He is an American Professor from Notre Dame University in the USA and his is yet another reaction against those who would separate politics from religion.
What I particularly want to focus on however is his repetition of the common claim that Western Civilization owes its greatest debt to Christianity.
Here is part of that claim:

"It always amuses me how little the opponents of religion understand the complex philosophical foundations of Western democracy and the debt they owe to religious philosophy in our understanding of the human being.

Israel's politics may have been captured by its own extremists just as that of Gaza has been captured by theirs.
If this is the case then there is little hope for peace in the Middle East and a civilized life for ordinary people there.

Religion has defined which tribal group you belong to in a way that is unimaginable to us in Australia.

There are non religious Jews here and in Israel who deplore Israel's behavior in Gaza and want accountability but they are drowned out by the religious right wing.

I didn't pick up the original article in The Australian but here are the letter comments from readers on the following day.
It looks as though the article was one of those predictable cases of the religious ignoring the argument to attack the person.
If Atheists dare to show their faces and disagree with a religious monopoly then brand them with a name you consider unfavorable.
However most of the replies show that there are a lot of people who reject this tactic.
Check it out.

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/letters/index.php/theaustralian/c...

If the faithful don't have enough sense to walk away from this one then their cause is truly hopeless.

Ireland was once the source of most Australian priests and nuns.
It was a priest ridden society.
Things have certainly changed. The great arbiters of morals and ethics have been called to account for their own gross immorality by the secular institutions of the law of the land.

Now the Church wants the faithful to pay the financial costs of their misdeeds.

We had a stall at the Hyde Park Holiday festival on Sunday 28 February and Monday 1 March.
The weather was blistering hot 39C and 40C and the lake was in a miserable condition because of the record period without rain, but nevertheless there was still quite a good crowd and we had the opportunity to talk to quite a lot of people.
We had a lot of positive reaction and found many people were either definite Atheists or at the very least, unaffected by religion.

You may already have seen this story shown on Four Corners last night.
It is not only shocking; it is puzzling.
Isn't Afghanistan a Muslim nation?
Doesn't Islam prohibit homosexual sex and kill those who engage in it?
Are these guys still Muslims? Do they go to the Mosque?
Is it possible that there is a degree of hypocrisy here?????

Another question. What does Kazai's government really stand for.
We know that it has allowed favored warlords and government officials to become disgustingly rich in a terribly poor country.

A member of the WA Humanist Society sent me this interesting follow up to the terrorist attempt made by Richard Reid who gained his ideology from a Saudi trained Imam in the UK.

Judge Young is no relation but I am proud to share the name.
Notice also that this trial and judgment took place in an ordinary criminal court in the USA.
Relatively quick, practical and effective justice with all the normal safeguards. It works. Richard will have a long time to think things over.

"Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?

What chance of peace in the Middle East when both sides allow extremism to ferment.
The following article illustrates the way in which apparently normal people become vicious thugs when programed for hatred.
What is even sadder is that some the people described are likely to be the grandchildren of people who died in the Holocaust.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/israels-women-soldiers-share-stories-of-ha...

This is one of those articles that makes religion fun. Well it would if only these people didn't have such a serious effect on our schools, our politics and our freedom to live normal sensible lives.
Bruce Haddon has enough intellect to see what is wrong with using the Bible as a life reference.
He hasn't quite realized that he is wasting time and money on a struggle to return to the church. Of course he does need to clear his name which may well have been unjustly slandered.
When it is all over perhaps he should just join the Humanist Society of NSW.