your brand of god

today's brand: the village idiots...

2010-03-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

I was like a boy in a candy shop - watching one of my heros, Richard Dawkins, take it to the ignorant religious fools on QandA this week. The exceptionally disturbing aspect of the session was that the most outspoken fools were Australian politicians. Julie Bishop, Steve Fielding and Tony Burke were all demonstrably brainwashed.

Steve Fielding takes the cake though. Now, whilst it seems that he may actually be a creationist and that he may actually belive the Earth is less than 10,000 years old, he did he best to avoid saying that until he was pressed. Why? Because his religious zealot supporters couldn't bare to hear him disagree with creationism and his slightly more progressive supporters would be embarrassed by his possible admition to believing in creationism. Mind you, he didn't actually use the word 'creationist' to begin with, he said 'crecheist'. I'm fine with that as I've seen some pretty good creche's around the country....

Julie Bishop on the other hand is a little firmer in her beliefs. She's and 'old-world' creationist which means that she's equally away with the fairies as her brand of God probably kick-started the big bang all those years ago. I think it was the stare of evil that she gave to an audience member that said it all though. How can a 'Christian' demonstrate such pure malice?

Tony Burke, out of the politicians, was something less fundamentalist than both of them however still put his ignorance on show. It almost seemed that all three pollies felt that they had to say Christian things just to keep their constituents on side.

Rabbi Ninio, whilst very capable of saying nice things and keen to please everyone managed to say a whole lot of nothing. Dawkins at one stage said he was "wondering what on Earth it meant..."

I've come away with two feelings from this weeks QandA - excitement at the exposure of our leaders as ignorant fools and embarrassment for same...

The 'right' link is often the wrong link.

2009-11-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

Well, Australian politics has possibly had it's most embarrassing day - a right wing, climate sceptic, fundamentalist Christian has just been voted in as leader of the opposition Liberal party. Tony Abbott, an openly fundamentalist Christian was voted in by his party after a leadership spill this morning. Whilst this is probably a good thing for the Labor party (because no one in their right mind would vote Liberal whilst he is leader), it is an horrendous thing for the environment and also a very embarrassing development for Australia.

In a recent poll by The Age newspaper in Melbourne, readers were asked about Genesis. "Do you have a literal belief in the bible's account of creation?" Incredibly, there were still 14% of Australians who said yes. I'd like to believe that Abbott is NOT one of those Australian but looking at his position on many points throughout the decade I wouldn't be suprised if he was. Said to be a devout Catholic, he wanted to join the Catholic priesthood, and entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly. It was this time in the seminary that earned Abbott the nickname "The Mad Monk".He subsequently decided to leave the seminary and choose another career path.

I guess we can't be too worried though when a similar Genesis poll was asked of the public in the USA. In that country over 50% of respondents said that they take the literal reading of Genesis to be correct.

Thank goodness Abbott is in the minority however it is still cause for concern when a majority of his party have voted him in to a substantial position of power.

The infiltration of religion...

2009-11-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

I guess it comes as no real surprise but as you listen and look around society you will easily find many objects, hear many phrases and succomb to many traditions and rituals which have been created exclusively for one religion or the other. Listening to Parliament on the radio you are forced to hear the "Our Father" regardless of your persuasion. Giving evidence at court, whilst you are given the option to make an 'affirmation' instead of 'swearing an oath', there is a distinct up-turn of the nose if you don't hold the bible. I felt this first hand last week, the assumption was that I would 'swear' but when I asked to make an affirmation there was a small pause and almost knowing look between the Magistrate and the other party...

Religion plays a dominant role in our society. It's visible up and down our streets, in cemataries, in Court, in Police Stations and of course, the most damaging place of all, our schools.

I need to point out to readers at this stage that I was brought up as Roman Catholic. My parent were Catholic, they put me in a Catholic primary school and we went to church nearly every Sunday until I turned approximately 16. Why? Well as far as I can ascertain, no real reason except it was the done thing amongst our local community... oh, and the fact that I would be frowned upon by God and likely to spend an eternity in hell if I didn't. (I realise that the Catholic God doesn't send you to hell for not going to church but this is a point I want to deal with in a later post.)

So, as a young Catholic or, to be correct, a child forced to take on Catholic ideals and traditions before I knew any better, I was subject to many thoughts, processes, ideals, customs, traditions and rituals many of which still remain with me today. Now, as an adult and radical atheist, when someone starts reciting the "Hail Mary" or the "Our Father" it's all I can do to stop reciting it along with them. If I go to a wedding or funeral in a Catholic church I can help but mark the sign of the cross or end every sentence with "Amen".

At first I thought it was kinda cool, I could infiltrate the Catholic community and they would never know that I wasn't one of them. It was like having years of spy training for one ultimate goal, toppling the Catholic Church in my 30's. Then I realised that it wouldn't be be infiltrating the church, it was the church that has infiltrated me. I will likely NEVER get those words, actions or knee indentations removed from my being.

This blog is a reaction to that. It's a plea to parents around the world to let your children grow to an age where they can decide what religion , (if any), they want to follow. The damage any organisation can do to a small child can remain till the day the die. Priests and other officials in the church hate to hear this kind of plea because they know, drafting innocent children into their church is nearly the only way church's can conscript and add to their numbers.