Celebrating the Secular

On 4 November 2004 I read a report in the Sydney Morning Herald that I found genuinely shocking, a statement by Cardinal George Pell, of the Catholic diocese of Sydney, on what’s wrong with democracy. This report was of a speech given to the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in the United States. In it, Dr Pell told his audience that liberal democracy is a world of ‘empty secularism’ that is over-focused on ‘individual autonomy’. The problem with democracy, said the Cardinal, quoting John Paul II, is that it is not a good thing in itself; its value depends on the moral vision that it serves, and a secular democracy is lacking in moral vision. If democracy is not a good thing in and of itself, then why have we sent troops to Iraq to enable it? And what about the principle of equality before the law? Freedom of conscience? Freedom of speech and of action? Responsibility for community? Sounds like a moral vision to me

For love or money : the future of the Australian essay

Sometimes it looks like the best journalism; sometimes its style more closely resembles fiction. The modern essay can take many forms, but there is no doubt that these days it is a far cry from the stilted version of it we laboured over in school. Peter Craven, Amanda Lohrey and Hilary Mantel gathered to discuss the nature and future of the essay in a panel organized by the Media Department at Macquarie University for the 2004 Sydney Writers’ Festival

How We Went from Worst Practices to Good Practices, and Became Happier in the Process

Our application team was struggling. We had good people and the desire to create good software, but the library as an organization did not yet have experience with software development processes. Work halted. Team members felt unfulfilled. The once moderately competent developer felt frustrated, ashamed, helpless, and incompetent. Then, miraculously, a director with experience in software project management and an experienced and talented systems administrator were hired and began to work with the team. People in the group developed a sense of teamwork that they had not experienced in their entire time at the library. Now we are happy, excited, and energetic. We hope that you will appreciate our “feel-good” testimony of how excellent people and appropriate processes transformed an unhealthy work environment into a fit and happy team