Last Thursday, the Maxim Institute accepted Bruce Logan's resignation. So what happens to the Christian Right's most organised pressure group now? As I've said beforehand, the Christian Right is beggared in New Zealand due to its lack of personnel with adequate strategic skills to deal with contentious social and political issues. I always thought the Institute was playing outside its narrow competencies, although I didn't expect to be proven so right so convincingly, due to the good offices of Paul Litterick and the Association of Rationalist and Humanists. Without Logan, what happens next? Either the Institute will close down its Christchurch offices altogether, if Michael Reid also turns out to have been implicated in this sorry affair, or Reid will take over a much depleted Christchurch office, or Evidence and the Institute will be recentralised in Auckland. Sadly, Logan isn't indispensable. Alternatively, they may look at hiring someone from outside New Zealand, like UK Christian Right opponent of adoption law reform Patricia Morgan, for instance. Either way, the Institute has taken a major blow to its credibility, due to Logan's apparent ignorance of copyright law. Why Reid, and not Paul Henderson? The Institute will be looking for someone who has a publication record on the issues of family policy, and Reid is it, despite the fact that his doctoral thesis dealt with religious history at the University of Cantebury. By contrast, Henderson has tended to concentrate on educational policy and political philosophy. Recommended: http://www.maxim.org.nz Maxim Institute http://www.nzarh.org.nz NZ Association of Rationalists and Humanists/Fundy Post Michael Reid: Bibliography: Michael Reid: Kids in Trouble: Child and Young Person Offending in Christchurch and Its Relationship to Family Structure: Christchurch: Education Development Foundation: 2000. Michael Reid: But By My Spirit: A History of the Charismatic Renewal in Christchurch 1960-1985: PhD Thesis, University of Canterbury, 2003. "Politics Set Agenda for Issue Which Defies Science" Otago Daily Times 25.03.02 "Understanding Family at the Heart of Social Policy" Otago Daily Times 07.10.02 "Parents Relationship Key to Welfare of Child" New Zealand Herald 02.06.03 "Failing Our Youth" Press 06.10.03 "The Right to Have a Family" Press 14.01.04 "Another Programme? What About Real Help for Real Families?" Otago Daily Times 28.05.04 Craig Young - 9th November 2005