25 May, 2022
COLLOQUIUM 2022 – PLEASE REGISTER HERE
Dear Reader,
Edmund Burke described society as ‘a partnership … between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born.’ Conservatives feel this keenly, believing they have obligations to generations past and to come. Enemies of conservatism, often driven by deep resentment of traditional values, prefer to uproot established customs and replace them with something – anything – perceived to be better. And these enemies of conservatism now dominate both wings of politics. To my mind the most dangerous of all are those whose confident materialism has almost smothered their social consciences, yet left behind a spark of guilt which is tidily assuaged by devotion to the modern pseudo-religion of political correctness.
Can you spot a person’s beliefs from one bumper sticker? It’s a safe bet. One favourite fashionable belief usually lines up with a whole raft of other superficially unrelated but predictable dogmas. For example, left-leaners think that climate change is the most serious ‘existential threat’, that the killing of infants prior to natural birth is OK and may even be socially responsible, that conventional bonds such as marriage are outmoded, that gender is fluid, that animals should have rights commensurate with our own (particularly if they’re whales or koalas), and that opinions deemed false should be cancelled and silenced.
What do right-leaners believe? Conservatives now struggle to find much difference between left and right. Sure, they have different heroes and villains, but neither group seems to hang on to a strong belief in what used to be called the sanctity of marriage. Abortion has never been a big concern for either the left or the secular right. All are sentimental about animals – you can find plenty of vegetarians on both sides of the socio-political divide. You would have to be seriously naive to imagine that susceptibility to tyranny is the exclusive property of either wing. And if you think that the right is keener on freedom of speech you’re dreaming: they might disagree on what constitutes misinformation, but they would suppress it if they could. Arthur Calwell once insulted an American diplomat by saying that US voters had to choose between two bottles (Democrat and Republican) with the same contents but different labels. It’s not very different now in Australia.
There was a time when the gulf was wider. The left was the natural orientation of the poor and the workers; the right the preserve of wealthier people with business interests. It wasn’t a hard and fast distinction (Hitler was a hero to many working-class Germans) but there was some truth in it. In recent decades that gulf has narrowed to vanishing point, at least in the prosperous West.
Virtue-signalling is the new test of probity. Today dedicated devotion to a noble cause may be a less powerful driver than the urge to distance yourself from something that embarrasses you. People on the left seem to have no ongoing interest in nationalising industries, in fact they’re as likely as anybody else to invest in industry, property and shares. People on the right also want to be on trend, distancing themselves from any whiff of old-fashioned social conservatism.
This is bad news for genuine conservatives who have a principal orientation and focus that is neither politically left nor right. They are more likely to think for themselves and make decisions that are not fashion-driven, but based on ethical, religious or scientific criteria. In consequence they have to contend with a high degree of hostility from both the left and the right spectra: for many today conservative has become a dirty word.
Australia’s new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has been sworn in and is taking up his heavy duties with verve, energy and much personal charm. We wish him well and hope that he will have the strength to strike a just balance between those who long for radical change and those who fear for the erosion of our Christian heritage.
Yours sincerely,
David Daintree
PERSONEL CHANGES
The Hon Guy Barnett MP has resigned after four years of service on our Committee. He is replaced by Mr Zac Golus. We extend our sincere thanks to the former and a warm welcome to the latter.
Though now based in Sydney, Naomi Spinks has been my assistant for four years. I should like to recognise her constant efforts, particularly in publishing our newsletter and maintaining our Facebook page, by naming her officially as Assistant Director of the CDC.
BE A ‘FRIEND’
Please consider becoming a ‘Friend’ of Christopher Dawson. The cost is just $100. In recognition of this special form of assistance we offer you a handsome lapel badge (pictured below), discounts on future purchases, as well as our gratitude and our prayers. Do please contact me directly if you are interested.
COMING EVENTS
Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor of The Australian: Christianity’s Contribution to Western Civilisation, 20 June, Maypole Hotel, 6.00 pm (jointly hosted by the Archdiocese of Hobart).
The Judeo-Christian tradition has created and underpinned the moral and legal fabric of Western civilisation for more than 2000 years, yet now in both Australia and many parts of the West Christianity has become a minority faith rather than the mainstream belief. Let’s take a fresh look at the contribution Christianity has made to Western Civilisation: can our civilisation can stand without it?
Please buy tickets here.
Mr Sheridan will also speak the following night 21 June on the case for the historical reliability of the New Testament and will explore the lives of early Christians and contemporary Christians, focusing on his recent book The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World. Buy tickets here.
COLLOQUIUM 2022
The 2022 Colloquium will take place on Saturday 16 July. The registration fee is $100 (concession $75 for pensioners, students, Friends of Christopher Dawson and unwaged).
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND RELIGION –
THE ESSENCE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION
Six papers have been finalised: here are some ‘tasters’ –
DAVID COLLITS
Truth, Ideology and Freedom
Contemporary Australian culture exerts tremendous implicit and explicit control over the speech and therefore life and thought of its members. This paper proposes a theological solution, therefore, as being at the heart of any genuine attempt to reach a practical solution to the threats posed to freedom of speech and religion.
KENNETH CROWTHER
In a ‘post-Christian secular age’ that has largely shrugged off the burdensome impositions of natural hierarchy and has dislocated and redefined the virtues, what are the implications for freedom of speech?
BELLA D’ABRERA
It is now virtually impossible for conservatives to express their opinions, or indeed state the truth, in the public square without fear of being cancelled or being set upon by the mob. We have even arrived at a point where we are no longer permitted to state biological fact. There are signs however, that the worm is finally turning, not just in Australia but across the Anglosphere.
KEVIN DONNELLY
Defining intolerance as tolerance.
Marcuse argues, such is the oppressive and exploitive nature of Western societies like Australia, that those intent on radically overthrowing the status quo are free to use whatever means necessary to effect change.
MONICA DOUMIT
How safe are religious exemptions in anti-discrimination law?
Given Labor will need to rely on the Greens in the Senate to pursue its legislative agenda, how realistic are any protections for religious individuals and institutions? What should we be doing now to prepare for all religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law being removed?
LUCAS MCLENNAN
Christianity and free speech: an uneasy relationship.
I will argue that Christian communities today, while very much in need of a culture that respects freedom of speech and expression, should still ultimately recognise that their cause is truth, not turning the principle of free expression into an ultimate ideal of its own.
ARCHBISHOP PORTEOUS
The Two Wings – Faith and Reason
In this paper I will explore the rise of ideology in contemporary society, arguing that it stands in direct opposition to the tradition of the interrelationship between faith and reason which is necessary for the development of culture and healthy patterns of human life.
We like people to attend in person, but recognise that not everyone can travel to the Athens of the South for that purpose!
All presentations will be professionally videoed and posted online soon afterwards. Proceedings will also be published in full late in 2022 or early 2023.