Festival of Dangerous Ideas is an annual event presented by Sydney Opera House and St James Ethics Centre. In 2009, festival's opening address was given by atheism advocate Christopher Hitchens on the topic of "Religion Poisons Everything", which was countered by Australian Roman Catholic Cardinal George Pell in a session titled "Without God We Are Nothing".[1]
In 2010 Geoffrey Robertson and Alan Dershowitz gave the opening address about sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church in the debate, "The Sins of the Fathers: Should the Pope to be held to account?" Christian Lander, author of the satirical blog and book, "Stuff White People Like" discussed the meaning behind his tongue-in-cheek etiquette guide to Caucasian culture. New York newspaper columnist, Lenore Skenazy told how she was labeled “America’s Worst Mom” after she let her nine-year old son ride the subway home and how she fought back in the midst of a media maelstrom, by starting movement for “free range kids”.
In 2011, the Festival of Dangerous Ideas brought important questions to light as a catalyst for sharp and vibrant discussion. Traversing a broad terrain, the festival featured a host of international and local speakers including: Julian Assange, Jonathan Safran Foer, Alexander McCall Smith, Jon Ronson, Slavoj Zizek , Mona Eltahawy and Philip Nitschke. The speakers negotiated a range of dangerous ideas including, that: Wikileaks has not gone far enough; Footballers are Barbarians not role models; Psychopaths Make the World Go Around; Ecstasy is No More Dangerous Than Horse-riding; All Women are Sluts and that Australia is a third-rate country.
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5.SOH 2011 Festival of Dangerous Ideas Sydney Morning Herald 27 September 2011