Religion and politics across the pond 26 Jun 20084 Oct 2017 On the one hand we have James Dobson declaring that Barack Obama isn’t really Christian, because he distorts the Bible. Funny, I thought the Bible had some things to say about that [Matt 5:22, 7:1, Luke 6:37, Rom 2:1, 14:4, James 4:11, but then I’m not a Christian so I am probably misreading it by taking it literally here]. It is clearly un-Christian to make arguments for the arrangement of a secular society in a secular manner. How dare Obama make that argument in a secular society. But we know that the Christian right doesn’t actually want a secular society. On the other hand we have a secular society – Australia – acquiescing in the government funding of religiously based schools. It seems that the new government is not likely to roll back the privileging of religious schools, even extending it to Muslim schools (and why not? If you are going to give the Catholic or Anglican school system more money than equivalent state schools, of course you’d have to do it for Islamic schools). But it seems that in a society that does not have church-state separation, those schools that actually teach things whether or not they happen to suit some archbishop in Sydney or Imam are being given less support. So the non-religious lose out. I have voiced my concerns about the religiosity of Australian politicians before. It looks like it is starting to bear fruit. Politics Religion
Academe Attack of the Unlibrarian 15 Dec 201115 Dec 2011 I am generally fairly IT savvy (I even have an ancient IT degree), but at the same time I am rather unconvinced that the future is as digital as everyone says. In particular I have been appalled at the constant destruction of physical books by university libraries. Now I am… Read More
Epistemology Science is not a religion, nor does it involve faith 15 Nov 201115 Nov 2011 Suppose you had a friend who saw the world in terms solely of his football team. If you are discussing politics, he refers to the boardroom of the team; if you are talking morality, the on-field ethics of his favourites stars. Now you start to talk about science, and he… Read More
Philosophy That concludes the God and Evolution Series 24 May 201324 May 2013 That’s all I will post for now on God and Evolution. Here is the list of posts: 1.Introduction 2.The problem of creation 3.The problem of purpose A 4.The problem of purpose B 5.The problem of chance 6.Is Darwinism atheism? Next I will do a series on Evolution and Morality. Read More
Too much to hope for im afraid John. Seems the rational and non-religious always miss out,whether in education or other fields.But we will bend our backs as a society to accomodate even the smallest crackpot cult’s demands for funding their schools,the UK is even worse than Australia.
Too much to hope for im afraid John. Seems the rational and non-religious always miss out,whether in education or other fields.But we will bend our backs as a society to accomodate even the smallest crackpot cult’s demands for funding their schools,the UK is even worse than Australia.
Dobson accused Obama of bad theology for pointing out that Leviticus says that slavery is acceptable and eating shellfish is an abomination. (Obama also referred to the Sermon on the Mount, stating that it contains “a passage so radical that it’s doubtful our own Defense Department would survive its application.”) On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart said something like, “of course–reference to Leviticus and attempting to apply it to contemporary morality is bad theology,” then showed footage of Dobson appealing to Leviticus as an argument for the immorality of homosexuality. The funny thing is that Obama isn’t distorting anything about what the Bible actually says. http://godhatesshrimp.com/
Dobson accused Obama of bad theology for pointing out that Leviticus says that slavery is acceptable and eating shellfish is an abomination. (Obama also referred to the Sermon on the Mount, stating that it contains “a passage so radical that it’s doubtful our own Defense Department would survive its application.”) On “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart said something like, “of course–reference to Leviticus and attempting to apply it to contemporary morality is bad theology,” then showed footage of Dobson appealing to Leviticus as an argument for the immorality of homosexuality. The funny thing is that Obama isn’t distorting anything about what the Bible actually says. http://godhatesshrimp.com/