Symposium Examines Political Religion in Secular Australia

A multi-disciplinary group of scholars came together for the 2 day Political Religion in Secular Australia Symposium in Newcastle on 22 July.

This symposium bought together a diverse group of speakers from around the world to draw attention to the impact of secularism in Australia. Until now the conversation around secularism has been mostly focused on the North Atlantic.

Symposium organiser and Lecturer in Religion and Theology, Dr Timothy Stanley says the closed environment of the symposium encouraged the conversation to flourish.

"Religion's new visibility in political life has provoked one of the most significant global debates of our day. This symposium intervened by interrogating religion's impact upon secular authority in Australia," Tim said.

"We had some excellent speakers including Gary D. Bouma, Emeritus UNESCO Professor from Monash University, with internationals from the University of Manchester, University of Otago, and the University of Oxford joining with our local and interstate scholars."