Books by Peter Kurti

Sacred and Profane is a clear reminder that modern democratic government is distinguished by robust capacity in fostering cohesion amidst diversity. The secular character of such government, however, poses particular questions in ensuring that citizens with religious beliefs are as free as others to participate in debates about public policy and law. Peter Kurti’s lucid essays are a search for appropriate balances between the needs, beliefs and concerns of all citizens, both those who hold religious beliefs and those who do not. 

Mounting pressure to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia is a one-way ratchet asserting the primacy of individual choice. Euthanasia advocates insist nothing can ever outweigh that choice.But in this book, Peter Kurti argues these demands need to be resisted because of the impact individual choice about assisted suicide will have on wider society - on the family, on friends, on the local community.Legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide enshrines in law a rejection of the duties we owe to others and the claims others have upon us. It will destroy family relationships, damage the trust we place in the medical profession, and corrode the bonds of civil society forged between individuals within communities. In his answers to seven key questions about euthanasia and assisted suicide, Kurti argues that when society permits some of its citizens to be killed, it tears the fabric of community and threatens to put the culture itself to death.

Essays in this book examine matters such as same-sex marriage, assisted suicide and the wearing of the burqa.