Professor Matthew Ogilvie

Netball Australia Players Should Consider Their Own History Before Virtue Signalling My latest article is published by the Epoch Times, Australia . https://www.theepochtimes.com/netball-australia-players-should-consider-their-own-history-before-virtue-signalling_4830468.html   A wise Rabbi from Nazareth once said you should take the plank out of your own eye before you attend to the speck in another’s. It is a principle that Australian Netball should have remembered in its  recent controversy  over Hancock Prospecting and its, now former, sponsorship of the Australian Netball team. A number of players took issue with Hancock Prospecting, the opinions of Gina Rinehart about climate change, and in particular, a statement Lang Hancock (Rinehart’s father) made in 1984 about sterilising and breeding out Aboriginal people. The debacle cast a shadow over what should have been a celebration with the imminent debut of a player who would have been the first Indigenous member of the...

The good people at the Dawson Centre in Hobart have published my commentary on the Essendon Football Club scandal.  I discuss double-standards applied to Christians and others, the deeper issues, and how I think the scandal will backfire on Dan Andrews. He has backed himself into a corner from which it will be hard to extract himself. Thank you, Dr David Daintree and the team at Dawson!  Freedom for me, but not for thee https://www.dawsoncentre.org/2022/10/13/freedom-for-me-but-not-for-thee/

Does the recent killing of Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri mean the end of that terrorist movement? I think not, given that Al Qaeda remained a serious threat and cursed the world with the Islamic State movement.  Religiously motivated terrorism, whether it claims an affiliation with Islam, Christianity, or any other faith, relies neither on strength of numbers nor on individual leaders, but on powerful ideologies. That point was made very clear to me when I watched an interrogation of a failed suicide bomber and listened to an experienced CIA agent.  When he was asked how he felt about his mission, which was to kill innocent women, children, and men, the suicide bomber’s chilling response was, ‘I knew it was wrong, but my commander told me it was the will of God.’ ...... To read more, and how I think religiously motivated terrorism can be defeated in the long term, please read the full article at the  The Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies   ...

The Record , Magazine of the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth, has kindly published my article " People of Faith in Politics: Being a Light to the Nations " One key point in the article is that people of faith in politics are often associated with particular issues, whether they are protection of life (such as abortion and euthanasia), economic justice (such as tax policy, welfare, and family support), education, and cultural issues. But faith perspectives can run much deeper than this or that issue.  Dr David Furse-Roberts has written an excellent book  God & Menzies, The Faith that Shaped a Prime Minister and his Nation . Rather than faith being a matter of "issues" for Sir Robert Menzies, faith was instead the very foundation of his worldview and his perspective that  formed his approach to liberty, human rights and the very foundations of Australian culture. Further Reading: https://therecord.com.au/news/the-record-magazine/people-of-faith-in-politics-being-a-l...

  This week, the Record published my article,  The Church’s Answer to Cancel Culture: “Be Not Afraid!”   Cancel Culture The article explains how, despite serious mistakes in the past, including its dreadful treatment of Galileo, Catholic thought has grown to a point where, instead of fear-filled repression, Catholic thinkers are encouraged to "be not afraid." We are encouraged to confront our adversaries, not with our own cancel culture, but with a higher and more robust truth. Our heroes in this intellectual tradition are: St John Henry Newman, who responded to modernity, not by  repressing other voices, but by mastering their “tools” and turning the weapons of those who assailed Catholic doctrine against them -- and to then use that learning to support our beliefs. St John Paul II, who declared that  “Truth Cannot Contradict Truth.”  https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/JPII-Truth-Cannot-Contradict-Truth.pdf  The Jesuit Philo...

(Warning: Distressing graphic images below) NZ PM Jacinda Ardern Some silly things have been said this week in response to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern’s appeal to the Taliban was one of the worst and probably deserves a gold medal for naivete. Ardern called on the Taliban to respect the “human rights and the safety of their people.” She also asked them to care for “the wellbeing of women and girls.” She said some other things that made it sound like she was trying to recruit Taliban members into the warm politically correct embrace of the New Zealand Labor Party. Ardern is certainly not alone. A Professor at McGill University called on the UN to ensure that the Taliban respect women and girls, include women in peace negotiations, and make an enduring commitment to women’s rights. Ardern and the Professor are well-intentioned. No reasonable and ethical person could disagree with wanting to uphold women’s rights. The problem is that...

One would imagine that the core business of a university is education. After all, students go to university to learn critical thinking, acquire wisdom and develop skills with the intention of becoming leaders in society and being gainfully employed professionals. However, a speech by Hon Alan Tudge , Australia’s Federal Minister for Education , highlights the perception that many Australian Universities are neglecting their core mission.  Hon Alan Tudge, Minister for Education The minister reminded us that, “Our public universities were initially established for one purpose: to educate Australians.” But he then complained that, “In the past several months, I have had almost every Vice-Chancellor talk to me about research and international students, but not many talk to me about their ambitions for Australian students.” The minister articulated what many in academia have complained about for years; that at many universities, undergraduate education has been neglected, in terms of b...