Parents speak out

From The Herald Sun

Parents lobby Victorian Government to ban Bible in classrooms

By Susie O'Brien 
February 04, 2012

The billboard in Bulleen. Supplied

PARENTS are stepping up pressure on the Education Department to end religious education in state schools amid claims it is making children isolated and fearful. 

A massive billboard has been erected in Bulleen claiming state schools "are not church playgrounds".

It says: "Special religious instruction divides our children".

The billboard was erected by parent-run lobby group FIRIS (Fairness in Religion in Schools), which is calling on education authorities to change the law so that "special religious instruction" is no longer offered in state schools.

Victorian state school children have to attend 30 minutes of special religious instruction unless their parents decline on their behalf.

Those who do not attend have to be supervised by another teacher outside the classroom where the religious lesson is taking place.

It comes ahead of a VCAT case challenging the validity of religious classes in state schools.

Full Story:   http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/parents-lobby-victorian-government-to-ban-bible-in-classrooms/story-fn7x8me2-1226262178252

How NOT To Do It, Lesson 3

Submitted by Graham

From the Sydney Morning Herald website


Life in Israel an ultra-orthodox paradox 

By  Hamish McDonald, Asia-Pacific editor
January 21, 2012

Protest ... police struggle face ultra-orthodox Jews at a rally

in Jerusalem. Photo: Reuters

Back in Israel after a 13-year interval, the changes are highly visible, the mood vastly different. Were there ever this many ultra-orthodox Jews in the streets of Jerusalem, flocking to the Western Wall of the ancient temple on Shabbat eve - some of them resplendent dudes in their black stockings, frock coats, fur or felt hats, and curly ringlets?

Was the coastal corridor such a monument to the high-tech industry that now contributes 40 per cent of Israel's exports, switches start-up entrepreneur for doctor in Jewish mothers' ambitions for their sons, and fosters such a hedonistic lifestyle that Tel Aviv has just been voted the best ''gay city'' of 2011?

In the 20 years of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, has the outlook for settlement ever been so bleak and pessimistic?

Within and without, the few givens and certainties about Israel and its surrounding region are dissolving.


Full Article:   http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/life-in-israel-an-ultraorthodox-paradox-20120120-1qa2k.html

Playing with stats

Submitted by Graham

From the Sydney Morning Herald website

More schools opting for secular workers instead of chaplains

By Dan Harrison
January 10, 2012

"Chaplains and student welfare workers are a great asset to schools" ...

Peter Garrett, School Education Minister. Photo: Dean Sewell

MORE than 200 schools that have had a federal government-funded chaplain plan to hire a secular welfare worker instead, taking advantage of changes to the $222 million scheme.

Before the School Education Minister, Peter Garrett, announced the changes in September, schools could only appoint a welfare worker if they could prove that no chaplain was available.

Government figures show that of 2512 schools which have reapplied for funding, 208, or 8 per cent, have proposed to employ a welfare worker; 2236, or 89 per cent, indicated they wanted a chaplain or religious pastoral care worker; while 68, or 3 per cent, said they had not decided which they wanted.

A discussion paper released last year to inform a review of the program showed that 0.01 per cent of workers employed under the program had no religious affiliation, yet more than 18 per cent of the population says it has no religion.

Welfare workers were most popular in the ACT, where 28 per cent of schools that were reapplying for funding opted for one instead of a chaplain.

In NSW, 14 per cent of schools with federal government-funded chaplains said they wanted a secular welfare worker instead. Eighty-three per cent said they would continue to employ a chaplain, while 3 per cent had not decided between a welfare worker and chaplain.

Full Story:   http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/more-schools-opting-for-secular-workers-instead-of-chaplains-20120109-1prs2.html

Canada's new Office Of Religious Freedom

Submitted by Meg

From the Globe and Mail website

It’s already a happy new year for religious extremists

By Gerald Caplan
Friday, Jan. 06, 2012

Palestinian police officers intervene in a fight between Greek Orthodox and Armenian

clergymen during the cleaning of the Church Of The Nativity in Bethlehem on 28th December, 2011.

Photo: Bernat Armangue / AP

The Harper government is about to create a new Office of Religious Freedom, designed to champion religious freedom around the world. For those who have questioned, especially in a time of deep austerity, the need for such an office, activities within and among the world’s three great monotheistic religion during the recent Holy Days – in order of birth Judaism, Christianity and Islam – provide a ready answer. There is much work for Canada to do.


In the United States, for example, large numbers of conservative Catholics and evangelicals joined forces in a search for an appropriate Republican candidate to take on Barack Obama, an alien Muslim from Kenya. God-fearing Republicans of all denominations cheered for capital punishment (the more the merrier), applauded the possibility that a man without health insurance might die and booed a gay soldier serving his nation in Iraq. 

Across the Middle East and throughout immigrant communities in Western Europe, many Sunni and Shiite Muslims united in embracing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated anti-Semitic document that invented a Jewish conspiracy to rule the world and for generations was treated as gospel by many Christians regardless of denomination.

In Israel, Jews across the vast spectrum of Judaism, from the most secular to the ultra-orthodox, came together in a determination never to recognize the just rights of the Palestinian people.

It is true, however, that such welcome signs of unity have not been the entire story of the season. In fact, one might say that faith-driven conflict has had a very creative few weeks.

Full Article:   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/gerald-caplan/its-already-a-happy-new-year-for-religious-extremists/article2294260/singlepage/#articlecontent


Related Article:   http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/conservatives-laying-groundwork-for-office-of-religious-freedom/article2288479/

Human Rights > Religious Rights

Submitted by Graham

From the Sydney Morning Herald website

Faith in equality a must

By Leslie Cannold
January 2, 2012

Illustration: Robin Cowcher

Secular authorities need to ensure they win fights with zealots over the rights of women.

LAST week in Israel, a news story shocked the nation. It concerned Naama Margolis, an Orthodox Jewish girl, who was shown crying and quaking at the prospect of taking the 800-metre walk from her home to school. The reason for her distress? The harassment and intimidation she has been subjected to by a roving band of ultra-Orthodox men who felt that her long-sleeved shirt and below-knee-length skirt were insufficiently "modest".

The men called Naama a slut. They spat on her and made her fear for her safety. Naama Margolis is eight years old.

The story has gone global. But so far few of the male "experts" who have been asked to comment appear to have a clue what is truly at stake, not just for women or Israel, but for all pluralist secular democracies.

What Naama's story reveals is the unavoidable clash between the sexist edicts of religious extremists and the state's guarantee of full human rights to all its female citizens.

Behind this clash is a far older and more fundamental one. Namely, who will decide how women will live - the church or the state?


Full Article:   http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/faith-in-equality-a-must-20120101-1ph7l.html

Indo punks targeted by religious police

From the ABC News Website

Punk's not dead, it's just gone to moral rehab

December 15, 2011

Photo: An Indonesian police woman cuts the hair of a

detained female punk. (AFP: Chaideer Mahyuddin )

Indonesian sharia police are "morally rehabilitating" more than 60 young punk rock fans in Aceh province on Sumatra island, saying the youths are tarnishing the province's image.

Since being arrested at a punk rock concert in the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Saturday night, 59 male and five female punk rock fans have been forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray.

"We feared that the Islamic sharia law implemented in this province will be tainted by their activities," Banda Aceh deputy mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, who ordered the arrests, said.

"We hope that by sending them to rehabilitation they will eventually repent."

Hundreds of Indonesian punk fans came from around the country to attend the concert, organised to raise money for orphans.

Police stormed the venue and arrested fans sporting mohawks, tattoos, tight jeans and chains, who were on Tuesday taken to a nearby town to undergo a 10-day moral rehabilitation camp run by police.


Full Story:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-14/punk-rockers-rehabilitated-under-islamic-law/3731442

The right thing to do

From the ABC News website


Bishop overturns school snub of lesbian couple
By Natalie Whiting

Updated December 14, 2011 11:47:38


A bishop has intervened to overturn a Catholic primary school's decision to refuse to enrol a lesbian couple's daughter.

The couple, who do not want to be identified, had tried to enrol their child at Sacred Heart Primary School at Broken Hill in far western New South Wales.

They say the principal told them their relationship was the reason the application had been turned down.

The acting bishop for the Wilcannia-Forbes diocese, Kevin Manning, says he is appalled by that decision.

"There's no way in the world one can penalise a child for what his or her parents do," he said.

"To penalise a five year old child because her parents are living in a homosexual relationship is just quite wrong and I've been in touch with both the school principal and also the parish priests."


Full Story:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-14/bishop-overturns-school-snub-of-lesbian-couple/3730738


Unfortunately, the bishop responsible for the change isn't clearly identified in the story.


15% percent of the funding of a school doesn't "buy" you the right to inflict your own personal or religious bigotry onto others. And if you think that whole concept of "buying" an opportunity to discriminate is abhorrent in the first place, you're not alone.

Evolution of an intersection

Submitted by John

From the World Policy Blog

The Long and Winding Road to Secular Democracy

By Nick Danforth

December 9, 2011 - 11:15am 

Following the electoral success of Islamist parties in Tunisia and Egypt, a vexing question is once again in the news: how can Islam and democracy healthily coexist? Unfortunately, debates over the importance and difficulty of separating "mosque and state" often become confused by the obvious (if seldom stated) comparison: the evolution of secularism in Christian Europe.

After a decade's worth of arguing, everyone seems happy to stick to their rival assumptions about Christianity and Islam— Some people take it for granted that Christianity was always more secular, some find this idea too ridiculous to even discuss.

But assumptions have dangers. Those who only see the fundamental differences between Islam and Christianity too often conclude that if democracy cannot prevail in the Muslim Middle East, autocracy might be a safer choice. Those who follow their (usually reliable) instinct to focus on the similarities, however, often cannot explain the success of Islamist parties as anything other than a reaction to secular autocracy. Seeing the counter-intuitive chain of events that led to secular democracy in Europe will help both sides better appreciate the challenge facing the Middle East.

There really was an important historical difference between church-state relations in the Christian and Islamic worlds— but certainly not because Christianity itself was any more secular than Islam. Rather, the separation of church and state in Europe took shape from the unique institution of the Vatican, and its millennia-long fight against the separation of church and state. In fact, for years the only thing church leaders and their monarchical counterparts agreed on was that church and state should be united. They just disagreed over who should be holding the reins. And this fight for power kept church and state at odds.


Full article:   http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2011/12/09/long-and-winding-road-secular-democracy

One step forward

From the ABC News website

Queensland passes civil unions bill

Updated December 01, 2011 07:45

'Blow against prejudice' - Anna Bligh addresses a gay rights rally

before the vote (AAP: Toby Mann)

The Queensland Parliament has joined Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT in passing legislation recognising same-sex civil partnerships.

As expected, the Opposition voted against the bill as did most independent MPs.

Labor MPs were allowed a conscience vote and four voted against the legislation, but the final result was not as close as expected with a margin of 47 votes to 40.

Inside Parliament, Premier Anna Bligh reflected the views of a majority of her party.

"The bill that is before the Parliament is a bill that seeks to strike a blow against prejudice and strike a blow against discrimination," she said.

Health Minister Geoff Wilson, who initially said he would support the bill, was one of the Labor MPs who voted against the bill.

"The more I have thought about it, about what I personally believe according to my faith, unfortunately I can't support the bill," he said.

Another Labor MP, Michael Choi, was the first to tell Parliament he would not support the legislation.

"This is by far the hardest legislation for the last 10 years I've had to work on," he said.

"I struggled and have argued with myself over and over, but at the end I could not support this bill.

"My conscience does not allow me to go further. I wanted to but I could not."

Mr Choi also thanked Ms Bligh for allowing MPs to make up their own minds.


Full Story:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-01/queensland-parliament-passes-same-sex-bill/3705444


Congratulations, QLD ! The spotlight on bigotry just got considerably brighter. Well done.

Perhaps Health Minister Geoff Wilson and those other community representatives that voted similarly, need to consider that their government positions aren't pulpits, and the work they do in those positions is not an acceptable opportunity for them to legislate their personal beliefs onto others. Politicians need to represent all of their constituents, not just the majority of them, and so should act accordingly.

How NOT to do it, Lesson 2

From Slate.com

Rule of Lord
The Republican plan to nullify the courts and establish Christian theocracy.

By William Saletan
Posted Monday, Nov. 21, 2011

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann.

Photograph by Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images.

Is the United States sliding toward theocracy? That’s what Republican presidential candidates have told us for more than a year. Radical Islam, they’ve argued, is on the verge of taking over our country through Sharia law. But this weekend, at an Iowa forum sparsely covered by the press, the candidates made clear that they don’t mind theocracy—in fact, they’d like to impose it—as long as it’s Christian.

You can find video of Saturday’s “Thanksgiving Family Forum” on the Web sites of two organizations that sponsored it: CitizenLink and the Family Leader. Here are highlights of the candidates’ remarks.
 

1. Religious Americans must fight back against nonbelievers. To quote Herman Cain:

"What we are seeing is a wider gap between people of faith and people of nonfaith. … Those of us that are people of faith and strong faith have allowed the nonfaith element to intimidate us into not fighting back. I believe we’ve been too passive. We have maybe pushed back, but as people of faith, we have not fought back."

2. The religious values we must fight for are Judeo-Christian. Rick Perry warned:

"Somebody’s values are going to decide what the Congress votes on or what the president of the United States is going to deal with. And the question is: Whose values? And let me tell you, it needs to be our values—values and virtues that this country was based upon in Judeo-Christian founding fathers."

3. Our laws and our national identity are Judeo-Christian. Michele Bachmann explained:

"American exceptionalism is grounded on the Judeo-Christian ethic, which is really based upon the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments were the foundation for our law. That’s what Blackstone said—the English jurist—and our founders looked to Blackstone for the foundation of our law. That’s our law."

4. No religion but Christianity will suffice. Perry declared,

“In every person’s heart, in every person’s soul, there is a hole that can only be filled by the Lord Jesus Christ.”

5. God created our government. Bachmann told the audience:

"I have a biblical worldview. And I think, going back to the Declaration of Independence, the fact that it’s God who created us—if He created us, He created government. And the government is on His shoulders, as the book of Isaiah says."

I won't include the full text of the rest, but I'll list the remaining talking points to entice you to look at the full article - if you thought the first 5 were cause for concern, wait 'til you read the rest !

6. U.S. law should follow God’s law.

7. Anything that’s immoral by religious standards should be outlawed.

8. The federal government should impose this morality on the states.

9. Congress should erase the judiciary’s power to review moral laws.

10. Courts that get in the way should be abolished.

11. The purge of judges should be based on public opinion.

12. Freedom means obeying morality. 

Read what these leaders had to say on these topics by clicking on the "Full Article" link below. The video of the event is also available. 


Full article:   http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/human_nature/2011/11/christian_theocracy_how_newt_gingrich_and_the_gop_would_abolish_courts_and_legislate_morality_.html

Understanding the common human drive

From The Sydney Morning Herald

Religion, ethics may be in new curriculum

By Barney Zwartz
November 21, 2011

Calling the shots ... Professor Barry McGaw. Photo: Eddie Jim

RELIGION and ethics taught from a secular perspective might be included in the new national curriculum, says Barry McGaw, the head of the board responsible for the curriculum.

Professor McGaw, the chairman of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, said religion and ethics would be included in a discussion paper early next year for the civics and citizenship course.

A Macquarie University PhD student, Cathy Byrne, told a forum hosted by the curriculum board in Sydney last week that the approach to religion and ethics in Australian schools was decades behind other leading developed nations.


She told the Herald that Sweden began compulsory core social science teaching on religion and ethics in 1962, while England began in 1988.

Canada introduced it in 2007 with no opt-out provision, a measure upheld by Canada's highest court, she said. When Ireland introduced planned changes next year, it would leave ''only Australia and New Zealand doing 19th-century religious education'', Ms Byrne said.


She said such courses taught the top five or six religions, humanism, nature, religion and indigenous spiritualities, and secular ideologies such as atheism.

 They were particularly valuable in helping children understand their pluralistic world, social inclusion, cohesion, stability and security. They helped children develop critical thinking and understand the search for purpose and meaning, as a common human - not just religious - drive.

Source:   http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/religion-ethics-may-be-in-new-curriculum-20111120-1npdz.html

Just change the name... she'll be right, mate !

Submitted by Ralph

From the  Secular Public Education Lobby

Why Julia Gillard's born-again NSCP is a shameful sham


Saturday, 19th November, 2011

Video narrated by Ron Williams

When you're NOT in the majority..

From the ABC News website

23 killed in bloody Cairo protests
 
By Middle East correspondent Ben Knight in Cairo, wires

October 10, 2011 20:11:32 

Egyption Coptic Christians carry the coffin of a victim of deadly clashes, during a

 funeral at Abbassaiya Cathedral in Cairo on October 10, 2011, a day after 24 people,

mostly Christians, died in clashes with Egyptian security forces.

At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 were wounded in Cairo as security forces fought angry Christian protesters demonstrating against the burning of a church in the south of the country.

Christians threw rocks and petrol bombs and set cars on fire in some of the most violent scenes since an uprising ousted ex-president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Hundreds from both sides fought with sticks on a Cairo bridge. Protesters carrying crosses and pictures of Jesus later spread to the central Tahrir Square, the focal point of the February uprising.

There were scenes of mayhem at a hospital where many of the dead and injured were taken, and soldiers later enforced a curfew in large areas of central Cairo.

The ruling military council has promised to protect all Egyptians while the country deals with a transition between a revolution and elections, but Egypt's minority Christians say the council is doing nothing to stop attacks on their churches and people by radical Islamists.

Full Story, plus video:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-10/protesters-killed-in-cairo-clashes/3457784 

ABC Radio:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-10/cairo-clashes-claim-more-victims/3459396
  
For those in Australia that subscribe to a religious faith that enjoys the privileges and benefits of being in the majority, you might like to think, just for a moment, about what it's like for those with religious beliefs that are not in the majority. Whilst the recent unrest in Egypt is undeniable, as it's people struggle to enact positive change, this story somewhat highlights the aforementioned situation, and helps to demonstrate why church-state separation is so important for equality and freedom of belief.

Doing it right

From The Wall Street Journal's Blog, "Metropolis"

Bloomberg: Sunday’s 9/11 Ceremony a Civil, Not Religious Occasion

By Michael Howard Saul
September 9, 2011, 10:39 AM

NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Photo: Associated Press 

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is defending his decision to exclude religious leaders from New York City’s ceremony commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“It’s a civil ceremony. There are plenty of opportunities for people to have their religious ceremonies,” Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show. “Some people don’t want to go to a religious ceremony with another religion. And the number of different religions in this city are really quite amazing.”

Mayoral aides have previously defended Bloomberg’s decision by saying it would be complicated and controversial to choose which religious leaders would speak at the ceremony. But on Friday, the mayor said that isn’t the issue.

“It isn’t that you can’t pick and choose, you shouldn’t pick and choose,” Bloomberg said. “If you want to have a service for your religion, you can have it in your church or in a field, or whatever.”

At one point, the mayor suggested that allowing clergy to speak at 9/11 ceremony would be, in effect, thrusting religion upon the thousands of attendees and the millions more watching, some of whom might object.

Full Article:   http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2011/09/09/bloomberg-sundays-911-ceremony-a-civil-not-religious-occasion/

Check out some of the comments on this story. I like this one:

1:05 pm September 11, 2011
Mike wrote: 

I think it’s wrong for any elected official to prohibit the free exercise of ANY faith. To tell those who lost loved ones on 9/11 that they can’t express their heartfelt beliefs is insensitive and callous! I’m glad that President Obama and George Bush ignored this arrogant, godless man’s attempt to “prohibit the free exercise” of our right to proclaim our religious beliefs, something that Congress is not even allowed to do! 

Mike's entire objection is based on fallacy. Mayor Bloomberg wasn't stopping anyone from freely exercising their religion - he did, in this instance, however, adhere to the best intention of the US Constitution, and simply not allow his government to favour any one, or group of religions, over any others, or over those with no religion. That's how you correctly include everyone. Mike clearly doesn't "get it".

For his troubles, Mr Bloomberg is labelled a communist, a dictator, un-American, insensitive and callous, a muslim sympathiser, arrogant, godless, and a Marxist tyrant. It's also specifically noted, for some reason, that "he's a Jew".

Shame.