Didn’t expect to walk into a deep and thorough analysis of this “topic” locally but the meeting tonight showed that everyone had a lot to say about it.
Meeting of 23 May 2011: ‘When good ethical principles clash’
We often find ourselves in situations where we must decide between two courses of action each of which seems to be based on sound ethical principles. Do we tell a lie to save a relative or friend some pain – a so-called white lie? (‘No your clothes don’t make you look like mutton dressed as lamb’. ‘No I don’t think your husband/wife is having an affair’.) More seriously legislators sometimes have to weigh up the relative merits of competing ethical principles when framing laws. The solution may seem obvious when the principles are derived from different ethical traditions such as the religious and the secular but conflict may occur even within the one faith or philosophical tradition. Current or recent controversies in various countries have included: ‘The banning of Burqas in public’ ‘Genital mutilation’ ‘Voluntary euthanasia’ ‘Religious education in public schools’ ‘Flag burning’ ‘Same-sex marriage’ ‘the Assassination/Execution of Osama Bin Laden’. While each of these issues may have begun as a clash between religious and non-religious viewpoints even people from the same background may hold opposing views.
(See two contrastive Burqa quotes below.)
On banning/not banning the Burqa:
I dream of a day where every single woman in this world has exactly the same rights as I do. I don’t like the burqa what it represents and the idea of a woman being forced to wear one. However I will unconditionally defend the right of a woman to wear one if she wishes to and passionately argue against the idea of the government banning them.
Jessica Musulin
In my mind the burqa has no place in Australian society. I would go as far as to say it is un-Australian. To me the burqa represents the repressive domination of men over women which has no place in our society and compromises some of the most important aspects of human communication.
Senator Cory Bernardi