Conference on Belief and Unbelief

Here are the details about this Conference. Can you attend? Several members of the Humanist Society have already decided to go and so have several from the Perth Atheists. It is a chance to improve our understanding and have useful discussions. Don't miss it.

“Belief and Unbelief in a Post-secular Age” - 9am to 4pm on July 14th - a one-day interdisciplinary seminar at Murdoch University. Perspectives from a range of disciplines such as literature, philosophy, theology, media and cultural studies.

The question of belief – its role, meaning, and, indeed, its very possibility – is an important one for the present age. “We are constantly trying to think the interconnectedness,” writes Derrida, “of knowledge and faith, technoscience and religious belief, calculation and the sacrosanct.” As Derrida suggests, belief today seems polarized between two very different forms of experience or knowledge. This situation alone places a demand on us to rethink both the nature of belief and its role in contemporary life.

Presentations include:
Deidre Michell (Flinders): “It’s a Bit of a Furphy: Poking Around in the ‘Divide’ Between Belief and Unbelief”
Guy Redden (USyd): “Believing in Oneself, and the Universe: The Social Metaphysics of Intuition in New Age Spiritualities”
Kylie Sturgess (Curtin): “On Sex, Smarts and Where The SkepGrrls At: An Investigation of Gender Differences and Belief In 'Weird Things’”
Sophie Sunderland (UWA): “Post-Secular Grief: Gallipoli, World Youth Day, and Secular Mourning”
Matthew Jamieson (Murdoch): “Belief and its Aestheticization”
and a great panel discussion at the end!