Say Yes! to an Ethics-based Complement to Scripture in NSW Schools

Did you know that NSW school students whose parents make a conscientious decision to opt them out of Special Religious Education are prohibited from any other form of instruction during this period?

To support equal opportunity and fair choice for all students in the NSW public education system, please consider signing this petition by the St James Ethics Centre and the NSW Federation of P&C Associations:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SpecialEthicsEducation/

MORE INFO:

► An ethics-based complement to Scripture in NSW primary schools
http://www.ethics.org.au/content/ethics-based-complement-to-scripture

► Is This The Dumbest Education Policy In Australia? | NewMatilda.com
http://newmatilda.com/2009/10/06/dumbest-education-policy-australia

► Almighty row over ethics class in schools | SMH
http://www.smh.com.au/national/almighty-row-over-ethics-class-in-schools-20090925-g6a0.html

Postcards to say something: 021 – Day Of The Dead

I buried my Stepfather today. He was more of a dad to me than the gene donor.

He was not a learned man, although he was more than brilliant in practical ways. Bush mechanicking and skill with even difficult animals were just two of the things that, like his ears, stuck out.

We had to try a little harder to get along together than is the case for blood-relatives (I’ll excuse my father from this particular comparison), but I thought I knew the man.

His entry into christianity was gradual, as this man had a low tolerance for bullshit. He was apparently scared into the flock by some of that alarmist material Stan Deyo was putting out in the late 70s.

The man I knew was kind. Not a soft touch, and guaranteed to give the “pretend-looking-for-work” bloke some actual hard work to do, but a fair reward at the end. Of course, association with church people influenced him over the years.

I haven’t had a lot of contact with the old man since my mother died. He went to stay with the sister I can’t stand, and I gather he attends her church in the relatively-affluent suburb where she and her unpleasant husband live.

I don’t know what sort of tolerance and charity Affluent Jeebus teaches, being of the sort who thought, even when a believer, that the whole Jesus thing was more about the unempowered.

Still, when the only email I get from him in months is all BIG RED LETTERS, saying:

Good Day and welcome to a brand new edition of :

‘ASYLUM’.

And here’s your game show host…here’s KEVVVIIINNN !!!

Today’s program features another chance to take part in our exciting competition:

Hop on a boat

And win

A FREE HOUSE!

We’ve already given away hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of dream homes, courtesy of our sponsor,

The Australian Taxpayer.

And don’t forget, we’re now the fastest growing game on the planet.

Anyone can play, provided they don’t already hold a valid Australian Passport, and you only need one word of English:

‘ASYLUM’

Prizes include all-expenses-paid accommodation, cash benefits starting at $800 a week and a chance to earn thousands more begging, mugging and accosting drivers at traffic lights.

This competition is open to everyone,
buy a ticket to Indonesia

And catch the first available boat.

No application ever refused – reasonable or unreasonable.

All you have to do is destroy all your papers or burn your boat once you

Enter Australian waters and remember the magic password:

‘ASYLUM’

A few years ago, 140 members of the Taliban family from Afghanistan were flown Goat Class from Kabul to Indonesia’s gateway where agents were on hand to fast-track them to their boat trips to luxury accommodation

They joined tens of thousands of other lucky winners already staying in hotels all over Australia

Our most popular destinations also include the Baxter’s reef and the world famous Christmas Island resort

If you still don’t understand the rules, don’t forget, there’s no need to phone a friend or ask the audience

Just apply for legal aid.

Hundreds of lawyers, social workers and counsellors are waiting to help.

It won’t cost you a penny.

It could change your life forever .
So play today.

Iraqi terrorists, Afghan dissidents, Albanian gangsters, pro-Pinochet activists, anti-Pinochet activists, Kosovan drug-smugglers, Tamil tigers, bogus Bosnians, Rwandan mass murderers, Somali guerrillas…

COME ON DOWN!

Get along to the Indonesia fishing ports

Don’t stop in Thailand or Bali

Go straight to Australia

And you are:

GUARANTEED

to be one of tens of thousands of lucky winners in the easiest game on earth.

Everyone’s a winner, when they play

‘ASYLUM’

… then I know the man I once held dear has died.

And may they put Anglo Jesus in the ground with him, before I piss on it.

Postcards to say something – 019: Jesus thinks you’re a jerk.

From a certain political aspirant (with emphasis on the ass and the rant) came this delightful piece of hate mail, spread below like a puddle of (sic):

“Is it a reflection on your own in ability to gain publicity that u had to hijack jesusallaboutlife web site? Pretty pathetic effort! And why do u only attack Christians? Where are ur web sites attacking Islam, buddism Hindu etc. I guess Christians r just a soft target! U wouldn’t want to offend anyone who might fight back eh! PS it wasn’t me who disabled ur web site, but more power to whoever it was. Not because I disagree with free speech, but because u hijacked th domain name. Did u do that to try to stiffle th Christians right to free speach? Surely not!”

Dear boy:

1. English lessons. Get some in.

2. Hijack? We own this site, and there is no attempt to pass it off as anything but the commentary and satirical site it is. Legal, we are! We have owned this site from inception.

3. If you’d like to observe me and my playmates giving the other silly superstitions a rousing send-off, I suspect one of your carers can direct you to the Atheist Foundation. This is, after all, Jesus – All About Lies, not Krishna – All About Being A Blue Dude Who Likes Cows.

4. Christians are not a soft target. You have undue influence, and the fact that some of you cannot pull 2% in a Federal poll may be due to your personal shortcomings. Who’s the cheeky little deity who gets prayers said before Parliament? All I’m saying is the privilege you enjoy is certainly not due to merit.

5. It was not this web site which was disabled. Anyway, what I read from your message, is that a potential Federal politician tacitly supports cyberterrorism. I shall remember this, and don’t be surprised if you wind up with a Federal Police dossier.

6. If you were not so egregiously stupid, and were not under the false impression that a domain name was hijacked, you would realise that nobody’s right to free speech is being stifled. We have had some interesting dialogues with christians here. (And occasional comic monologues from clowns like you, but that’s hardly the point.)

7. Go and look through the gospels and find the bit about Peter, the sword, and Malchus’s ear. What does this say to you, as a believer, regarding any christian who goes intending to do damage or harm on behalf of his god?

8. AFA and the Convention site were certainly targetted, but nobody’s claiming responsibility. What if this was just somebody’s test run, a sort of “Look, I can do it” before mounting an extortion attack on, say, the Anglicans, Catholics or another wealthy christian organisation? Does this change your opinion of the perpetrators?

Here’s a postcard just for you, in recognition of your sterling effort. Please write again, and this time we expect better than a regurgitation of that farrago of fallacies you copied from the newspaper, and added a hasty “so there!” before posting.

1,000 tickets sold for the Global Atheist Convention!

Griffith chemist Trevor Dal Broi and catholic dogma that restricts choice

Trevor Dal Broi's boss and moral compass

Trevor Dal Broi a chemist in Griffith, has stopped stocking condoms and is telling women that are using oral contraceptive pills for birth control to take their scripts elsewhere. He is also banning the sale of emergency contraception morning-after pills from his shop.

Chemists have a social responsibility with the priviledge they hold to be the gateway to legal drugs and the right of women to have control over their bodies, and choice. The morning after pills are available legally without prescription, but Trevor has removed himself as a gateway to accessing these drugs. They are not there to put their judgement on the women that come to them and restrict those womens choice over what they do with their own body.

Unplanned pregnancies and rates of sexually transmitted infections would be so much higher without access to condoms and contraceptives in our communities.

In A Strange Land gives some very relevant information in regard how chemists in Australia are partially government funded via pricing and subsidy rules for medicines, and thus should have a social responsibility to the people they serve. Indeed the businesses are protected as there are strict rules about where new chemists can be located. (Community Pharmacy Agreement PDF – go to p. 22).

25.1. The objectives of the Location Rules are to ensure:
a. all Australians have access to PBS* medicines;
b. a commercially viable and sustainable network of community pharmacies dispensing PBS medicines;
c. improved efficiency through increased competition between pharmacies;
d. improved flexibility to respond to the community need for pharmacy services;
e. increased local access to community pharmacies for persons in rural and remote regions of Australia; and
f. continued development of an effective, efficient and well-distributed community pharmacy network in Australia.

* Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme

In A Strange Land rightly points out that this man is ‘getting in the middle of the relationship between doctor and patient’.

It’s ironic that these are the same people that crow about how their god gives choice, and are the same ones that attempt to take that away from others, specifically women. It’s lack of empathy that comes from the teaching of their scripture as truth and the standard for morals in the catholic patriarchal system. These people honestly think they are doing the right thing taking away others ability to freely choose what they do with their own body.

This man has a position of trust, he has a position that has been given him by the community and in doing so should not be able to abuse that privilege in restricting others choices by pushing his personal religious attitude onto the women that come to him. By all means he doesn’t have to wear a condom, but if he doesn’t want to be a trusted gateway to drugs, he should not be a chemist, and apply for that position of trust in the Australian community.

Shame Trevor Dal Broi, for removing the choice that you claim your ‘higher being’ gave to people, for playing god, for passing your judgment onto these women from your position of power that you claimed from the community and received in good will, injecting your religion upon others.

Where is the funding for the Atheist Convention Melbourne 2010?

Appears we are not the only ones that see vast discrepancies in the rights of Australians between those of belief and those that don’t. It appears the government is lagging with responding to atheist requests in regard being treated the same as religious people when it comes to support. Atheists are tax payers (not like religion) and deserve to be at least responded to in their request over funding

Hats off folks for pointing this out to us, we also call on the government to respond to this blatant distinction between Australians promptly, it’s time religion did not have rights above and beyond anyone else doing the same thing.

Atheists, non-believers,  unite!

The Global Atheist Convention 2010 in Melbourne, Australia is expected to be the largest gathering of atheists, rationalists, humanists, sceptics, free thinkers and other like-minded people in Australian history.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia is running the Convention and applied for government funding months ago – but has not yet received a response. This delay seems excessive and the government appears to be trying to dodge the issue of supporting non-believers, perhaps worried about upsetting the religious organisations they have a mutually beneficial relationship with. In Australia exemptions or concessions apply to religious organisations in relation to income tax, fringe benefits tax, GST, payroll tax, land tax, stamp duties, car registration fees and municipal rates. And let’s not forget the recent Victorian government decision to exempt religious organisations from a range of anti-discrimination laws…another example of one rule for the religious, another for everyone else. This is blatant discrimination.

To run an event the size of the Global Atheist Convention must cost a lot of money, even though all the speakers have generously donated their time, and the Convention is relying on ticket sales for funding. Consider the millions of government dollars that will help fund the Parliament of World Religions and the $120m the World Youth Day cost Australian tax payers (and let’s not even start on the civil liberty restrictions associated with World Youth Day…) – it’s time the atheists received some of the same support.

It’s time our “representatives” actually represented us and supported the Global Atheist Convention.

We are Australian atheists and it’s time the government heard us.

Please help us by spreading the word – raise this issue on blogs, in conversation and anywhere else the politicians might hear you.

Postcards to say something: 013a – Exhilarating Mountain Air

Danny Nutjob Nalliah is ready to go “Ooga-booga-pappa-oom-mow-mow!” atop a Canberra scenic lookout, to keep the invisible bogeymen from eating our crops, stealing our shoes and souring the milk.

This has caused some amusement in certain journalistic circles.

There is no proof that the “sacrifice” was blood in the first place (and eyewitnesses to the suspect stain have said it looked more like nasty cask red spilled by a nocturnal sightseer).

Let us not forget that one of the maddies, wending his way up the hill with figurative pitchfork and pine-tar torch aloft, will be Senator-for-now Fielding. Note to all readers, even our more rational believer friends: Fielding and his like must not be allowed to happen again.

A bounty of five papal indulgences is offered for each demon-scalp presented to the editorial desk at Black Tower (or leave scalps, individually wrapped, at reception in Legion HQ, Sydney, but be sure to ask for a receipt).

Disclaimer: The bounty for demon-scalps is subsidised by a grant from Catch The Liar Ministries.

Ticket Sales Surge for Global Atheist Convention

As word spreads of the Global Atheist Convention to be held in Melbourne next March, organisers have been flooded with inquiries and premium tickets have already sold out.

David Nicholls, president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia, and head of the convention committee, says, “The buzz surrounding the convention is amazing! The news is spreading like wildfire across the internet, and it’s being mentioned in blogs from the USA to India. We’re getting enquiries from across the world.”

Nicholls attributes the excitement to the quality of speakers and the breadth of subject matter to be discussed at the convention. Speakers include world-renowned scientists Richard Dawkins and PZ Myers; philosophers Peter Singer and AC Grayling; broadcasters Phillip Adams and Robyn Williams; politician Lyn Allison; authors Tanya Levin and Russell Blackford; and human rights activist Taslima Nasrin.

While the Gold Weekend Passes have sold out, Nicholls says there are still plenty of seats available. “We anticipated that the convention would generate a lot of interest – that’s why we chose the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for our venue.”

Tickets are on sale at The Rise of Atheism Global Atheist Convention website at http://www.atheistconvention.org.au .

Contact:

David Nicholls

President

Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
Private Mail Bag 6
Maitland SA 5573
Australia

Phone:
Australia – (08) 8835-2269
International – +61 8 8835-2269

E-Mail
info@atheistfoundation.org.au

Convention Website

http://www.atheistconvention.org.au

Those Missing $240 “All About Life” Banners…

A plausible theory for the disappearance of those bits of $240 Babble Society merchandise? An indicator of the way things might have been if Jesus was all about the lives that don’t have too many hot chips because it’s cold in the dumpster?

It makes you think… so quickly, think of something nice, like birds in pants.

If the big banner out front is down, the church might see the street, and that would never do, would it?

The Rise of Atheism – Global Atheist Convention, Melbourne March 12-14th 2010

Sending a strong message that atheism is gaining momentum as a political issue in Australia, thousands of non-believers will gather in Melbourne next March for a major international convention:  The Rise of Atheism.  The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre has been booked for the event which is set to become the largest gathering of non-theists in Australia’s history.

President of the Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA), David Nicholls, says that inquiries about the convention have exceeded all expectations and interest continues to grow as organisers confirm some of the leading names of the ‘New Atheism’ movement as speakers.

Leading the lineup is author of The God Delusion, British evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, along with American biologist, Professor P. Z. Myers, host of the world’s top-ranked science blog, Pharyngula.  Also confirmed is Dan Barker, a former evangelical pastor.  Barker, author of Losing Faith in Faith, now heads America’s Freedom from Religion Foundation and hosts America’s first atheist radio program, Freethought Radio on Air America.

Australian speakers include; philosopher and professor of bioethics, Peter Singer, broadcaster Phillip Adams, and Age columnist, Catherine Deveny.  More information on the convention is available at:  http://www.atheistconvention.org.au

The enormous contemporary interest in atheism as a social and political movement has been fueled by global religious conflicts and the increasing politicisation and influence of the ‘religious right’. A number of best-selling books on the subject, including Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Sam Harris’ The End of Faith, and Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great:  How Religion Poisons Everything,  have inspired thousands to join non-theist organisations and online atheist communities.

AFA president, David Nicholls says, “Non-religious Australians are fed-up with an unrepresentative Christian minority influencing important civil rights issues like abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and gay marriage – all issues which the majority of Australians support.  They’re also concerned about the amount of tax-payers’ money being pumped into religious schools at the expense of the public education system.”

“People contact us at the Atheist Foundation every day, saying, ‘What can we do to stop this?’” says Nicholls.

Surveys show that only 7.5% of Australians attend church regularly. While the official Census figures show Australia’s ‘non-religious’ make up 20% of the population, several major international studies reveal that this figure is vastly underestimated.  Nicholls estimates that non-believers in Australia are probably closer to 50%.

The Rise of Atheism Convention will bring together atheists from around the country, and across the world.  “Make no mistake,” says Nicholls, “this is not just going to be a talk-fest.  The incredible level of interest should be a huge wake-up call to politicians and Christian lobbyists, alike, that non-religious Australians are preparing to stand-up and be counted.  Atheism is on the rise, and the non-religious will no longer sit quietly on the sidelines while good policies are derailed by religious dogma and prejudice.”

Relevant Statistics

Nationally, only 7.5% of Australians attend a place of worship weekly. Source: Zuckerman, Phil (2005), Atheism: Contemporary Rates and Patterns, Cambridge University Press

A survey by Germany’s Religion Monitor (2008) found that 31% of Australians do not believe in God, a divine power or life after death, while a further 26% were uncertain to varying degrees.  Source: Religion Monitor (2008), ‘Australia: High level of religious identity paired with low level of Belief’, Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation, Sydney/Gütersloh (Germany)

Contact:

David Nicholls

President

Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc

Private Mail Bag 6

Maitland SA 5573

Australia

Phone:  (08) 8835-2269

International: +61 8 8835-2269

Email: info@atheistfoundation.org.au

Web: http://www.atheistfoundation.org.au

Forum: http://atheistfoundation.org.au/forums/

Convention: http://www.atheistconvention.org.au