Victorian churches can legally discriminate on grounds of sexuality and marital status

In a new equal opportunity bill to be introduced next year, Victorian religious groups will no longer be allowed to discriminate based on the grounds of race, disability, age, physical features, political belief or breastfeeding. Sure, that sounds great, but it's interesting that two of the major sources of discrimination amongst religious communities, sexuality and marital status, will not be included in the new bill.

The gut reaction is likely to be something along the lines of "well great, if the churches are going to discriminate, it'll just drive people away from them, aiding in the secularisation of Victoria", but what is often forgotten is the role that religious communities play in community support, employment and social services. This means that religious schools will be able to deny employment to adequately trained people if they are homosexual, a single parent or even living with a de-facto partner, if their religion supports it. It means that welfare could be denied to single parents. It is a disgrace.

More interestingly, many of the religious communities who will be selectively discriminating against these groups will still be recieving tax benefits which are compensated for by the taxes paid, in part, by the very groups that they are discriminating against!

So what's next?
























News sources
The Age
SMH

Dan Dennett: A Darwinian Perspective on Religions

Richard Dawkins at AAI conference 2009

Richard Dawkins at the Atheist Alliance International conference on Atlanta, Georgia.

The talk is divided into four sections: 1. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation / 2. Mining the Eddington Concession / 3. God as Science Ficton / 4. Q&A on dealing with Creationists

You can download the quicktime version (213 mb) here

Religion laws don't have a prayer in a country with robust common sense

By Bob Carr
Sydney Morning Herald

This week we have heard about an increasing international trend to prosecute religious issues in the courts.

In Britain cases are being brought under laws such as the Religious Hatred Act, which makes it a crime to "stir up" "religious hatred". British police have even warned that insulting Scientology would be treated as a crime.

Such legislation may soon be heading to a statute book near you.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is finalising a report almost certain to recommend legislation on religion - on freedom of religion or religious vilification - that would mean similar prosecutions being launched under national law.

Why do we need this? The last time Australians were asked whether they wanted freedom of religion embodied in the constitution was in 1988. Showing a robust common sense, they voted a resounding "no". It lost in every state and territory, with up to 74 per cent against.

Citizens knew in their bones that Australia was one of the freest countries in the world and that we wouldn't make ourselves freer by inventing new offences

Continue reading here

It is important to remember that freedom FROM religion is just as important as freedom OF religion, though it often gets ignored.

I like how the article ends:

I stick with Jefferson, who said, "it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." After all, "Truth is great and will prevail if left to itself"

too true...

Religious videos

The Pope is Wrong, Put a Condom on!

It seems that there has been a whole lot of discussion about the intersection of sex and religion doing the rounds recently.

The Sydney Atheists recently participated in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, wearing buses with slogans including 'Keep religion out of the bedroom', 'Out of the atheist closet' and 'Queer and happy without god'.

Also at the mardi gras were nuns (1, 2), Jews, devils, angels, and of courde, the Raelians. It looks like they had a lot of fun and it was a good opportunity to reach out to a portion of the population which is generally frowned upon by organised religion.

The pope publicly announced that that condoms could make the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa worse.

Which has been reported much better than I could by the BBC (1, 2 3), Guardian, Times, and the Age , among many others.

Basically, with over 22 million African people infected with AIDS, it is criminal to be putting forward such unfounded crap. I agree with the 'experts' quoted in the video below, who say "People really just need to listen to the healthcare workers and experts of the community leaders on how to avoid HIV infection."

Listen to religious experts for religious advice, listen to health experts for health advice.




I came across this little Jesus and Mo 'toon which helps to unearth the real problem.
But I guess things could be worse... this guy probably just needs a good shag! (the xtian gay-fixer, not Sascha Baron Cohen)

Obama vs Religion

This is awesome awesome awesome. Obama takes a stance against the dogmatic prejudice of religion. Some quotes:

"We are no longer a Christian nation."

"Folks haven't been reading the Bible."

"...universal rather than religion-specific values."

"...in a pluralistic society, we have no choice."

"...religion doesn't allow for compromise."

Jared Diamond on the Evolution of Religions

At the time of posting this, I haven't had a chance to watch it, but knowing how good Jared Diamond usually is, this is bound to be pretty good.

What's in the news?

Obama has lifted funding restrictions on stem cell research which is good, seeming that there is very little reason to cut funding. It seems to be more of a religion vs medicine controversy than a controversy amongst medical ethicists.

More suicide bombings in Iraq it's sad that we are hearing this kind of news so regularly these days. "Person from (x religious group) had killed (#)people from (y religious group)". I know that there's more politics to it than that, but it seems that religion plays a major role in this kind of nonsense.

Man shoots a pastor mid sermon it'll be interesting to find out more about this as it develops. I wonder what the guy's motivation was? Was he just mad, or was he a fan of the Insane Clown Posse?

Percentage of non-religious Americans rises which isn't too surprising. This has been happening steadily over the last few census'. It seems that the numbers in most denominations are dropping off, but pentecostalism is remaining steady. I guess more people just want to sing and dance than sit solemly in pews.

Spiritual assessment in British hospitals condemned they wanted to put a question of spiritual belief on the intake survey, so that your spiritual needs could be catered for. I see that as an opportunity for allowing discrimination. I'm glad there's a backlash.

Worshiping Darwin can be dangerous though I'm not sure that worship is the right word, and I wonder who it's dangerous to? Probably the intelligent design crowd most of all.

9 year old's abortion causes controversy for church little kid gets raped, becomes pregnant, needs abortion or she will die, gets abortion, family and doctors excommunicated from church. This is completely ridiculous! The social support falling out from under them when they need it most. More on this here

Australia wasn't mentioned in the bible, so it doesn't exist! well, I guess you can't argue with that logic!

Teaching atheism in English schools in religious education is to be introduced. Terrific. It would be great to break down the barriers of misconceptions early in the piece so that children are given the information they need to make an informed decision about their religious stance.

Massive eyesore or religious freedom?

Wow, a cross the size of the statue of liberty.

So, what do you think?

Is it a gaudy eyesore? An expression of religious freedom? A waste of money? A sign of hope?

Personally, I think that a church has the right to promote their religion in whatever way they see fit, as long as it does not significantly impact the lives of others. Having this big sign up could be seen as sending a message to non-christians that they are not welcome, which would be bad. Also, as mentioned in the vid, it is quite possible that the big cross will effect property values, a double blow to the non-christians in the area.

If they wanted to put one up in my neighborhood, I'd definitely be complaining!

Jesus is everywhere!

My favorite bit is at about 4:00, when they start going on about cheesus.

Another great moment is at 5:40

"I don't see her"
"I don't either, but it's still a good story"

Unless you've been under a skeptic proof rock, you'll know that this is the result of pareidolia (1 2 3), which is basically a perceptual illusion which comes from our pattern recognition system. The human brain is wired to selectively perceive things that look like a human face, which may be an inherited survival mechanism, or just one of many floors in our "intelligently designed" perceptual systems (ahem).

Either way, I find illusions and perceptual psychology incredibly interesting. There is even an audio type of pareidolia, an example of which is the 'Angel in the choir'. This is when a choir is singing in perfect harmony, which creates a harmonic resonance that creates the illusion of an additional, etherial voice singing amongst the choir. I'm not sure if anyone has ever claimed to have smelled Jesus (I wouldn't be surprised), but I'd guess he wouldn't be too fresh after all this time!

Some famous examples of pareidolia are:
Grilled cheesus
Allah gristle
The face on mars
The bigfoot on mars
The Moon Rabbit
Aliens
ET's Nutrigrain
And of course the Jesus is and arsehole

It seems that most of the images are somehow connected to a myth, superstition or folklore, but the one example of pareidolia that really clinces for me is this one.

Religion is dangerous

A man decapitates his son to save his soul from the devil.



Sometimes, people will ask me 'why are you so concerned with religion? They are just nice people trying to do good'. My answer is that religions are so often linked to atrocities, like the above. It is entirely possible for a person to justify pretty much any horrible act through the bible (and I guess that holds true for other religious texts too)

Do I think that the texts were written with this in mind? Of course not. At the time when they were written, and to reasonable people today, the sections describing immoral behaviour are seen as allegory, hypothetical and exaggerations, but having people base their lives on this kind of stuff, then teaching them to take it literally, as the more fundamentalist branches of religion do, is bound to lead to this kind of behaviour.

On the other hand, I accept that atheists have been known to do bad things too, but I cannot think of a case where a person's lack of conviction of religion has led them to harm others. When an atheist does something terrible, it is (as far as I know) never justified through their lack of beliefs. When a religious person does something terrible, it is often justified through their religion.

In either case, I think that the person who did the act was probably suffering from some condition external to their religion/irreligion, but the religious person who justifies their actions is able to hide under their beliefs and is less likely to take responsibility for their actions. In the video above, the father feels like he has done the right thing. He is not taking responsibility for the fact that he killed his son in cold blood for a nonsense reason. Is this man going to lament and repent for what he has done? Much less, as he feels that he has done the right thing!

What's the harm?

THAT's the harm!

I read the news today, oh boy...

There was a woman on whom an exorcism was performed thrown out by a court when seeking compensation for suffering

A Kazakhstan court has banned Scientology as an abuse to the rights of freedom of religion. More developed countries should be ashamed that thay have note done the same.

A mother sued Scientology over the wrongful death of her son resulting from withholding medications.

And the founder of an Islamic TV station might well have decapitated his wife! (1 2 3)

It's a mad mad world...

Good morning

Australia amongst the least religious nations in the world

Read the Gallup article for more info

Pat Condell tells it like it is

Sheesh, Pat Condell is perhaps master of the rant.

In his latest bit, he talks about Fitna, Politics and freedom of speech.


Here's the vid:


Britain's spineless government

Here's a list of links to the topics discussed:

Dutch MP banned from Britain
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newst...

Labour minister praises Muslims because "secular commentators are afraid to criticise them."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newst...

"Freedom go to hell" and other choice slogans.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics...

When the original screening was cancelled Lord Ahmed told the Pakistani press it was "a victory for the Muslim community".
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?o...

Fitna the movie
http://www.themoviefitna.com/fitna-th...

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION IN SUPPORT OF GEERT WILDERS
http://www.petitiononline.com/wilders...

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST SHARIA LAW
http://www.onelawforall.org/
http://www.shariapetition.com/

You can download an audio version of this video at http://patcondell.libsyn.com/

Religious Jokes

Just for a bit of light-hearted fun, what's you favourite religious/atheist joke?

Post them in the comments section.

Here's some to get you going:

One day the zoo-keeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books - the Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species.

Surprised, he asked the ape, "Why are you reading both those books?"

"Well," said the orangutan, "I just wanted to know if I was my brother's keeper or my keeper's brother."

___________________________________________________

Over the massive front doors of a church, these words were inscribed, "The Gate of Heaven." Below that was a small cardboard sign which read, "Please use other entrance."

___________________________________________________

An atheist buys an ancient lamp at an auction, takes it home, and begins to polish it. Suddenly, a genie appears, and says, “I’ll grant you three wishes, Master.” The atheist says, “I wish I could believe in you.” The genie snaps his fingers, and suddenly the atheist believes in him. The atheist says, “Wow. I wish all atheists would believe this.” The genie snaps his fingers again, and suddenly atheists all over the world begin to believe in genies. “What about your third wish?” asks the genie. “Well,” says the atheist, “I wish for a billion dollars.” The genie snaps his fingers for a third time, but nothing happens. “What’s wrong?” asks the atheist. The genie shrugs and says, “Just because you believe in me, doesn’t necessarily mean that I really exist.”

___________________________________________________

A Christian, a Jew, and an atheist are standing in line to be executed during the French Revolution.

The christian is first, and he lays down on the guillotine. Before the executioner pulls the lever he shouts, "My god will save me!". The lever is pulled, and the blade swooshes down, stopping just short of his neck. The executioner, believing a miracle of god has occurred, figures he can't kill this man, as so sets him free.

The Jew lays down on the guillotine. Like the christian, he shouts, "My god will save me!". The lever is pulled, the blade falls, and once again it stops just short of his neck. The executioner, again, believes god is on this man's side, and lets him go.

Finally, the atheist lays down on the guillotine. He examines the guillotine, finds a rock in the gears, and says to the executioner, "Well here's your problem..."

The moral? There's a time and a place for skepticism.

___________________________________________________

I look forward to seeing some of the reader's favourites!

Randi Speaks- Who Gets the Credit?

James Randi is a pinnacle of rational inquiry in the modern world.

If you don't know of him, or would like to know more about him, go to his website



In addition to the JREF youtube channel, the JREF produce the swift Bulletin (now the swift blog) and The Amazing Show podcast.