Religion in the Public Square Colloquium 2024
Friday - Saturday, July 12-13 2024
Assembly Hall, Scots' Presbyterian Church, 156 Collins St, Melbourne
Ticket prices:
General Admission: $125
Students and Ministers: $80
Pensioners: $100
Group Discount Price (5 minimum): $100
Admission includes a boxed lunch and morning and afternoon refreshments.
How Christians face the challenges posed by our contemporary culture is one of the most pressing issues confronting believers and the Church today. We live in an age which is increasingly hostile to the Christian faith. Many non-believers deny there are such things as universal moral standards. Traditional Christian teaching is no longer considered good, or even neutral, but actually harmful.
Christians face hostility and censorship from government, the media, business and Big Tech. In our age, Christians can be dismissed from their jobs or university courses simply for upholding basic truths about human nature that were once universally held. All people are expected, not simply to tolerate, but to welcome and affirm the sexual and identity choices of others.
Ever since Australia’s 2017 plebiscite on same-sex marriage, new laws restricting religious freedom have proliferated, premised on the idea that traditional Christian teaching is harmful. The expansion of anti-discrimination laws aims to prevent Christian schools and institutions from maintaining a distinctive Christian ethos. Additions to anti-vilification laws aim to restrict what Christians and churches are allowed to teach in the public square. Laws banning so-called “conversion” therapy aim to blunt the radical call of the Gospel to repentance and to deny the Lordship of Christ over every square inch of human existence.
When sending out the twelve disciples into Israel, Jesus said:
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” - Matthew 10:16
What does being “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” look like in today’s world? How can Christians live faithfully and speak truth in a world which no longer believes in objective truth? How can we reconcile the our Lord’s Great Commission to make disciples (Matt 28:16–20) with the great commandment to love our neighbour (Matt 22:34–40)?
The Presbyterian Church of Victoria’s 2024 Religion in the Public Square colloquium aims to squarely confront such questions. The Church throughout its history has contained abundant resources with which to guide perplexed Christians, even in today’s world.
We hope that the presentations will give those attending the colloquium greater confidence in the truths of the Scriptures and their ability to speak to the challenges of the 21st century. We hope to equip believers so that they are better informed and able to speak with wisdom and conviction in response to those challenges.
Above all else, we hope to point those attending to the risen Lord Jesus, who warned His disciples that in the world they will have tribulation, but who nevertheless encouraged them to take heart, for, as he proclaimed, He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
Here are 1½-minute promotional videos about the ‘Living as if Truth Matters’ colloquium from
four of our speakers:
1. Rev. David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, author and broadcaster from Dundee,
Scotland (currently minister at Scots’ Kirk, Newcastle, NSW).
2. Dr Simon Kennedy, Presbyterian academic, research fellow at the University of Queensland
and fellow at the Danube Institute in Budapest, Hungary.
3. Mrs Vanessa Cheng, executive officer of Australian Association of Christian Schools
(AACS).
4. Dr Terry Harding, manager of Australian Christian Home Schooling (ACHS).
(Speakers’ 50-minute time allocations include time for Q&A).
Friday, July 12
9:00 am
Day One welcome / introduction
Rev. Christopher Duke. Convenor of the PCV’s Church & Nation Committee
_______
9:20 am
Truth and politics (1st talk of 4)
Rev. David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, author and broadcaster from Scotland
‘The truth will set you free’ (John 8:32)
‘I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame.’ (Psalm 119:46)
How can Christians speak truth in a political world which lacks nuance, depth and longevity? In a world of cancel culture what does it mean to be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves? In a world where everything is politicised and distorted — is it possible to speak truth to power?
_______
10:10 am
Why abortion should be unthinkable and how we can get there
Dr Joanna Howe, professor of law at the University of Adelaide
The talk will examine why abortion is the greatest human rights issue in Australia and the strategies we can undertake to help end it.
11:00 am: Morning tea
11:30 am
Home-schooling: Reshaping education as a family-based responsibility in a spiritually-hostile world
Dr Terry Harding, manager of Australian Christian Home Schooling (ACHS)
God has ordained parents to be responsible for their children’s care and nurture. This includes their education. The current Australian educational landscape, however, is set to produce a generation of atheist children. Home-schooling presents to parents the opportunity to integrate truth, quality academics and family values into their children’s education, with surprising outcomes.
_______
12:20 pm
Reformed Protestant politics (1st talk of 2)
Dr Simon P. Kennedy, research fellow at the University of Queensland and a fellow at the Danube Institute, Hungary.
The Reformed tradition has a rich vein of political thinking which is often left untapped. This talk will outline some important ideas that can help us think wisely and faithfully about Christianity and politics in our own day.
1:10 pm: Lunch
2:10 pm
Obedience and disobedience to civil government in an age of government overreach
Dr Benjamin Saunders, associate professor at Deakin University’s law school
Scripture clearly commands Christians to obey their civil authorities. Scripture also clearly commends Christians for disobeying their civil authorities. But many situations are not so clear. What are the limits of obedience and disobedience to civil government? How do Christians navigate differences and disagreement about those limits?
_______
3:00 pm
Challenges for the Church: Living faithfully in an anti-Christian age
Mr John Steenhof, principal lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance (HRLA), Canberra
Christians face increasing challenges in contemporary Australian societsy where their faith is under increasing attack. Mr Steenhof will give an overview of the increasing secularisation of Australia and provide recent examples of Christians under threat for their faith. What is to be done? How can Christians and the Church be faithful and wise?
3:50 pm: Afternoon tea
4:20 pm
Truth and the media (2nd talk of 4)
Rev. David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, author and broadcaster from Scotland
‘When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.’ (John 8:44)
In a post truth world, the concept of objective truth seems to be old fashioned and impossible. If ‘a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots’, how can we bring truth into all aspects of contemporary media? What does it mean to be a truthful journalist or commentator? Should Christians just give up on truth in the media?
5:10 pm: Close and thanks
Saturday, July 13
9:00 am
Day Two welcome / introduction
Rev. Christopher Duke. Convenor of the PCV’s Church & Nation Committee
_______
9:20 am
Truth and education (3rd talk of 4)
Rev. David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, author and broadcaster from Scotland
‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6)
The Communists, the Nazis and the Progressives understood the importance of education. But the Christian church seems to have forgotten its purpose. Are schools and universities for education or for social indoctrination? Should we teach children what to think, or how to think? John Knox taught that where there is a church, there should be a school. Do we realise just how important it is that our children and young people are trained in the truth? Can we regain the vision for truthful Christian education?
_______
10:10 am
Christian schools are different: Changing minds, one story at a time
Mrs Vanessa Cheng, executive officer of Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS)
Regular Australian parents are enrolling their children in Christian schools in increasing numbers, because of the genuine faith of the teachers and staff. The distinctive characteristics of Christian schools are unique, valuable and worth preserving for future generations. Three major Christian school associations have collaborated to launch the My Christian School project (MyChristianSchool.au) in order to educate politicians and the media about the positive stories of transformation in the lives of our students.
11:00 am: Morning tea
11:30 am
The war on truth
Mr Bill Muehlenberg, author and lecturer on theology, ethics and culture
Nearly all the battlefronts on which we find ourselves today stem from the assault on truth and the attack on absolutes. We need to again be forthright in defending truth and understanding aright the real nature of tolerance.
_______
12:20 pm
Gender ideology 101: What Aussies need to know
Ms Rachael Wong, CEO of Women’s Forum Australia (WFA) and adjunct lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Australia’s law school
Gender ideology (including the belief that subjective gender identity takes precedence over biological sex) has captured individuals and institutions throughout Australia and internationally with grave ramifications for women, children and our broader culture. This talk will examine the problem, the harms, and what we can do to help restore truth and common sense when it comes to the reality and importance of biological sex in our society.
1:10 pm: Lunch
2:10 pm
Truth and the Church (4th talk of 4)
Rev. David Robertson, Presbyterian minister, author and broadcaster from Scotland
‘You will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.’ (1 Timothy 3:15)
The gates of Hell will not prevail against the Church — but sometimes they do infiltrate it! How can the Church speak truth to the media, politicians and academia, if we do not practise it ourselves? What can be done to ensure that the truth is our foundation? And how can we communicate the truth in such a way that it ultimately points to the one who is The Truth?
_______
3:00 pm
Christian parenting in a woke world
Mrs Jasmine Yuen, Victorian state director of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL)
Christian parenting at home and discipleship at church are the key not only to bringing up our children as Christ-followers, but also to being salt and light in this anti-Christian world. Christian children with a solid Biblical worldview play an important role in influencing the culture of our society. Practical ways are listed in what Christian parents and churches can do to achieve the above.
3:50 pm: Afternoon tea
4.20 pm
Rethinking Christianity and culture (2nd talk of 2)
Dr Simon P. Kennedy, research fellow at the University of Queensland and a fellow at the Danube Institute, Hungary.
As the Church becomes progressively marginalised in our culture, we need to rethink how we speak in public as Christians, and how we can sustain our institutions in a hostile world.
_______
5:10 pm
Close and thanks
Rev. Christopher Duke. Convenor of the PCV’s Church & Nation Committee
Rev. David Robertson is a Presbyterian minister, writer and broadcaster from Scotland who moved to Australia in 2019. He hosts a blog, www.TheWeeFlea.com, and a podcast, Quantum of the Wee Flea. He was voted one of the 100 most influential Christians in the UK by online voters on “Archbishop Cranmer’s Top 100 List” in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He was Moderator of the Free Church of Scotland (2015–16). He has worked in Sydney with City Bible Forum, and is currently minister at Scots Kirk, Hamilton, in Newcastle, NSW. He is author of several books, including The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths (2007); Awakening: The Life and Ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne (2010); Magnificent Obsession: Why Jesus Is Great (2013); Quench: Café Culture Evangelism (2014); and Engaging with Atheists: Understanding Their World; Sharing Good News (2014). His bestselling book in Australia is ASK: Real World Questions / Real World Answers (2019). His newest is SEEK: More Real World Questions / More Real Word Answers (2023).
Dr Simon P. Kennedy is a research fellow at the University of Queensland and a fellow at the Danube Institute in Budapest, Hungary. He is an intellectual historian whose work focuses on political thought, legal thought and Christianity. He teaches at various institutions, including the Lachlan Macquarie Institute and Queensland Theological College, and has published on the intersection between Christianity, society and politics in venues including The Australian, ABC Radio’s Religion & Ethics, The Spectator Australia, Quadrant, Mere Orthodoxy, American Reformer and The Imaginative Conservative. His first book, Reforming the Law of Nature: Natural Law in the Reformed Tradition and the Secularization of Political Thought, 1532–1688 was published with Edinburgh University Press in 2022, and he has a forthcoming book with Lexham Press, entitled Against Worldview: Reimagining Christian Formation as Growth in Wisdom.
Dr Joanna Howe is a professor of law at the University of Adelaide, a former NSW Rhodes Scholar, and author or co-editor of three books. She converted to Catholicism at the age of 21. She has written extensively on legal threats to health professionals’ conscience rights in Australia and has been vocal in her support of the Human Rights (Children Born Alive Protection) Bill 2022. She was a keynote speaker at Melbourne’s annual March for the Babies in October 2023. She has written in refereed academic journals on aspects of Australian labour law, particularly regarding employee rights in the workplace, job security and unfair dismissal, and the plight of frontline care workers and undocumented migrant workers on farms. She is on the board of Youth Mission Team Australia. She and her husband James have four children.
Dr Terry Harding is one of the pioneers of both home-schooling and non-government distance education in Australia. He has been influential in the development of both forms of education and has been the manager of Australian Christian Home Schooling (ACHS) for 30 years. He has both a master of education degree (1997) and a doctorate of philosophy (2011) from Queensland University of Technology. His PhD thesis explored the roles of parents who educate their school-aged children at home. The ACHS is the oldest and largest provider of educational curriculum and support services in Australia. With over three decades of experience, it supports hundreds of families across Australia and overseas.
Vanessa Cheng is executive officer of the Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS), an advocacy organisation representing the interests of over a hundred Christian schools in every state and territory across the nation. Vanessa has extensive experience working in the education and government sector as a secondary Christian school teacher and a project manager in the Victorian Department of Education. She has also held senior policy roles within the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. She holds a graduate diploma in education as well as a bachelor of economics/arts from Melbourne’s Monash University, majoring in history and politics. She lives in Bendigo with her husband and their five teenage children and is a member of the city’s Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Jasmine Yuen is the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL)’s state director for Victoria. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne, and is currently completing another master’s degree through Melbourne’s Ridley College. Before working for the ACL in 2018, Jasmine was a Baptist pastor for 13 years. Seeing biblical truth and common sense being turned upside down, she first got involved with the ACL in 2016. She subsequently led the ACL’s team in Victoria to oppose the national push to legalise same-sex marriage through the 2017 marriage law plebiscite. As a mother of two teenage boys, Jasmine is especially committed to raising awareness among Christian parents on cultural issues. She believes that discipleship at home and at church, along with political engagement, is the key to making a difference in a post-Christian society.
Dr Benjamin Saunders is an associate professor at Deakin University’s law school. He holds a PhD from the University of Queensland and researches in constitutional law, and Christianity and law. His publications include The Crisis of Civil Law: What the Bible Teaches about Law and What It Means Today (Lexham Press, 2024) and Responsible Government and the Australian Constitution: A Government for a Sovereign People (Hart, 2023). He is currently finalising a book tentatively entitled Natural Law: A Guide for the Perplexed, to be published with Lexham Press, and a critical modern edition of John Ponet’s Short Treatise of Political Power [1556] with Theodora Saunders. He has spoken at previous PCV colloquiums and blogs at https://saeculum.blog.
John Steenhof is the principal lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance in Canberra. HRLA is a not-for-profit law firm established to defend and advance religious freedom through strategic legal cases. HRLA helps Christians who face hostility from employers, organisations, activists and government agencies because of their faith. Through its legal cases, HRLA has secured key strategic wins to ensure religious freedom is safeguarded, religious organisations thrive, conscience is accommodated, parental rights are guaranteed, and marriage and family are protected. Prior to establishing HRLA in 2019, John worked for 20 years in commercial law in New Zealand and Australia, including in a firm he established with his brother Simon in Perth. John is the husband of Lana and father of six children and is an elder at Southside Bible Church, a Canberra evangelical Reformed church.
Bill Muehlenberg was born and grew up in the state of Wisconsin in America’s Midwest. He was dramatically converted to Christianity in the early 1970s after a former rebellious life as a teenager in the hippie counter-culture. He earned a BA degree with honours in philosophy (Wheaton College, Chicago) and an MA degree with highest honours in theology (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston). He worked with the Christian ministry, Youth With A Mission (YWAM), in the Netherlands, where he met his future wife, Averil, an Australian. They married and settled in Victoria. Bill is a prolific author and lecturer on theology, ethics and culture. He has worked for the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), the Australian Family Association (AFA) and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. He gives talks locally and also interstate and overseas. His interactive blogsite CultureWatch contains 6,600 articles and 90,000 comments: https://BillMuehlenberg.com
Rachael Wong is the CEO of Women’s Forum Australia, an independent think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy advocacy on issues affecting women and girls, with a particular focus on addressing behaviours and practices that are harmful and abusive to them. She is also an adjunct lecturer in the School of Law at the University of Notre Dame Australia and a former lawyer. Rachael appears regularly in the media to discuss issues like the overreach of radical gender ideology and the hyper-sexualisation of our culture. Rachael is passionate about human flourishing, is dedicated to the promotion of truth, human dignity and civil discourse, and has a particular interest in the crossover between law, ethics, health, human rights and women’s issues.
We have set an online bookstall for this event, with resources to help you think through the key cultural challenges of our age: https://reformers.com.au/collections/living-as-if-truth-matters. There is a 15% discount which applies between July 6–21 for standard-priced items. Use code “living15”.
I'd like to come to this 2 Days meetings; but if it were held in a suburb; where we can drive our car to & park it @ the venue! All the best for the meetings. From Darilyn Adams. 😃