Texts of three conference papers added
Keeping God out of Government was the theme of an important conference held in Melbourne, Australia on 17th and 18th June 2006. Sponsored jointly by the Australian National Secular Association, the Council of Australian Humanist Societies and the Rationalist Society of Australia, the conference featured papers on every aspect of church-state separation in Australia and beyond. We have the text of some of the contributions available on this web site.
- Prof Helen Irving showed how small differences in wording on state-church separation in the American and Australian constitutions have led to diametrically opposed interpretations.
- Dr Max Wallace highlighted the recent survey showing strong support for separation in Australia in his paper Separation of Church and State in New Zealand?.
- Jane Caro explained how state funding of private, mainly religious schools, is creating a two-tier society in Australia in How God is killing public education – Indoctrination v Education.
- Senator Lyn Allison tracked the increase in the faith-based and discriminatory delivery of social services, but saw hopeful signs that the blatant abuse of religious privilege was heightening public awareness of the illusory nature of church-state separation.
- Roy Brown spoke of the urgent need to defend freedom of expression, currently under new sustained attack around the world.