Dear all,
You are invited to attend the next Macquarie Philosophy Work-in-Progress Seminar on Tuesday 10 October 2023 from 1:00 to 2:00pm. Attend in-person at 25B Wally's Walk, Room B603. Attend online: https://macquarie.zoom.us/j/83678569910?pwd=SG4wWHpQa0h1aEFEdzBRUUM0dXRKdz09 Password: seminar Speaker: Dr Louise Richardson-Self (University of Tasmania) Title: Questioning Religious Freedom to Discriminate Abstract: Some religious agents maintain LGBTQ+ people’s behaviour violates God’s law, or the natural order, or else the right/good way to live (or etc.). They maintain God’s imperative is clear and incontrovertible; it is wrong to act upon queer proclivities. Consequently, if such agents are to live piously, it follows that “religious self-defence against a profane world may take the form of separatism”. This separation can be achieved by mechanisms of exclusion and refusal (Rosenblum 2003, p. 33). (Here, I do not ask what the state ought to be able to prevent or force religious agents to do. Following Tunick, “the question is not whether the state can force one group to be sensitive to the needs of another group. Rather, the issue is how each group should conduct itself of its own volition” (2021, p. 298).) Since theirs is a set of meaning-generating beliefs of core moral and spiritual significance, are outsiders obliged to enable or allow special spaces of social seclusion for religious agents, spaces where they may be free to engage only with those other persons who share their spiritual convictions? An obvious retort states that LGBTQ+ people have a right to non-discrimination, and thus concludes that exclusion and refusal are wrong no matter how cherished the belief. However, I argue that ‘discrimination’ is the wrong barometer in this ‘clash of rights’; instead, we should shift our focus to ‘oppression’, and ask whether practices of exclusion or refusal contribute to it. For any queries about the Macquarie Philosophy Work-in-Progress Seminars, please contact [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. Best regards, Regina Dr Regina Fabry (she/her) ARC Discovery Early Career Research Awardee Department of Philosophy Level 7, 25B Wally’s Walk Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia E: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | mq.edu.au<http://mq.edu.au> [Macquarie University]<http://mq.edu.au/> I acknowledge that Macquarie University stands on the lands of the Dharug Nation. <https://www.mq.edu.au> I respect Elders, past, present, and future and recognise the continuity of knowledge <https://www.mq.edu.au/> that nurtures Country and community.<https://www.mq.edu.au/> CRICOS Provider 00002J. ABN: 90 952 801 237. This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete the message and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and are not necessarily the views of Macquarie University and its controlled entities.
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