I'm usually exceptionally positive about Sydney University, being a place where opportunity abounds, for those lucky enough to gain a place as a student or employee. It as a community that does huge amounts of charitable and voluntary work on the side, and through its professional endeavours adds much to our country's abilities in ethics, finance, science of life and matter, medicine, history, the social and anthroplogical sciences, psychology, and many worthy fields. Today though, I am saddened to report that my alma mater has fallen onto the wrong side of the divide on separation of Church and State.
In order to secure an empty piece of land curently owned by St John's College, for the purposes of creating a wonderful new facility for medical research, the leaders of the university have agreed to accept the land with the condition that no research about euthanasia, stem cells, or the use of foetal tissue be conducted in that facility. Of course, such research will still be conducted elsewhere within the university, for the benefit of all, Catholic or other, but the acceptance of such a condition is a problem none the less. Our tax dollars, and the profits of private companies are devoted to universities and their much needed basic research. This research is too expensive to do elsewhere at present, as the masses of keen scientists, administrators, technicians, and ethicists are hard to gather in other place, without huge economic impost. Yet, it is possible for a single religion to rule on what is an acceptable field of enquiry, thus side stepping the many questions our community has about the ethics of research.
I am even more demoralised by the news, because our federal government will not defend this co-mingling of Church beliefs and State decisions on our research spending. Our current leaders do not believe in this essential separation of Church and State, not seeing the value it provides a civil society. Though I suspect I'm preaching only to the converted, I will say it now, this separation is vital to our survival as a society respectful of individual difference. Among our number are of course many Catholics, Anglicans, and other Christians, but there are also great numbers of Buddhists, Secular Humanists, Hindus, Athiests, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Agnositcs, Taoists, Zoroastrians, Wiccans, and other beliefs too numerous to name. Our diversity makes us strong, with the ability to see the world in many different ways, to approach the same dilemma in a thousand different ways, and accept our fellow beings as whole, and worthy members of a community ready to address the world's problems. Any reduction of this essential diversity, by allowing any one group to determine how our research money is spent, is a reduction of our excellent ability to live as a respectful community full of diversity and strength.
Shame on Sydney University for giving in, and shame on our government for encouraging it!
