion and Ethics has published Mike Birds’ piece on: Whose Religion? Which Secularism? Australia has a Serious Religious Literacy Problem.

In his article, Mike shows the slipperiness of the term “secularism,” trys to explain to secularists why people actually enjoy being religious, and asserts that church and state should be separated but can and do work together for the common good!

It was mainly written to address the Aussie context, but relevant for other places too.

He concludes:

Religion is more than dogma and rules. It is a mixture of worldview and praxis that permeates all of peoples’ lives. We should remember that religion has had a prominent place in Australian history, and religious organizations form the backbone of our welfare network. Faith communities and the state can work together for the common good, and religion is an inalienable aspect of human existence, like music, art and literature. What’s more, religion is remarkably robust – it is not going to disappear. So it is far better that we treat religion as indelibly part of human life than as something to be begrudgingly tolerated and excised from public life.

See the full article on the ABC website

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