The Centre for Ethics

NewsletterVolume 74 - Term 3, 2014

Friedrich NietzscheIn 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche reported that God was dead. Although this was something of an exaggeration, his words go on challenging religious thinkers in our own time.

Culture and the Death of GodAt the Centre for Ethics, we have established a small library. Perhaps students, parents, teachers and others will browse. We have a number of religious texts and quite a few philosophical works. One of our books is Terry Eagleton’s Culture and the Death of God. It asks how we might live in a supposedly faithless world threatened by violent fundamentalism. Eagleton is one of the most interesting thinkers on culture and religion writing today. Religion, according to Eagleton, is “both vision and institution, felt experience and universal project”. According to him, the death of God means that society has invented a range of surrogates to fill the gap. He identifies: “Reason, Nature, Geist (Hegel’s “Spirit”), culture, art, the sublime, the nation, the state, science, humanity, Being, Society, the Other, desire, the life force and personal relations” as “forms of displaced divinity.” Atheism, he claims, is not the soft option it may appear. It is usually religion in another guise – a mutation of religious faith.

Socially constructed surrogatesIn a lively review of Eagleton’s book for The Tablet, the theologian John McDade writes: “In an age sceptical about religious truth claims, a diluted brand of faith without specific content but with warm sentiments suits us more than doctrine-heavy or law-enforced religions that chasten and discipline the self. If an instinct for a transcendent God remains unsatisfied by the socially constructed surrogates on offer, it is privatised and people ‘believe’ (just about) without ‘belonging’ socially anywhere. Christians become invisible to others and perhaps in the end they become invisible to themselves. Is this where we are now? We should be disturbed by the depth of inner ‘lapsing’ around us and within us.”

The history of ideasI cannot help but wonder whether some of our Philosophy students might visit the office of the Centre for Ethics to look at this book. Peter Watson is best known for his writing about the history of ideas. Other works by him include Ideas: From Fire to Freud and A Terrible Beauty: A History of the People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind. He has written a great deal about literature, art and film.

John Gray in The New StatesmanIt is interesting to read some of the reviews of The Age of Nothing. In the New Statesman, John Gray welcomes Peter Watson’s focus on Nietzsche. Gray observes that, “In many parts

Peter Watson: The Age of Nothing The latest book to be added to our collection continues the theme of God’s demise. It is Peter Watson’s The Age of Nothing: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God. This is the title in the United Kingdom and Australia; in the United States it is The Age of Atheists with the sub-title remaining the same. Either way, it is a provocative title and the book has created a great deal of interest and debate around the world. Quite often Eagleton’s and Watson’s book are reviewed together.

of the world at present, there is no sign of religion dying away: quite the reverse. Yet Watson is not mistaken in thinking that throughout much of the 20th century “the death of God” was a cultural fact, and he astutely follows up the various ways in which the Nietzschean imperative – the need to construct a system of values that does not rely on any form of transcendental belief – shaped thinking in many fields.”

Responding to NietzscheGray also notes Watson’s treatment of the pursuit of a convincing response to Nietzsche in philosophers as various as Bergson, William James and GE Moore, along with artists such as Matisse and Kandinsky, futurist composers and modernist poets, and movements such as the Beats, the counter-culture of the 1960s and a host of psychotherapeutic cults. It is an encyclopedic work.

Other than the traditionalSo many creative minds have turned their attention to Nietzsche’s declaration. As Watson writes in his introduction, 130-odd years after his famous announcement, “many people (though by no means all) are still trying to find other ways to look out upon our world than with the traditional religious viewpoints.”

Rayyan Al-Shawaf in The Boston GlobeWriting in The Boston Globe, Rayyan Al-Shawaf points to Watson’s focus on the psychoanalytic, scientific and phenomenological. Watson writes that Sigmund Freud “is responsible for the dominant shift in thought in modern times, which has seen a theological understanding of humankind replaced by a psychological one.” In response, Al-Shawaf observes that though many of Freud’s specific theories were later discredited, this did not impinge upon the popularity of psychoanalysis, which branched off in different directions. For many, the unconscious became “the secular equivalent of the soul”.

The most important idea everCharles Darwin’s writing presented a radical challenge to religious authorities. Their response was often far from convincing. At one point, Watson quotes the modern philosopher Daniel Dennett, who calls evolution “the most important idea ever.”

Metaphysic of the concreteIt might be said that the most important figure in Watson’s book is the German phenomenologist, Edmund Husserl, who wanted a “metaphysic of the concrete”. Al-Shawaf writes: “Forget about overarching meta-narratives of meaning and other simplifications of the variety of existence Husserl urged, and instead understand that you are the sum total of the events in your life and your relationship to the people and objects around you.”

Roger Scruton: The Soul of the WorldRoger Scruton’s very recent book is entitled The Soul of the World. In his review, Scruton finds that there are things to praise in Watson’s work, but that there is also an emptiness. Scruton is a conservative religious believer who makes the point that human beings have “a transcendental dimension, a sacred core exhibited in their capacity for self-reflection.”

Five alternatives to religious faithSome of those writers discussed by Watson are DH Lawrence and HG Wells and the philosophers, John Dewey, Heidegger and Sartre. All were highly influential. Lawrence attempted to contrive a second faith, something to replace Christian beliefs as well as the sterile rationalism of science. Wells had a mystical side but found that religion did not work for him. Dewey felt that science had “chipped” away at the foundations of Christianity but that secularisation was seriously lacking in “something”; he could not quite say what. Heidegger, one of the most important philosophers of the modern period, was somewhat confused. At one

point, there was his Nazi affiliation. He began life as a Catholic; this was followed by his conversion to Protestantism before he lost all religious faith. Towards the end of his life he went back to the Catholic Church. Sartre’s existentialism was inextricably linked to his humanism. All of these writers attempted to say something about life after God.

A gloves-off encounterReflecting on these thinkers, Roger Scruton observes a sort of tiredness and, at times, a quaintness. He believes: “the life-cult of DH Lawrence, the socialist progressivism of HG Wells, the naïve optimism of John Dewey, the existentialist nihilism of Heidegger and Sartre – all such religion substitutes have lost their appeal, and we find ourselves, perhaps for the first time, with a gloves-off encounter between the evangelical atheists, who tell us that religious belief is both nonsensical and wicked, and the defenders of intelligent design, who look around for the scraps that the Almighty left behind from his long picnic among us.” As Scruton notes, Watson gives a well-informed account of the battle, but he has no comfort to offer “other than those moments of meaning into which we stare and from which the face of God has vanished. Or has it?”

Frank SheehanChaplainDirector of the Centre for Ethics

Claire Eaton

Qaisra Shahraz

Claire Eaton is a former teacher and deputy principal with more than 20 years’ experience working with adolescents. In 2008, Claire made the decision to focus on teenagers and relevant ways of empowering them with practical tools. These include resilience, optimism and confidence, so they can feel more confident to take greater responsibility for their own self-esteem, happiness and mental wellness.

Claire travels around Australia teaching tweens and teens how to be the bosses of their own mindsets, in all areas of their lives; at school, at home, with siblings, in sport, with friendships and relationships. Through her ROC TEEN programme, she works with youth from a ‘prevention is better than cure’

Qaisra Shahraz is a prizewinning, critically acclaimed novelist and scriptwriter, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Qaisra was born in Pakistan and has lived in the United Kingdom since childhood. She has two Masters degrees in English, European literature and scriptwriting. She was recognised as one of 100 most influential Pakistani women in the 2012 Pakistan Power 100 List.

Previously, Qaisra was nominated for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards and for the Muslim News Awards for Excellence. Her novels, The Holy Woman, Typhoon and Revolt have been translated into several languages. The Holy Woman won the Golden Jubilee Award and Qaisra’s work is customarily studied in schools and universities.

perspective; combining her passion with experience to connect with teenagers and teach them how to be the natural leaders in their own lives through their own thought patterns, emotions and personal choices.

Claire’s dream is to see all adolescents equipped with a repertoire of skills to be able to handle life’s up and downs, twists and turns with greater resilience, optimism and confidence. Visit www.claireeaton.com.au for more information.

A critical analysis of her oeuvre has been undertaken in The Holy and the Unholy: Critical Essays on Qaisra Shahraz’s Fiction.

She has another successful career in education, consultancy and as a teacher trainer, and still manages to travel the world promoting her books and her message. She is a fascinating and inspirational woman, and her books delve into the deepest reaches of many contemporary issues.

Claire Eaton will speak to Senior School students on

Thursday 7 August.

Qaisra Shahraz will speak to the community about her book

Revolt on Thursday 7 August.

Charles Waddell

Barry Green

After receiving his doctorate in the United States, the Reverend Dr Charles Waddell came to Perth to take up a job in medical anthropology at the University of Western Australia in 1975. After 27 great years, Charles went to the Pontifical Beda College in Rome to study for the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Perth.

He received an STB and STL (Summa) from the Angelicum, the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, in Rome. After his ordination, Charles served in parishes in the Goldfields, Tennant Creek and Perth. He publishes articles in anthropology and theology, and has a passion for adult faith education. Charles has a son, Gregory, who is a Christ Church old boy.

Jesus Matters is an anthropology of Jesus, His message and His God. It seeks to capture the reality of Jesus – the Jesus whom Peter, John, James and Mary of Magdala, amongst others, knew. Brief and articulate, it is written for the ordinary person in the pew and in the religious hinterland.

Dr Barry Green has a Bachelor of Science degree from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and obtained his PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Sydney in 1967. He spent the next 40 years outside of Australia and was involved in the research and development of fusion energy.

He has worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the United States; the Max-Planck Institute of Plasma Physics in Germany; and the JET Joint Undertaking in the United Kingdom, where he was engineer in charge of the operation of the JET device when it produced the first significant man-made fusion power (2 MW) in 1991.

Subsequently he worked at the Naka Joint Work Site in Japan for the design phase of the International Fusion Energy Project (ITER), now under construction in the south of France. He then worked for the Directorate of Energy of the Directorate General for Research in Brussels, where he co-ordinated the fusion research and development of the 12 most recent member states of the European Union; before retiring to Perth where he now works part-time in the School of Physics at the University of Western Australia.

Emeritus Archbishop Barry Hickey and Mr Fred Chaney will launch Jesus Matters to the community

on Sunday 17 August.

Barry Green will speak to students on

Wednesday 20 August.

Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix In 1995, a 14-year-old gang member shot Azim Khamisa’s only son, Tariq, while he was delivering pizzas. Just a month shy of his 21st birthday, Tariq bled to death in the car where he was left. Tony Hicks pulled the trigger and became the first juvenile in the State of California to be given an adult murder sentence.

Instead of seeking revenge, Azim reached out to Tony and his family, including Tony’s grandfather Ples Felix, believing there are victims at both ends of a gun. Azim went on to establish the Tariq Khamisa Foundation in memory of his son, and the subsequent ‘forgiveness movement’ has reached millions.

Azim and Ples encourage people to discover “that our thoughts help create our reality: they can be used to take control of life; the potentially damaging mental routines we tend to run when ‘on autopilot’; and the vital connections between our upbringing and our ‘resiliency quotient’”.

Jon Doust Jon Doust spent his high school years at Christ Church Grammar School and says he failed his crucial final year due to the inability of examiners to recognise his genius. His father then forced him to take a job in a bank, but bank executives showing fine insight chose him for higher office on a South Pacific Island, and soon afterwards asked him to leave.

Out of that disaster came much good and Jon recovered well enough to attend a university, get a degree in English and forge a career in journalism, stand-up comedy and ‘societal irritation’. He has co-written three children’s books and his first

adult novel, Boy on a Wire, based on his five years at boarding school, was long-listed for Australia’s premier literary prize, the Miles Franklin, in 2010.

His current work, To the Highlands, is the second work in a quartet Jon calls ‘One Boy’s Journey to Man’. The third in the series, The One Fingered Hitchhiker, he says “is still in his head waiting to get out.”

Jon Doust will speak to students on

Thursday 4 September.

Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix will speak to students on Thursday 11 September.

Charles Qiu

Ride to Conquer Cancer

After his graduation from Christ Church in 2007, Dr Charles Qiu studied medicine at the University of Western Australia, before starting work at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in 2014.

In February 2014, Charles joined fellow old boy Professor Grant Fergusson-Stewart (1956) on a surgical mission to Eastern Samar in the Philippines, 10 weeks after Typhoon Yolanda. The international medical mission saw firsthand the devastation of the deadly typhoon whilst on the road trip from Tacloban to the hospital in Borongan, where they were based. Charles and Grant worked as volunteer surgeons in the hospital, the only hospital left standing in Eastern Samar after the devastation, treating the poorest of the poor and those who had survived the Typhoon.

Charles will be speaking about these experiences in the Philippines.

On 18 and 19 October, Christ Church Grammar School Headmaster Garth Wynne will participate in the Sunsuper Ride to Conquer Cancer. Money raised by the participants in this event will go to the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research.

When Mr Wynne made his decision to participate in the ride public, he spoke of two people who had inspired him. One was Matthew Carulli, a Christ Church student who died earlier this year. Matthew would have been in the 2014 graduating class. The second person was Teresa Scott from the School’s Centre for Ethics. Teresa has survived three bouts of ovarian cancer. You can read about her here http://www.perkins.org.au/news/teresa-scott/

Among those riding with Mr Wynne is John Barrington, Chairman of the AnglicareWA Board and a Christ Church parent.

If you would like to support Mr Wynne and Mr Barrington and their work for the Harry Perkins Institute, please click here http://pr14.conquercancer.org.au/site/TR/Events/Perth2014?px=1420074&pg=personal&fr_id=1142

Charles Qiu will speak to Senior School students on

Thursday 18 September.

We are always delighted to welcome back speakers whose talks have been so interesting and helpful. For more information on any of our speakers please contact Teresa Scott at tscott@ccgs.wa.edu.au

Mark Isaacs

Dr Caroline Fleay

Mark was born in Oxford, England, in 1988 and his family immigrated to Australia one year later. He says his English father taught him to play cricket and football in the northern suburbs of Sydney and his Australian mother taught him about manners, morals and how to fold bed sheets.

Mark began exploring the world at a young age. When he was 14, he travelled to Brazil and Argentina on a futsal tour, backpacked around Europe then worked as a London tour guide when he ran out of money halfway through the trip. Mark wrote his first manuscript, about the divine transient freedom of university exchange, while studying Spanish in Mexico.

Mark’s farcical comedy, The Dark of the Matinee, was performed at the 2006 Short and Sweet 10-minute play festival. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of

Technology, Sydney. Mark has published social justice articles for Oxfam’s 3things youth movement and a few articles for The Daily Telegraph.

Mark became impassioned by the asylum seeker debate after a visit to Villawood Detention Centre. In October 2012, he was employed by the Salvation Army to work at the Nauru Regional Processing Centre. While in Nauru, Mark established the Recreations programme and Oceans programme for asylum seekers. He eventually resigned from the Salvation Army in June 2013 and spoke out publicly against the government’s No Advantage policy.

Mark works as a case manager at an asylum seeker settlement agency in Sydney. Surfing, football, sunscreen, shade, freedom, adventure and writing are a few of the things Mark loves.

Dr Caroline Fleay conducts research into the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia, and is currently Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Human Rights Education at Curtin University. She has worked in the university sector for a decade, including teaching human rights in universities in the United Kingdom and France.

Dr Fleay has also been an active campaigner for the rights of asylum seekers and refugees in Australia over the past 15 years. As both a campaigner and researcher, she has been a regular visitor to West Australian immigration detention centres and has worked with asylum seekers to document the abuses inherent within these systems of indefinite detention.

Most recently, alongside Dr Lisa Hartley from the Centre for Human Rights Education, Dr Fleay completed research projects that explore the impacts of government policies on asylum seekers upon their release from immigration detention. In particular, these projects highlighted the critical importance of granting asylum seekers the right to work and assessing their refugee claims using a prompt and credible process.

In this talk, Dr Fleay will outline the range of policies implemented by both the former Labour and current Coalition Governments that continue to have a profoundly negative impact on many asylum seekers in Australia. She will reflect on the fixation within Australian politics of ‘stopping the boats’ and the nature of the policies

adopted that are effectively punishing people who arrive by boat. She will also reflect on the prospects for moving politics and policies beyond this.

Mark Isaacs and Dr Caroline Fleay will speak to the community on

Wednesday 24 September.

Dr Caroline Fleay and Mark Isaacs will speak to the community on

Wednesday 24 September.

Please contact Teresa Scott on 9442 1705 beforehand, in case there is a change in the programme. A map of Christ Church Grammar School is available on our website www.ccgs.wa.edu.au/about-us/our-location/campus-map

The Centre For Ethics

CalendarDate Event and topic Speaker Time Location

Every Thursday Christ Church Credo Matt Smith 12.45pm Q1

Tuesday5 August

Embracing Fatherhood Facilitator:Frank Sheehan

7.30pmRSVP: fsheehan@ccgs.wa.edu.au

Thursday7 August

Roc Teen Claire Eaton 1.25pm Classroom

Thursday7 August

Book talk: Revolt Qaisra Shahraz 6.30pmSenior School Staff RoomRSVP: 9442 1705

Wednesday13 August

Book talk:The Golden Age

Joan London 7.30pm

Senior School Staff RoomTickets: Lane BookshopTel: 9384 4423

Sunday 17 August

Book launch: Jesus Matters Rev Dr Charles Waddell 6.00pmSenior School Staff Room

Wednesday 20 August

Fusion – a sustainable energy source for the future

Dr Barry Green 9.00am Classroom

Tuesday26 August

Ethics Book Club Frank Sheehan 7.30pm RSVP: 9442 1705

Tuesday 2 September

Embracing FatherhoodFacilitator: Frank Sheehan

7.30pmRSVP: fsheehan@ccgs.wa.edu.au

Thursday4 September

I’m only here because I laughed

Jon Doust 9.00am Chapel

Wednesday10 September

Multiple Intelligences Mitch Productions Period 3, Year 8 Classroom

Thursday11 September

Secrets of a Bulletproof Spirit: keys to emotional and spiritual resiliency

Azim Khamisa and Ples Felix

Period 2, Year 9Period 4, Year 10

Chapel

Thursday18 September

Experience, compassion and a global experience

Dr Charles Qiu 9.00am Chapel

Tuesday 23 September, Wednesday24 September

Year 11 Leadership DaysFather Peter Boyland andSusie Ascott

All day

Wollaston Conference Centre and Christ Church Claremont

Wednesday24 September

Politics, Policies and Punishment:the impact of ‘Stop The Boats’ on asylum seekers in AustraliaThe Undesirables

Dr Carolyn Fleay

Mark Isaacs

7.30pm

Senior School Staff Room

RSVP: jwat9096@bigpond.net.au

Friday 17 October and Saturday 18 October

Ride to Conquer Cancer Headmaster Garth WynnePlease see story in newsletter