Shimon Cowen

Rabbi Dr Shimon Cowen is a prominent writer on Noachide laws based in Melbourne Australia.Photo: P. Bovolos

Shimon Dovid Cowen (born 1951) is an Australian rabbi and academic.He is known for his research on, and advocacy for, the Noahide Laws, on the basis of which, he has publicly opposed homosexual marriage, abortion on demand and euthanasia

He is affiliated with Chabad Hasidism, a stream within Jewish orthodoxy, and is the son of the former Governor General of Australia, Sir Zelman Cowen.

Education

Cowen was born in Melbourne, Victoria, concluding his secondary education in New South Wales before attending the Australian National University in Canberra. His studies took him to the University of Munich and Monash University, from which he received a PhD in social philosophy in 1984.

For a number of years he was a member of the Kollel Menachem Lubavitch, a tertiary Rabbinic Institute, where he became director of community educational programs. He received rabbinic ordination from Rabbis Chaim Gutnick and She’ar Yashuv Cohen He also taught in the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilization at Monash University.

Institute for Judaism and Civilization

In 1998 he founded, and continues to direct, the Institute for Judaism and Civilization.[1] This institute was established to examine the “interface between Judaism and the arts, sciences and values of general society”.

Universal Ethics

In addition to exploring the interface between Judaism and society and culture, Cowen has made a major focus of his work, the study of the universal ethics, at the root of the world religions,which he elaborated upon in his book on the Noahide laws, The Theory and Practice of Universal Ethics – The Noahide Laws. Cowen uses this philosophy as the basis of his anti-abortion[2] and anti-homosexual marriage stances.

He claims that these ethics should inform all of humanity’s action [3] and specifically be made known to political leaders and public political discourse.[4]

In the Victorian State election of 2014 he strongly advocated for a vote for one of the conservative minor parties, Family First, DLP or the Australian Christians because of their stance on above issues.[5]

He was also thanked by the DLP member of Victoria's Legislative Council, Rachel Carling-Jenkins during her maiden speech.[6]

Views on homosexuality

Cowen is an open and vocal opponent of homosexual behaviour.The foundation premise of his book, Homosexuality, Marriage and Society, is that homosexuality has diverse causes (temperamental, psychological and cultural) extraneous to the essential person, the soul or conscience. Conscience is free to engage in a struggle with bodily impulse. He critiqued the move of the Victorian Government to appoint a Health Commissioner whose proposed job would, among other things, was intended to uproot “conversion therapy” and has advocated for conversion therapy even lamenting state laws that would make this practice illegal.[7] He critiqued the move of the Victorian Government to appoint a Health Commissioner whose proposed job would, among other things, uproot “conversion therapy”. He called this ban an attack on patient autonomy, for those who genuinely wanted help with unwanted same-sex attraction.[8] Whilst there are those who call conversion therapy a pseudoscience,[9] a report of American Psychological Association on Sexual Orientation Change Efforts found no conclusive evidence of harmful effects of conversion therapy. [10]

He also opposed the Safe Schools Coalition program, introduced in schools to reduce bullying of LGBTQI students because its methodology manipulated and harmed the normal sexual development of children, whilst bullying could be eliminated through other programs. [11]

The publication of his views on this question brought on moves to have him removed from his appointment at Monash University and resulted in a public statement of the University dissociating itself from Cowen’s views.[12][13] After Cowen protested this as an abridgment of academic freedom, the University confirmed and promoted his appointment to that of a Senior Honorary Associate of the University.

In 2015 Cowen disseminated his opposition to same-sex marriage, also via his Monash University email account. The University, this time under a new Vice-Chancellor, who had placed the entire University behind same-sex marriage in the public debate, revoked Cowen's appointment claiming inappropriate of university email. Cowen pursued and then appealed a Freedom of Information decision about disclosure of the deliberations of the University leading to the dismissal. The presiding Magistrate found that “While I accept Dr Cowen's submission that freedom of academic expression and freedom to hold and practice religious beliefs in a university setting are important public interests, I reject his submission that the public interest requires that access should be given to the documents in contest in this proceeding.” [14]

Publications

Seder bircas hanehein (English translation of, and commentary on, a classic work of Jewish law by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (New York: Kehot, 1997). Second edition with revisions published 2007.

Jewish Thought in Context - Studies in the relationships of Jewish and secular thought, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 1998, 2000

Maimonides' Principles - Dialectics and the structure of Jewish belief, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 1998, 2000,

Judaism in the Prism of the Sciences, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 2001

The Rediscovery of the Human – Basic Texts of Viktor E. Frankl, Melbourne and Philadelphia: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2004. Revised and expanded second edition 2014.

Politics and Universal Ethics, Ballan: Connor Court Publishing, 2011 "Politics and Universal Ethics -- Shimon Cowen". Connor Court Publishing. Retrieved 2017-12-26. </ref>

There is more than this... Lectures for Campion College, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2015.

The Theory and Practice of Universal Ethics – the Noahide Laws, New York: Institute for Judaism and Civilization (printed by Kehot Publication Society), 2015 [15]

Homosexuality, Marriage and Society, Redland Bay: Connor Court, 2016

Aesthetics and the Divine, Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers, 2017

The Human Being in the Image of the Divine – The Psychology of Viktor E. Frankl, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2017

The Theory of Knowledge – Perspectives from Sinai, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2017

Torah and the Natural Sciences, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2018

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ijc.com.au
  2. ↑ "Victorian Election: What is Pork Barelling? – Where are the Values?". Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  3. ↑ "What are universal ethics? - Universal ETHICS". Universal ETHICS. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  4. ↑ "For the love of truth: Politics as a moral vocation". www.abc.net.au. 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  5. ↑ "Why a Jew might vote DLP in Melbourne Ports". jewsdownunder.com. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  6. ↑ "Dr Rachel Carling-Jenkins' Inaugural Speech". www.dlp.org.au. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  7. ↑ "VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT Risk to democracy, rights in health complaints bill". newsweekly.com.au. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  8. ↑ "Rabbi sorry for comments at LGBTI forum - The Australian Jewish News". The Australian Jewish News. 2017-09-29. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  9. ↑ Haldeman, Douglas C (December 1999). "The Pseudo-Science of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy" (PDF).
  10. ↑ Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation, 2009
  11. ↑ S. D. Cowen, “The homosexual ‘anti-bullying’ program for schools”, Journal of the Australian Family Association, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2011
  12. ↑ "Monash staff demand university action - Star Observer". www.starobserver.com.au. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  13. ↑ Kohn, Peter; Lawrence, Zeddy (2012-02-24). "School bullying program sparks heated debate". The Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 2017-12-26
  14. ↑ Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Z329/2017 Decision at paragraph 115
  15. ↑ "Institute For Judaism & Civilization Inc". www.ijc.com.au. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
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