- IAHR Women Scholars Network, IAHR Women Scholars Network, Faculty MemberThe University of Newcastle, Theology and Religious Studies, Adjunctadd
- Religious Studies, Religion and Politics, Religion-State Relations., Feminism, Emile Durkheim, Secularisms and Secularities, and 19 morePolitics of Secularism, Australian Politics, Comparative Politics, Comparative Secularism, Megachurches, Law and Religion, Parliamentary Studies, Religious Right, Discourse Analysis, Semiotics, Gender and religion (Women s Studies), Equality, Equality and Non Discrimination, Secularism, Theology and Religious Studies, Affirmative Action, Public Theology, Religion, and Theologyedit
- Major grants: Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant: “Charles Strong’s Australian Church (1885-1917) and... moreMajor grants:
Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Grant: “Charles Strong’s Australian Church (1885-1917) and Australian Secularism” DP 160100939 ($74,000, 2016-2019)
Australian Research Council Future Fellowship "Religion, State and Social Inclusion: Lessons from Schools in Three Countries" ($697,357 2011-2016)
Australian Research Council Discovery Project "Religion and Political Thought" ($122,000 2012-2014), with Roland Boer, Christopher Hartney, Geoff Boucher, Matthew Sharpeedit
During the early 1970s, an Australian Methodist minister named Clark Taylor, who had been moving in Pentecostal and charismatic circles, gained special insight known as “Word of Knowledge” and the ability to perform faith healings.... more
During the early 1970s, an Australian Methodist minister named Clark Taylor, who had been moving in Pentecostal and charismatic circles, gained special insight known as “Word of Knowledge” and the ability to perform faith healings. Finding his charismatic gifts unwelcome in the Methodist church, Taylor founded the Christian Outreach Centre (COC) in Brisbane, capital of the state of Queensland. The congregation grew and, over the decades, “planted” offshoots around Australia and overseas, so that COC became a global denomination (Hey 2010, 100–104) or, as the church refers to itself, “movement.” In 2000, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Mark Ramsey, the original Brisbane congregation changed its name to Citipointe Church. By 2010, COC had become “a denomination with [more than] 160 churches across Australia and over 1,000 affiliated COC churches spread across the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa” (Hey 2010, 17). In 2013, the COC denomination rebranded as International Network of Churches. Its acronym became “inc,” rendered in lowercase. In 2014, the inc website claimed churches in 33 countries.
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Research Interests: Sociology, Religion and Politics, Political Science, Australian politics (Australia), Contemporary Religion, and 12 morePolitics of Secularism, Politics Of Education, Secularisms and Secularities, Privatisation, Critical sociology and politics of education, Religion and Public Education, Education Systems, Religion and Education, Politics of Education and Social Policy, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Ethics and religion in schools, and Politics of Education
... (2004), Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom ... Lambert has already done his bit for the national average, through his The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America (2003), as well as his history of the Great... more
... (2004), Michelle Goldberg's Kingdom ... Lambert has already done his bit for the national average, through his The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America (2003), as well as his history of the Great Awakening (1999) and study of evangelist George Whitefield (1994 ...
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On 20 May 2010, the Texas Board of Education approved new standards for the history, social sciences and economics curricula in public schools. The sharply-divided Board split on party lines to approve changes which play down the... more
On 20 May 2010, the Texas Board of Education approved new standards for the history, social sciences and economics curricula in public schools. The sharply-divided Board split on party lines to approve changes which play down the separation of church and state and remove its great advocate Thomas Jefferson from a list of political philosophers to be studied (replacing him with 16th century French theologian John Calvin, who taught that civil government is divinely ordained). The new standards remove reference to the Enlightenment, specify the dating system of BC/AD (Before Christ / Anno Domini) rather than the now more widely-used BCE/CE (Before the Common Era / Common Era), and replace descriptions of America as a ‘democratic society’ with ‘constitutional republic’. They also suggest that the McCarthyist witch hunts were justified, downplay the civil rights movement and add study of the Moral Majority, National Rifle Association, Heritage Foundation and Contract with America. If th...
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... it by now.15 From the beginning, Bush seemed to be commissioning his troops for a cosmic showdown between the forces of evil and the forces of righteousness. All that paled, ... Political scientist Cynthia Burack points out that... more
... it by now.15 From the beginning, Bush seemed to be commissioning his troops for a cosmic showdown between the forces of evil and the forces of righteousness. All that paled, ... Political scientist Cynthia Burack points out that Christian Right leaders regularly 'practice ...
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Family First epitomises an international trend of ambiguously religious politics, according to Marion Maddox SPECULATION that Australia’s newest religiously based political party, Family First, will hold the balance of power in the Senate... more
Family First epitomises an international trend of ambiguously religious politics, according to Marion Maddox SPECULATION that Australia’s newest religiously based political party, Family First, will hold the balance of power in the Senate has drawn an unusual level of attention to the role of religion in Australian politics. Family First\u27s combination of broad appeal and sophisticated political operation - for example, in its pragmatic approach to preference deals - tells us something about the increasing confidence and sophistication of the Christian Right internationally. It also tells us a lot about the changes in Australian political life through eight-and-a-half years of Howard government. ‘We didn\u27t see that there was a party solely working hard to look out for the conservative families,’ Family First leader Andrea Mason was reported as saying in the Australian on 10 September 2004. Why not? Overtly or implicitly Christian parties are not new to Australian politics, and ...
By the late 19th century, all Australian colonies had decreed that education must be compulsory, free and secular. By the middle of the twentieth century, ‘secular’ had gone out of fashion, seeing special religious instruction in all... more
By the late 19th century, all Australian colonies had decreed that education must be compulsory, free and secular. By the middle of the twentieth century, ‘secular’ had gone out of fashion, seeing special religious instruction in all states. Today most primary schools in Australia must allow for special religious instruction. Was the old legislation insisting on secularity out of touch with modern times, or is it more relevant than ever? Is it possible to teach children about the importance of faith without proselytising, and if so, where should the boundaries be drawn? Does faith-based religious education have a place in public schools?
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In 1901, an act of the British Parliament established the modern, independent nation of Australia, on land belonging to its indigenous peoples for some 65,000 years. The new nation gave itself deliberately secular institutions with a... more
In 1901, an act of the British Parliament established the modern, independent nation of Australia, on land belonging to its indigenous peoples for some 65,000 years. The new nation gave itself deliberately secular institutions with a Constitution enshrining, on the face of it, a strong separation between religion and state, at least at the federal level. However, these secular provisions have very rarely been tested in the courts, and, when they have, interpretations have consistently minimised separation, shifting the balance in favour of Commonwealth power rather than either individuals' religious freedom or religious institutions' autonomy. Australian religion-state relations have been conducted less by regulation than by convention, subject to political vicissitudes. This paper examines key cases that contributed to the construction of Australian governance with respect to religion, and recent examples that illustrate Australia’s ad hoc approach to religion and governance.19 page(s
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Some Pentecostal leaders have a clear idea about who’s in charge, not just in their personal lives but in the nation’s politics – and it’s not necessarily the people or their elected representatives. Some depicted the 2019 federal... more
Some Pentecostal leaders have a clear idea about who’s in charge, not just in their personal lives but in the nation’s politics – and it’s not necessarily the people or their elected representatives. Some depicted the 2019 federal election as a choice between Scott Morrison and the Liberal Party’s “godly Scott Morrison, a devout Pentacostal, must strike a balance between satisfying the demands of the Coalition’s religious base and protecting LGBTI rights. Mick Tsikas/AAP
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To the question of 'whether Australian law (Commonwealth, State and Territory) adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion', this submission urges: 1. against granting religious bodies any further exemptions... more
To the question of 'whether Australian law (Commonwealth, State and Territory) adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion', this submission urges: 1. against granting religious bodies any further exemptions from antidiscrimination legislation 2. a thorough reconsideration of the existing exemptions 3. that religious freedom should be protected within the context of a broader Human Rights Bill or Charter.
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and 13 February 1998, had as its main task to determine a republican model to be putto a referendum. However, it also addressed the suggestion that a constitutional change as fundamental as the shift to a republic would require, or at... more
and 13 February 1998, had as its main task to determine a republican model to be putto a referendum. However, it also addressed the suggestion that a constitutional change as fundamental as the shift to a republic would require, or at least provide a good opportunity for, reviewing the constitutional Preamble. The Convention recommended that there should be a new Preamble, containing, inter alia, 'reference to "Almighty God" ' 1• When the Preamble and republic questions were tested at the November 1999 referendum, the people voted a resounding 'no ' to both. An observer of secular Australia might expect that the mention of God in the Preamble would be a significant contributing factor in its rejection. In fact, however, public debate in the period leading up to the referendum showed negligible interest in the phrase 'With hope in God'2, focusing instead on a range of matters including the draft Preamble's statements on Indigenous peoples ...
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The recent debate between American celebrity science educator Bill Nye and Kentucky-based "creationist" Ken Ham drew world attention, once again, to the United States as the home of whacky Christianity. But Ham is a... more
The recent debate between American celebrity science educator Bill Nye and Kentucky-based "creationist" Ken Ham drew world attention, once again, to the United States as the home of whacky Christianity. But Ham is a Queenslander, whose Answers in Genesis curriculum materials are used in some Australian schools to promote the idea that God created the world in six days a mere 6,000 years ago. According to historians of creationism's world-wide spread, Australia rivals the United States as source of such ideas.4 page(s
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Religious and secular institutions, forces and impulses have intersected repeatedly in Australian political life, not always along clear-cut lines. This chapter begins by analysing ways in which settler society sometimes deemed Indigenous... more
Religious and secular institutions, forces and impulses have intersected repeatedly in Australian political life, not always along clear-cut lines. This chapter begins by analysing ways in which settler society sometimes deemed Indigenous peoples too irreligious for full participation in the new (Christian) polity, and at other times found their traditions too religious to be recognized under (secular) Australian law. It then considers how ideas of the Australian nation have assumed and disputed religious foundations. Religious institutions and their members have played prominent parts in party politics and in public policy. After considering key examples, the chapter reverses the standard analysis by considering how politics has shaped religion.
dence of polio per 100,000 population in Australia was between 1951 and 1953; many readers, whether children of the vaccine era or otherwise spared, may well know people who manage their polio-induced paralysis today or who live with... more
dence of polio per 100,000 population in Australia was between 1951 and 1953; many readers, whether children of the vaccine era or otherwise spared, may well know people who manage their polio-induced paralysis today or who live with other effects of their much earlier polio infection. Finally, the author, with characteristic lightness of touch, invokes the paralysed body. In one respect, this invocation follows the ‘turn to the body’ in scholarship over the last generation, scholarship that handles past and present cultures of health and disease. But in this book ‘the body’ is more than a now standard academic convention. The pathos and plight of the paralysed body remind readers acutely of the experience of polio, so often a child’s, and so often marginal to the focus of medical histories. While the author demonstrates scientific mastery and an extensive research base, it is her sensitivity to lived experiences and to legacies of polio, her judgement, and her ability to draw together so many threads that impressed this reviewer. Highley gave the word ‘cripple’ new meanings for me. Fault-finding is hard. Yes, once or twice the author repeats some lines of expression, and occasionally one might wonder where a work cited in the bibliography was used. But these quibbles are trivial. Overall, the book certainly rewards a second read. Many are the ironies worth reflecting upon, not least those of gender suggested by the opposition between Macnamara and Kenny themselves. Yet the voices of polio-sufferers transcend all else. The polio kids on Manly Beach have been honoured.
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A review of Max Charlesworth, Francoise Dussart and Howard Morphy (eds), Aboriginal Religions in Australia: An Anthology of Recent Writings (Ashgate, London, 2005).
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Literature on megachurches (Protestant churches with attendance over 2000) concentrates on numbers at the expense of an associated, but more instructive, characteristic: an overriding commitment to growth. Churches of any size can adopt a... more
Literature on megachurches (Protestant churches with attendance over 2000) concentrates on numbers at the expense of an associated, but more instructive, characteristic: an overriding commitment to growth. Churches of any size can adopt a growth-oriented theology, style and organisational structure. In such churches, the growth imperative is likely to apply not only to congregational membership but also to church buildings and collection receipts; to the television ministry and other forms of outreach; to the pastor’s book and CD sales; and to individual members’ businesses, incomes, houses and possessions. In each dimension of religious life, at both individual and corporate level, the gospel of growth demarcates a novel Christian form, attuned to the ethos of late capitalism.
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The literature on religion and international politics has expanded in reaction to the events iconically known as ‘9/11’, said to cast doubt on the ‘secularisation thesis’, which dominated the social sciences’ approach to religion until... more
The literature on religion and international politics has expanded in reaction to the events iconically known as ‘9/11’, said to cast doubt on the ‘secularisation thesis’, which dominated the social sciences’ approach to religion until the 1980s. The four books under review begin by assessing the secularisation premise, before amassing data to demonstrate the ways in which ‘religion’ (however conceived) influences or is suppressed by governments, inflames or mediates conflicts, shapes voter attitudes and political cultures, and so on. With one exception, the authors devote little attention to defining ‘religion’ or to delineating what differentiates it from other categories such as ‘politics’, ‘culture’, or ‘ethnicity’. What ‘religion’ refers to, and how it relates to the ‘secular’, has been the subject of detailed, technical debate within the discipline of religious studies since 1962, but this literature is largely invisible in the four reviewed texts. The result is an enormous bo...
Research Interests: Sociology, Comparative Politics, International Relations, International Relations Theory, Religion and Politics, and 10 morePolitical Science, Politics, Secularization, Politics of Secularism, Religious Studies (Theory And Methodology), Religious Studies, Secularism, Political Studies, Religion and international relations, and Politics and International relations
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Multicultural, multifaith societies face numerous challenges, including: - To what extent can and should different religious traditions receive recognition under the law? - To what extent do religious traditions themselves foster... more
Multicultural, multifaith societies face numerous challenges, including: - To what extent can and should different religious traditions receive recognition under the law? - To what extent do religious traditions themselves foster inclusive or exclusive attitudes in their members? - How far should religious voices be recognized in the public square? - Should governments rely on religious organizations to provide public services (eg welfare, education, health), and what consequences, intended and unintended, follow? While religious freedom enjoys near-universal acceptance as a basic human right, its practical implementation can raise complicated questions about how competing, fundamental values should be balanced.
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Fewer Australians now practise a religion or believe in God than ever. Yet our governments increasingly push conservative Christianity on our children. Nearly forty per cent of secondary students attend a private school, which are... more
Fewer Australians now practise a religion or believe in God than ever. Yet our governments increasingly push conservative Christianity on our children.
Nearly forty per cent of secondary students attend a private school, which are overwhelmingly Christian. Canberra funds them heavily, and sends evangelical Christian chaplains into both public and private schools. Some states subsidise Christian volunteers to deliver religious instruction, and some make Christian ministry a matriculation subject.
Some Christian schools promote Creationism, and some advertise that their first priority is training 'soldiers' to 'do battle for the Lord in a world which rejects His laws and dominion', rather than good citizens of Australia.
Marion Maddox demonstrates that our governments are systematically demolishing the once proud free, compulsory and secular education system, in favour of taxpayer-funded dogma and division. The implications are unsettling for our society and for our democracy.
'If you believe education is about teaching children how to think, not what to think, then this chilling book is a must read.' - Jane Caro, social commentator and co-author of What Makes a Good School?
'This deeply disturbing book tells how Australia's 'noble dream' of public education in the 19th century has been undermined by a combination of selfish political vote- buying, judicial abdication and public indifference.' - The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
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Nearly forty per cent of secondary students attend a private school, which are overwhelmingly Christian. Canberra funds them heavily, and sends evangelical Christian chaplains into both public and private schools. Some states subsidise Christian volunteers to deliver religious instruction, and some make Christian ministry a matriculation subject.
Some Christian schools promote Creationism, and some advertise that their first priority is training 'soldiers' to 'do battle for the Lord in a world which rejects His laws and dominion', rather than good citizens of Australia.
Marion Maddox demonstrates that our governments are systematically demolishing the once proud free, compulsory and secular education system, in favour of taxpayer-funded dogma and division. The implications are unsettling for our society and for our democracy.
'If you believe education is about teaching children how to think, not what to think, then this chilling book is a must read.' - Jane Caro, social commentator and co-author of What Makes a Good School?
'This deeply disturbing book tells how Australia's 'noble dream' of public education in the 19th century has been undermined by a combination of selfish political vote- buying, judicial abdication and public indifference.' - The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
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Research Interests: Religion and Politics, Australian politics (Australia), Politics of Secularism, Politics Of Education, Secularisms and Secularities, and 7 morePrivatisation, Critical sociology and politics of education, Religion, Laicity, and Secularisation, Religion and Public Education, Religion and Education, Politics of Education and Social Policy, and Ethics and religion in schools
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... Historical Perspectives on Europe and the United States edited by Emma Crewe and Marion G. Muller. Marion Maddox. Full Text: PDF. Equinox Publishing Ltd, Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield, S3 8AF, UK.
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