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