The Minefield

Is debt more than just a binding financial transaction?  Does it signify a deeper conception of human obligation? As the Greek debt crisis escalates, what is the impact on European unity? Is the European Union more than just a financial arrangement?

Democracy was born in Greece out of a struggle against the oppressive conditions imposed by debt slavery. It is thus more than a little ironic that Greece today finds itself locked in a bitter democratic struggle against its European debtors. It has become a flashpoint for more thoroughgoing disagreement over the future of Europe itself and promoted reflection on the bonds and obligations that accompany indebtedness.

Why does the same-sex marriage debate bring out the worst in us? Why are the competing views so incommensurable, seemingly preventing an empathetic attempt to see things from the other’s perspective?

Public life today is increasingly riven by uncivil and frequently angry debates, sparked by competing views about our common life. But few debates in recent times have been less civil than the ongoing disagreement over the nature of the institution of marriage and whether it should be extended to same-sex couples. Can the same-sex marriage debate be discussed morally, without being dragged down into geopolitical inevitability, political tactics and outright visceral disdain?

After 21-year-old Dylann Roof opened fire on a South Carolina church congregation, leaving nine people dead, he was described as ‘one hateful person’, ‘one of these whacked-out kids’ and ‘a loner’, but not as a terrorist.  What are some acts of public violence regarded as terrorism, but not others?

The murder of nine members of the congregation of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, South Carolina – at the end of a year in which racially motivated police brutality has come under intense scrutiny – raises profound moral questions concerning the inconsistencies and contradictions in the way acts of violence against an entire category of people are reported. What makes one violent offender a ‘terrorist’, but not another?

Ever since the disappointment of the 2009 UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, the public and political conversation surrounding reducing global carbon emissions has been notable for its refusal to countenance the moral dimension of the problem. Can climate change still be considered ‘the great moral challenge’ of our generation, or it is just market mechanisms and technological fixes from here on in?

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd once described climate change as a great moral challenge for our generation. But since that 2009 declaration, failed international talks and raw politics have pushed discussion around climate change into a focus has on market mechanisms and technological solutions. But could Pope Francis’s much anticipated encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, now reinject ethical considerations into the climate change debate?

The federal government’s proposed legislation to strip would-be ‘terrorists’ of their Australian citizenship has met resistance from within the Cabinet. For some in the government, the question concerns the foundational principles of liberal democracy itself and whether such legislation would even be ‘moral’.

The Prime Minister's plans to harden Australian's citizenship laws have triggered dissent and extensive leaks from within Cabinet, despite considerable community support for the idea of stripping would-be ‘terrorists’ of their Australian citizenship. So what is citizenship? Is it anything more than an administrative or symbolic concept?