All Hail The Flying Spaghetti Monster

Christian schools teaching creationism in science classes against the explicit curiculum set by the Board of Studies?

If that is true, then this is a huge opportunity for Pastafarians to raise their religious views as well!

Do we have a Kansas Mk II?

Hehehe!

Where Are Our Civil Liberties?

Interesting new laws were passed by the NSW State Government in past couple of days... apparently it is now an offence to "annoy a pilgrim" here in Sydney for World Youth Day (week).

Offenders will be charged and financially penalised.

Anyone protesting the Papal visit must have their material "pre-approved" so as not to cause offence. And the distribution of non-christian material, condoms, gay rights or any other material likely to cause "offence or annoyance" can bring charges against the individual.

Can I ask why this was necessary and how is this constitutionally allowable? Are we not a free democratic society and have the right to our views? Why do the fucking happy clapping god botherers (annoyance intended) get to have their sensitivities protected by unconstitutional legislation?

Will enacting these laws cause more protests and have the intentions of the government to keep the World Youth Day events free of protest been well and truly kyboshed? (is that a Jewish phrase? Is that offensive??)

It's about time Governments stop catering to the vocal minority and started realising that 90% of the populace on any given issue just don't care and that as long as there is no violence (and we already have a capable police force to stop that) there is really not any point in trying to dictate the populations thought processes.

People will think what they think and will act on those thoughts as they see fit. As long as they don't hurt anybody else in enacting those acts, then by our societies standards they are entitled to those thoughts / beliefs / actions.

How about Morris Iemma worry about what he was elected for which is ensuring we have a decent health and education system.

I have found my calling....

I have found my religion!

Behold!

I am now enlightened and wish to go down the path as a "Pastafarian"

Join me!

Rudd Funds "Extremist Cult"...

Whilst everyone who regularly reads this will know, I was very against the Howard Government and strongly supported the Labor campaign for change. The basis of this wasnt really on the fundamentals of what a Labor govt would do as opposed to a Liberal one, but the driver was that I felt that the Liberal govt who had been in power for so many years had long ago ceased to be a government for the people and became a self driven machine that resulted in many instances of a lack of transparency. In short, they became self serving and not public serving.

Rudd campaigned about integrity and open and transparent government.

Now this:

In September 2006, a young Labor opposition front bencher named Kevin Rudd challenged the Howard Government on their support and funding of the religious cult / sect "The Brethran". At the time, it was highlighted by the Four Corners program that the Brethren received not only special funding but also critical excemptions from the Liberal Work Choices legislation. Many commentators / bloggers questioned whether the Prime Minister Howard was actually a member of the Brethren given his apparent generous and imbalanced support...

Fast forward to today and now the PM title sits with that very same frontbencher Mr Kevin Rudd. He now is reviewing the funding of Education at a Federal level and in the past week or so the media has picked up on the imbalances within the Liberal's scheme favouring Private education over Public. This shouldnt be a surprise as the Liberal cornerstone is privatisation and free market economic theory as opposed to state based schemes.

But why then has Rudd promised a whopping $10M of government funding for the Exclusive Brethren schools? Kevin Rudd has not hidden his Christianity at all during the election campaign and it wasnt an issue during the campaign as both candidates seemed equal in regards to their personal beliefs and outlooks in life. Whilst I am not of those same beliefs I feel that as long as a person does not use their political power to promote personal beliefs (i.e. Tony Abbott and Abortion / Birth Control legislation!) then a member of parliament can be of any faith whatsoever... seperation of Church and State if you like.

But now that he's in... he has done the opposite to a) his comments on the Exclusive Brethren b) his notion of fair funding for all school systems and c) has perhaps been influenced by his personal beliefs against the principals of the Labor Party and his very recent election campaign.

Views people?

Jesus!

And I dont mean "Jesus!" in the "hallelujah" sense, but rather in the "Jesus Christ, what are they doing now!" sense....

An American Church has been picketing and protesting funerals for dead US soldiers from Iraq / Afghanistan with slogans such as "Thank God For Dead Soldiers" and "God Hates America"...

Link

If you're religious, can you screw your daughter?

Well according to this man you can....

 

LINK

 

At least he was sent to jail... but not long enough I am afraid... Parole in 4yrs...

 

Dirty Rock Spider!

Howard Meets The Brethren

Dont get me started...

 

Just read this article... what strikes me with this is that the long laundry list of what was NOT discussed.  How about saying what was actually discussed?

A perfect example...

of why Religion is the bane of our society.

It is Kate's 8th birthday in late July but with school holidays intervening, she gave out invites to her classmates on Thursday for her party.  This party is a month away.

One little girl came up to Niki on Friday and said "Sorry, but I wont be able to come to Kate's birthday party because we have Church".

In 24hrs, a parent has stopped their child attending a birthday party in 4 weeks time because they have to go to Church!

Lighten up people!!  Let the kids have fun!!!

Vote against cloning, or else, Pell warns

Cardinal Pell warns to vote against cloning "or else"...

Or else what George?

Vote against cloning, or else, Pell warns - National - smh.com.au

More on Religion and Delusional People

Many regular readers of Lime Kettles will know that I am by no means a religious person... I am now sure in my own mind an Atheist and place my "belief" in that I want to be a good person to my friends and family and to all people I encounter, but I have no need for biblical stories, church on Sunday and in fact think that organised religion is a cult that I believe does more harm than good.

I am also now concerned about how religion indoctrinates children into a rigid way of thinking that when given the opportunity to explode into at best "exclusionism" of others to the worst militant action in the name of God - i.e. suicide bombings.

A person who has crystallised this for me is Richard Dawkins and his book the God Delusion.  He tells a clear and coherent and using logic, scientific fact and in some cases mathematics to propose a hypothesis that God does not exist and that it is the creation of man via a neurological reaction within our DNA.  What this means in laymans terms is that we are in built to question our purpose in the universe and that we have eons ago created god(s) to supplement this biological urge.

Pretty out there theories but if there is one thing that I agree with Dawkins is that Evolution is fact, Creationism is no truer than fairies and pixies in the garden and that Religion of all types is a poisonous mind trap that can be exploited by others.

Now in Australia, we allow free speech and anyone can voice their opinions.  Religious people do this all the time with door knocking and preaching in various ways to convert a person to join their faith.  Each religion has their own views, but essentially it is all the same... "we're correct, all the others are wrong, join us".

Now however, the great paradox is if you sprout the view that you dont have any God and you believe in science / evolution and that we're simply carbon based life forms that have evolved, then you get shot down.

Case in point was that last night I bumped into (missed the first half) of Richard Dawkin's documentary "The Root of All Evil" which was on the ABC last night.  He came across to me as a person exploring religion and its beginnings and proposing his theories as a counter view.  It was logical, clear and well presented.  He interviewed an American Evangelist and a Muslim Cleric in Jerusalem and engaged with them on debate.

In both cases the Preacher and the Cleric were both very aggressive, very intimidating and both had an absolute hatred in their eyes for Dawkins.  In the case of the Preacher, he had a truly "evil" look about him that Niki and I thought was quite disturbing.

Then in response to the show, I read this article in the Sydney Morning Herald.  It is really a pro-religion dismissal of Dawkin and his theories.  Clearly the writer has a religious influence in their life, so it is no surprise that it is anti-Dawkins.

What chilled me though was the paragraph about the interviews with the above mentioned Preacher and Cleric:

"As a Lourdes priest, a Colorado Springs evangelical pastor and a Jew-turned-Muslim leader discover in Dawkins's uncompromising interviews, his inquisition is just as persistent, his version of "the greatest story ever told" just as offensive."

Hello?  What about the nutcases being interviewed??

This is my point, no matter how much you want, you cannot in this day of freedom of speech speak ill of religion.  You are deemed "delusional" (pun intended) and an immoral evil person.  But as Dawkins puts it "We are all atheists.  People of Faith are atheist to all but one God - their own.  I in turn, have just gone one God further"

Belief Systems - Each to their Own

OK...

We are all different and in my view each human being can believe what they wish to believe without persecution...

But I have to say, some people pray on people's gullibility and wish for hope for whatever ails them.  This week has brought all this in my head for a number of reasons and from a number of examples.

The Secret.  If you thought Religion was hocus-pocus and conditional brainwashing of the weak willed, then what do you think of The Secret.  A lady from suburban America is making millions by telling people to buy her Book / DVD and learn that you can get things by simply focusing on it.  Wishing is probably a better term.  People, wake up - you are being taken for a ride!!! Its a load of rubbish.

And I have said it before and I will say it again... Religion is the original gullibility complex and I have listened to this week's series of Podcasts from Triple M's Spoonman show (check out the podcast link on my right hand Nav bar ->) in which Spoonman questioned whether a person should or should not convert to another religion for love.  i.e. would you become Jewish to marry a Jewish person?  The subject started out well enough but degenerated into Creationism vs Evolution and Spoonman told his view that he thought religion as a whole was a crock of shit... then you should see the hate that comes down the phone lines and emails from "Good Christian Types"!  This turned into a bigger than Ben Hur subject which turned into the next nights show in which he invited listeners to prove to him that you dont need to be a person of Faith to have a good sense of moral decency.  Well you should listen to the podcast to see how many hateful things are said by "Good Christian Types".  Again I raise this to highlight how we seem today to be incapable of believing in something without having alternate views rammed down your throat...

Of course Spoonman refers to a number of biblical passages involving gang rape and incest and murder and asks the Christians why these things are in the Bible and why they should be the way for people to get their moral compass from.  Its a very interesting hour of radio.

Then another thing today is the death of Jerry Falwell... the evangelical preacher who has probably been responsible for more hate and vitriol against minorities than anyone else and who was the founder of the Zionist Christian movement which is the founder of what is the basis of today's US Government's Neo-Conservative movement... another example of religion leaching into the lives of everyone from you and me through to the poor people suffering in Baghdad because of US Foreign Policy.

If only we could all just believe in our own thing - and if religion is your thing thats fine too - and let others be who they want to be without trying to convert them and make them subservient to your belief system, the world would be a better place.

Maybe I can ask The Secret people why they cant wish for world peace...

Burial Remains of Jesus Christ Found?

This is all over the news, but I have selected to post the link to the Richard Dawkins site as it will be flavoured in the comments section the whole atheist vs theological debate.

For those who don't know Richard Dawkins has published a book called "The God Delusion" which I am reading currently (nearly done!) in which he goes about systematically disproving God and religion in general.

Of course this generates much controversy and he gets some interesting viewpoints on the subject...

But to the news at hand... if this is a true discovery, what then? Will people concede that Jesus married / had a child? DNA will also provide the proof that he was conceived with a mortal father and that he was not a miraculous conception.

Surely the bones will be able to provide evidence of crucifixion? If not, then are the remains not THE Jesus of Nazareth?

DNA? Can it trace ancestry? Can we find people today who can be linked to the DNA? Are they the descendants of Jesus (God?) and if so, what happens if they are Arabic or Jewish or Atheists?

How will this shake the fundamental beliefs of Christians? Does it matter? Is the Bible wrong? Is the whole thing a hoax?

Given I am reading Dawkins' book at the moment, this is all very timely!

Link to the Official Richard Dawkins Website

And for balance... here is the link to the pro-neo conservative FOX News in the US: Fox News - • SPEAKOUT! What Do You Think of the So-Called Find?

The God Delusion

I am half way (sorry, a quarter of the way) through "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins...

Saw this post though and thought I should share it given it's ABC Australia's 'review'....

Clearly, havent read the book... funny how they seem to be OK reviewing it.



RichardDawkins.net - The Official Richard Dawkins Website: "Reposted from:

http://www.abc.net.au



ABC Television's (Australia) Online Book Club discusses The God Delusion.



"

Stem Cell Research

I see that in a conscious vote in Parliament, the ban on Stem Cell Research was lifted. The ban was overturned 82-62 or there abouts and shows that there is a mixed feeling on the subject. I personally am glad this has happened as we may be able to reach new areas of research and hence eradicate some (all?) diseases through this avenue of science. However I was happy to see new Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd give a very good summary of the case for “No” and it didn’t involve religious notions of creationism. Instead he stated that he had an uneasy discomfort at human beings creating “a form” of human life and use that form of human life for medical experimentation. That is a true statement and I guess the only case for not doing Stem Cell research was that it was not “God’s intention” and that religious elements skewed the debate. What Rudd is saying here is a moral argument – and you can have morals without being religious – in that we are potentially creating a sub race of human medical slaves. Sure, nobody is going to grow an embryonic stem cell into a grown adult and then dissect them, but it does present the case that we are creating life synthetically… and life, whether conceived naturally or in a Petri dish is still life.

But my personal view is that whilst that’s a valid argument, the benefit of the greater good is that we can perhaps break ground in the quest for curing disease.

Update: Our parliamentary decision has been picked up by Slashdot. Click here for the debate amongst most Americans on this.

Liberal Politics - The Christian Right?

The arrest and charging of Milton Orkopoulous is a good thing and shows that no matter the political power a man may wield he is not above the law and that in fact it is even a greater justice that he has a longer way to fall than the common man.  May he rot in hell.

However, the public uproar that this seems to be some fault of Premier Morris Iemma is sad.  The Liberal Party, the long standing bastion of moral purity (never mind their previous leader was a philanderer) have basically accused Iemma of hiding Orkopolous.  That the Labor Party condone such horrendous acts.  That was shouted down in Parliament and Iemma has been very firm in disposing Orkopolous from not just his front bench, but from politics despite the presumptive right that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Then yesterday the Liberals took it up a notch saying that there “was another” minister under investigation for similar heinous acts and that Iemma should come clean.  Basically a direct attack that Iemma is hiding pedophiles in the Parliament!  This is dirty politics at its worst and I agree with Iemma that Liberal opposition “leader’ Peter Debnam should resign.  In fact if I was Iemma, I’d take action against Debnam for slander put he’d probably get away with it on account of “parliamentary privilege”.

With all this going on yesterday, I saw an interesting story on Dateline last night that was about the almost cultish Christian group “The Exclusive Brethren” have now moved into politics and have been attacking left wing political parties in New Zealand, Australia and the US.  There reason?  Well they believe that they are the chosen ones to ascend into Heaven at the end of the world (they call it The Rapture) and that they believe that the foreign policies (read war) of John Howard and George Bush are bringing the world closer to that point.  Well I agree with them on that – George Bush has probably come closer to blowing up the world than any other US President and Howard is his lapdog, but the point is that they are infiltrating the right wing parties and funding smear campaigns and running a political agenda that is based on fear and out right lies.

In New Zealand, they put out stories that the Prime Ministers husband was homosexual and that the NZ Green Party (a major player there) was morally corrupt,  In Australia, both John Howard and Peter Costello admitted to having meetings with The Brethren and this has been converted into direct exemptions for the Brethren for their companies in the new Industrial Relations laws.  There it is in black and white in the new IR Laws that there is a broad ranging exemption for “companies and subsidiaries owned and / or managed by the Exclusive Brethren”.  Why does this group get direct mention in national laws?  How far has the Howard government been corrupted / influenced by The Brethren?  Who are these crack pots?  When their ultimate desire based on their religious beliefs is for the world to end so that they can ascend into heaven, then isn’t it a tad dangerous that our Federal and State Liberal parties are being pumped information on the sexual preferences of opposition members and then having their say in the running of the country?

This is scary stuff…

Great Shakes! Its the Sheikh!

Our esteemed Mufti Sheikh el-Halawi has done it again with some completely stupid comments that

·       the cause of sexual assaults on women are women via the way that they dress,

·       that women should be married, dressed in muslim attire and remain in doors

·       that women dressed modestly (read: in standard western clothing) are portraying themselves as pieces of meat.

Charming isn’t it.  I am all for multiculturalism and I was appalled when Bronwyn Bishop tried to ban Muslim head dresses from school and the Muslim community was up in arms and rightly so.  Now we have the reverse and whilst it is good that the Mufti has apologised overnight (something that Bronnie never did), it doesn’t remove the fact that these sort of inflammatory comments were made in the first place.  Why cannot people on both sides of the divide realise that the other side has a right to their own religious and cultural beliefs and stop using high profile members of either community gaining access to the media to sprout their personal and yet highly offensive views.

I am sure there are racists and bigots on both sides, but do we really need to give them so much air time when the vast majority of people just don’t care?