WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2025 at 7:00 PM

Chambers Pavilion
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
15 Blackall Street Barton

What has happened to politics?

Why has politics become so adversarial?

Why can’t we communicate with each other?

Why has politics gone off the rails?

A public forum will be introduced with preliminary remarks by Dr John Warhurst AO, Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, followed by general discussion among attendees.

The meeting will be recorded and the video will be published on the CES website.

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Dr John Warhurst AO

John Warhurst was Professor of Political Science at ANU from 1993 to 2008.

In 2009 he was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to political science and the community.

He is an expert on Australian politics and government, and author or editor of 20 books on Australian politics and society.

He is a media commentator and for 25 years wrote a weekly column for the Canberra Times.  He was the founding chair of Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn and is a former president of Christians for an Ethical Society.

TUESDAY 20 AUGUST 2024 at 6:00 pm for 6:30 pm

Hellenic Club
1 Matilda Street Phillip ACT (Google Map location)

Social Welfare and the Church

Lin Hatfield Dodds will reflect on the role of the churches in the alleviation of poverty from the first years of colonisation through the development of the welfare state, the outsourcing of human service delivery to non-government organisations and the entry of profit driven enterprises into the system to today’s increasingly consumer directed care environment.

What is the role of faith-based service provision now and into the future?

What should the church’s role be in shaping the systems that either trap people in poverty or enable them to thrive?

If we are serious about communities in which everyone can connect, contribute, belong and be valued, what’s the role of the church in that, and what’s our role as people of faith ourselves?

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Lin Hatfield Dodds

Lin is the CEO of The Benevolent Society, a charitable organisation that has been providing support services to Australians and advocating for positive social change for more than 200 years.

She has extensive experience in social policy, systems leadership, and cross sector social innovation, as well as a wealth of operational expertise.

Lin’s previous roles have included Associate Dean at The Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Deputy Secretary, Social Policy, in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2016 to 2019, and National Director of UnitingCare Australia.

She has also worked as a counselling psychologist with families and young people at risk. Recognition of Lin’s contributions include, ACT Australian of the Year, a Churchill Fellowship to study anti-poverty strategies, and an ACT Chief Minister’s International Women’s Day Award.

TUESDAY 18 JUNE 2024 at 7:00 PM

Chambers Pavilion
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
15 Blackall Street Barton

The Voice

Where to from here?

“There was a resounding ‘No’ from last year’s Referendum. That signalled to First Nations Peoples that many Australians don’t care about them. The toxic views expressed by some politicians, Christians, and minority groups were racist and vile – a slap in the face for First Nations people.

However 6 million Australians voted ‘ Yes’.  This gives us hope . It is the ‘Yes’ voters that First Nations people want to walk with as agents of change. Love transforms and it transforms human hearts. We need to see the image of God in each other.

Aboriginal theology provides hope. It also provides for justice, holding people accountable to each other, country and the whole creation. It requires us to be innovative , and inspires us to be transformative seeing the good in each other. There is no methodology, other than theology that can bring about transformation, justice, reparation and genuine reconciliation.” — Professor Anne Pattel-Gray

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Professor Anne Pattel-Gray

Professor Anne Pattel-Gray PhD DD is head of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity. She is a recognised scholar, theologian, activist, and prolific writer.

Professor Pattel-Gray is a descendant of the Bidjara Nation in Queensland. She has held many significant positions both nationally and internationally including Executive Secretary of the Aboriginal and Islander Commission and on the National Council of Churches. She was recently appointed to the WCC Commission on Mission and Evangelism.

Professor Pattel-Gray is a recognised expert in de-colonising biblical narratives, developing Indigenous theology, and bringing her cultural understanding to biblical hermeneutics. She also brings to the fore women’s perspectives and exposure to the truth about the colonisation of Australia.

TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2024 at 7:00 PM

Chambers Pavilion
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
15 Blackall Street Barton

The AI Revolution

Benefits, Harms and the Fate of Human Existence

Recent breakthroughs in AI technology, such as ChatGPT, have prompted furious public discussion about the potential benefits and harms of humanity’s rapid adoption of new AI technologies. There is much speculation, as well as prophesying, that humanity is nearing the dawn of epoch-making artificial general intelligence. Some fear that AI will eventually reach a level of superhuman capability that could pose an existential threat to human existence itself.

With enormous investment and intense competition in the development of AI technologies, the one certainty is that AI will become a greater and greater part of human life, impacting all important dimensions of human existence, from entertainment and work to education and politics.

Will humanity’s AI revolution propel humanity to a higher level of civilisation, as techno-optimists believe? Or will it result in a techno-dystopia that threatens human existence, as pessimists fear?

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Dr Jonathan Cole

Jonathan Cole is Interim Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture. He has a PhD in Christian political theology (Charles Sturt University, 2019), an MA specialising in Middle Eastern politics and Islamic theology (Australian National University, 2007) and a BA Hons in Modern Greek language and history (La Trobe University, 2000).

Prior to embarking on an academic career in 2014, Jonathan worked as an intelligence analyst for the Australian government, first at the Defence Signals Directorate and then at the Office of National Assessments, where he worked on Islamist terrorism.

He is a co-author of the discussion paper “How AI Is Changing Democracy” published by Maxim Institute in August 2023.