Dr. Michael Shermer’s Lecture at Melbourne Uni

For anyone interested, and who lives in the vicinity of Melbourne, Dr. Michael Shermer is coming to the University of Melbourne to give a 1hr lecture on his new book The Believing Brain.

It’s on the 19th of September from 6pm-7pm and is free, you just have to register here so that you have a seat on the night. Get on it!

 

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Jim Wallace on Sunrise, church’s position on gay marriage

Jim Wallace was recently on Sunrise spreading his anti-gay marriage message to all. For those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, Jim Wallace was the moron from The Australian Christian Lobby who thought it’d be a good idea on ANZAC day to tweet:

Just hope that as we remember Servicemen and women today we remember the Australia they fought for – wasn’t gay marriage and Islamic!

When asked about his opinion on gay marriage and the stance of the church you can guess that his first response was relating to scripture and Jesus not ‘ordaining’ gay marriage, but then he goes on some stupid rant about marriage only being for those who plan on having children.

…the reality is that in this issue that it still takes the involvement of a man and a woman to make a child, and therefore we have nature prescribing that a man and a woman should be involved in the creation of a child and should be involved in the nurturing of that child as is natural order. And I find it absolutely amazing that at a time in our history when we’re jumping through hoops to try to make sure that every tree on the planet has its natural environment so it can flourish that we would be challenging the definition of marriage, which creates exactly that environment for a child requiring that it’s between a man and a woman, and that they should live to the exclusion of all others for as long as they both shall live.

Firstly, the weird tree analogy? What the hell does any of that even mean (see this blog post by Bruce Llama for some hilarity on the issue)? Since when was marriage meant only for those planning on having a child? What about anyone who doesn’t want to have children, or whom physically can’t? What about a Christian couple who never have children, would there be some point at which their marriage is made invalid if they don’t create sufficient progeny in some preordained period of time? OF COURSE NOT!

Christian or not, the church would still undoubtedly not stand in the way of any man and woman planning on getting married whether they were going to ever have children or not, and whether they were even Christian. So clearly, ‘in this day and age’, Jim, the the church could give a monkey’s if a couple were planning on ever having children… And I think it’s shameful of you to hide behind such non-sensical and invalid arguments.

Why don’t you just say what you really think, as you were so willing to do on ANZAC day Jim? What is really the crux the story here is that the church is anti-homosexuality and wants to discriminate against them because their way of live isn’t parallel with gospel or that of Jesus. You said that in your opening comments in the interview, Jim, that you [Christians] want to live as Jesus would have wanted you to. Therefore, by denying gays the ability to be married you really ARE discriminating against them… It’s like every Christian who tells me, “as a Christian I don’t judge anyone else, but you are going to hell Pete”.

There are a great deal of gay people out there who want to have children, and will whether it’s through adoption or IVF, etc, whether they’re married or not. So the pro-creation argument is sort of futile here, not allowing gay people to marry won’t stop them having children. I might also add that I’m sure a great number of gay couples would raise children in a much healthy environment than many religious people.

I think for the most part, the Christian fear of gay-marriage is ridiculous. Christians clearly see it as a threat to their belief, and while it’s not legal they will fight to the tooth to keep it where it is. But when it really comes down to it the majority of gay people, like the majority of Australians, aren’t going to be getting married because of their religious beliefs. So they’re not going to have any effect on your religion or your churches if they are allowed to get married. Fighting against equality is useless.

Keep your views on religious marriage within the church, and allow the state to marry whomever desires to be married in the eyes of the law. It’s a word… Get over it, and start “live more like Jesus did” and love thy neighbour mate, or at the very least keep thy noise our of thy neighbour’s life!

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High Court rules refugees won’t be going to Malaysia

The Australian High Court has shunned the Labour Government’s deal with Malaysia to send 800 refugees to the country, along with any future refugees that arrive.

The whole idea behind this plan was to send refugees to a country where for all intents and purposes they will be treated much more poorly compared to Australia in an attempt to quell people smuggling. However, the High Court has decided that any refugees that are seeking asylum in Australia, but make it to our shores illegally, need to be dealt with here in Australia instead of being passed of to another country to wait in limbo.

To be honest I’m of like minds with the Greens Party on this one and don’t thing it’s human nor says much for our country’s ethics if we were to allow this deal to go ahead. The number of illegal refugees who arrive here by boat is infinitesimally  small compared to those who arrive by plane. So I think it’s time to get some perspective. People smugglers aren’t going to stop even whether refugees are sent to Malaysia or not. As if the people they traffic will even hear of said deal prior to be smuggled here even if it were put into place… Surely the smugglers would just feed them any bullshit story that will get them on the boats and keep the money filling their wallets.

I’m glad the deal was smacked down by the high court, and think the government should just suck it up and invest a little more into having these people processed more quickly. Allow the legitimate ones to stay and ship the illegitimate ones back home. If that is what’s going to happen whether they go to Malaysia or not, we should be treating these people with the humanity and respect they deserve and getting them processed as soon as possible. Pull your heads out, we were all ‘illegal’ immigrants here less than 250 years ago.

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Care to join me in Pastafarian prayer?

“Our pasta, who art in a colander, draining be your noodles. Thy noodle come, Thy sauce be yum, on top some grated Parmesan. Give us this day, our garlic bread, …and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trample on our lawns. And lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza, for thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever. RAmen.”

The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holy Prayer” – Unknown

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Jamie Kilstein on religious homophobia

I recently wrote a post on a Catholic woman who was afraid to leave her home because of the ‘immoral’ homosexuals out and about in her community. Here’s a not-so-reserved response by Jamie Kilstein to religious homophobia. He’s a brilliant atheist comedian, so have a look.

Warning: Not safe for work, lots of course language and explicit description (win).

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Cuban man with 12 fingers and 12 toes

Yoandri Hernandez Garrido is the proud owner of 12 fingers and 12 toes, and is aptly nicknamed “24″ by his mates.

“Hernandez is proud of his extra digits and calls them a blessing, saying they set him apart and enable him to make a living by scrambling up palm trees to cut coconuts and posing for photographs in this eastern Cuban city popular with tourists.” - Nine News

It’s known as polydactyly, which means “many fingers”, and is caused by a genetic mutation that affects the genes related to development patterning. It a relatively common congenital defect, however Mr Garrido is a rare case because of how well all of his extra fingers and toes are formed.

High six!

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Bongs to be banned in Victoria, here comes the ‘nanny state’…

Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge

By January 1st 2012 bongs and other cannabis related paraphernalia will be banned from being displayed or sold in Victoria, Australia.

Fuck me… have we nothing better to do with our time than worry about this sort of stuff? Are we really wasting our time, energy and tax payers dollars on banning the sale of bongs? Have people stopped starving in Africa, have we nothing else left in the world to address…?

Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge is at the front of this latest ‘nanny state’ wave,

“The changes being introduced into parliament will bring Victoria’s position on cannabis smoking paraphernalia in line with other states, which all have some restrictions in place,” Ms Wooldridge said.

She states that the research indicates that cannabis use is associated with the increased risk of developing mental illness… what about it’s medicinal use with regards to

Ms Wooldridge is worried that the sale of cannabis paraphernalia sends a ‘dangerous’ message that cannabis is a soft drug. Ummm… but it is? It’s non-addictive, it’s toxicity is 1000s of times less than alcohol or nicotine, it’s potential for physical harm is also much less. It’s safer than caffeine and aspirin for fuck’s sake, how soft can you get? Feel free to reference and quote the 100s of studies showing cannabis’ medicinal uses, for treatment numerous disease from aids to MS, and the curing of, and even protection against, cancer.

A categorization of hard (red), soft (yellow) and borderline drugs (orange), by Nutt et al.

I’d argue people like Ms Wooldridge are sending the fallacious message that alcohol and tobacco are “soft drugs”. Both are incredibly more dangerous for you than illicit substances like cannabis, MDMA and acid.

Maybe it’s about time our Health Ministers started implementing legislation based heavily on fact instead of personal opinion, bias and misinformation. If you really want to make the community a better place, just banning everything isn’t going to change anything. You’re just further impinging on the freedoms of your citizens…

These politicians are never scientists, they never look at the facts and fiction to separate the two and then bring in helpful laws and regulations based in truth. They just react to the loudest voices from the public arena, like so many other areas of our government.

This sort of legislation will do a great deal more damage in my opinion because you’re going to further brainwash the public into hating a substance which doesn’t deserve to be hated.

Until are laws and legislation are based on facts and good science instead of fear and fiction, we’ll be the ones to suffer.

Reference : Nutt, D.; King, L. A.; Saulsbury, W.; Blakemore, C. (2007). “Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse”. The Lancet 369 (9566): 1047–1053.

I might add, the above first author Prof David Nutt used to be the chief drug adviser to the UK government until he wouldn’t back down on his position that cannabis and MDMA should be in the lowest classification of illicit drugs. So the government sacked him and found someone else who’d back their position up.

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Catholic woman can’t leave house anymore, too many gays.

Man life sure is getting hard for Catholics. This woman feels she can’t even leave the safety of her own home with her children anymore because of all the homosexuals out there. Long gone are the days where you could go to the local pool or park and enjoy a ‘gay’ day out with the family without the ‘immoral’ homosexuals raining on your parade.

“The same people who say I shouldn’t impose my morality on them, are imposing immorality on me and my children to the point that I literally have a hard time even leaving my home anymore to do something as simple as visit the park. And this is freedom?”

When it comes to people having an issue with the ‘morality’ of the religious, it’s not necessarily to do with what they believe, but how they act upon their beliefs. How are a gay couple at the pool lying next to one another, elbow to elbow, and “exchanging doe-eyes”, imposing their ‘immorality’ on you? They’re not even engaging with you at all…

How is that any different from say a Christian wearing a huge cross around their neck, or a muslim woman wearing a hijab, or an Hasidic Jew wearing his Bekishe and black hat or kippah in public? To be honest I’m not a fan at all and to a point it offends me, but I’m tolerant enough to deal with it. It’s a ‘free’ world, and even if I had the want and ability to prevent them from being able to I would never do so.

What about people with tattoos, dyed hair or piercings, or the obese, or foreigners/other races… Homosexuality is just one more facet of our society that some of us may not personally approve of or appreciate, but that’s life. Being part of society means being tolerant and dealing with other people of other races, beliefs, backgrounds, who enjoy different things, especially when they aren’t impinging upon your personal freedoms.

“This is my community. I find myself unable to even leave the house anymore without worrying about what in tarnation we are going to encounter. We are responsible citizens. We live by the rules, we pay our taxes, we take care of our things. I’m supposed to be able to influence what goes on in my community, and as a voter I do exercise that right. But I’m outnumbered. I can’t even go to normal places without having to sit silently and tolerate immorality.”

Last time I checked it’s everyone’s community. That includes you and it includes homosexuals. How do you think the homosexuals felt no so long ago in the early to mid 20th century when it was taboo for them to even admit to being gay, let along come out in public and be themselves with their families? If you can’t deal with them simply being out in all the public places you’re allowed to go, that’s your problem and no one else’s. Not so long ago I’m sure many people with the same mindset as yourself would be as upset when they saw a black person enter the same store as them, or ride at the front of the bus.

If it were homosexuals pushing their personal beliefs and behaviour onto you and your family in public, maybe you’d have the same foot to stand on as those “people who say [you] shouldn’t impose your morality on them”. Until then, go to your doctor and get a top-up shot of tolerance and maturity, and if your children ask you questions answer them as appropriately as possible without demonizing a group of people who are doing nothing more than showing love for one another in public.

“Seriously, is this freedom?”

Yup. It’s your faith that has you locked in your house, not the gays enjoying their lives out in public. If you want to go to a space likely to be as close to ‘gay free’ as any today, might I suggest going to church more often.

You just have to laugh when all too often you hear Christians complaining that, yet again “I have to talk to my children about why two men were hugging now, that’s impinging on my freedom!”… Therefore what? Ban homosexuality? In other words “my freedoms are more important than those of others!”.

Dictionary.com defines freedom or being free as “enjoying personal rights or liberty, as a person who is not in slavery.; Exempt from external authority, interference, restriction, etc., as a person or one’s will, thought, choice, action, etc.; independent; unrestricted.”

By them simply existing, or appearing in public, isn’t impinging on your personal freedoms at all. You’re able to leave your house at any time without restraint. Your religion in particular, however, has impinged upon the freedoms of countless homosexuals, among other minorities, for a millennia. So maybe it’s time for a little more love and tolerance.

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School chaplaincy program is taken to High Court of Australia

Here’s a wonderfully written account of the Williams v the Commonwealth and Others court hearing that occurred in Australia recently. For those who don’t know we’ve currently go a battle going on between the states and the federal Government who brought in a school chaplaincy program in the last year or so, however, that decision is being challenged.

The chaplaincy program is run by a group called Scripture Union based in Queensland, and receives $222 million tax payers dollars a year to fund ONLY Christian chaplains to go into any state school that asks for one. There’re already 1000s of them in our state schools.

There’s been a great deal of controversy over the decision, as a great deal of us, especially atheists, believe we are a secular nation, with church and state separate, and shouldn’t be funding chaplains to go into our schools and effectively take the role of a counsellor, which they’re far from qualified to do. If federal funding is going to go such a program it shouldn’t explicitly be reserved for Christians. Instead anyone with the interest, appropriate background checks and training (if it’s even required) should be able to do so. Currently that is not the case.

Many thanks to Ron Williams who’s self-funded this case against the school chaplaincy program, and also to Chrys Stevenson who took the time to travel and view the court hearing as it happened and keep us all informed on the proceedings. By the sounds of it we have the federal government on the ropes and reason and justice will prevail!

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US pastor calls for national registry for atheists…

So I just had my daily serving of fruitcake…

Could one be any more ignorant and deluded than this guy, Pastor Mike, who’s calling for a national registry for atheists? In his blog post here he states,

“Registering atheists like Richard Dawkins would at least let people know who – and WHERE – they reside.

“Why do many atheists hold a hatred toward a creator they say doesn’t exist? How can you hate something you claim doesn’t exist?” 

I always cop these kind of garbage statements from religious people I meet when they first learn about atheism from an actual atheist, as opposed to what they’re force-fed by their uneducated, hateful and ignorant church leaders. Atheists DON”T hold any hatred toward your creator, which we don’t believe exists. That would be about as uselessly stupid as holding hatred towards hob-goblins or the tooth fairy. However, I’m sure SOME atheists, far from all of them, may hold a certain amount of dislike for those who worship your non-existent creator. Especially if it fosters this sort of unthinking.

“Brothers and Sisters , I have been seriously considering forming a ( Christian ) grassroots type of organization to be named “The Christian National Registry of Atheists” or something similar . I mean , think about it . There are already National Registrys for convicted sex offenders , ex-convicts , terrorist cells , hate groups like the KKK , skinheads , radical Islamists , etc.. “

I don’t know whether to be impressed or offended at the fact that Pastor Mike didn’t include homosexuals in his list alongside us atheists. However, I’m pretty impressed and offended at the fact that he puts atheists up beside convicted sex offenders, terrorist cells and the KKK. As if being an atheist were a crime. Though by the sounds of this extremist Christian’s ramblings, I’m sure he’d see atheism a crime punishable by death if he had his way.

You don’t need to wonder why the number of atheists is growing all across the globe when you have zealots like this moron spreading this kind of propaganda.

Now , many (especially the atheists ) , may ask “Why do this , what’s the purpose ?” Duhhh , Mr. Atheist , for the same purpose many States put the names and photos of convicted sex offenders and other ex-felons on the I-Net – to INFORM the public ! I mean , in the City of Miramar , Florida , where I live , the population is approx. 109,000 . My family and I would sure like to know how many of those 109,000 are ADMITTED atheists ! Perhaps we may actually know some . In which case we could begin to witness to them and warn them of the dangers of atheism . Or perhaps they are radical atheists , whose hearts are as hard as Pharaoh’s , in that case , if they are business owners , we would encourage all our Christian friends , as well as the various churches and their congregations NOT to patronize them as we would only be “feeding” Satan .

Frankly , I don’t see why anyone would oppose this idea – including the atheists themselves ( unless of course , they’re actually ashamed of their atheist religion , and would prefer to stay in the ‘closet.’ ) . 

People like Pastor Mike are the ones who need to be put on national registries or watch lists. After all, this blog post is one more example of someone attempting to spread hatred and oppression to one of the most benign groups in the world. And I’m sure in the same breath as he condemns atheists he’d tell you how loving, accepting and non-judgmental Christians are. If believing in your creator gives you this attitude to other groups who have opposing beliefs to you, well, maybe you’ll understand why I am an atheist.

Bahhh bahhh bahhh Pastor Mike, you thoughtless sheep.

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