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A change from politics...
I've been pondering doing one of these for a while, but wasn't sure I'd get the wording right. Since it worked so well on his lj, I've decided to completely steal the language of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angriest's recent post instead(*).
1. Tell me your religious beliefs. It can be as simple as "I am an X" or it can be a lengthy paragraph if you like. If you feel your religious and/or spiritual beliefs are private, either don't reply or leave a note saying as much.
2. If you want to reply to something someone else has written, feel free - particularly if you want to ask them a question about the religion you've always wanted to ask but have never been able to, or felt comfortable enough to.
3. This is one of the biggies: if someone asks you a question and you don't feel comfortable answering it, do not feel obliged to answer. Either don't reply at all, or drop a quick reply saying "I don't really want to answer that".
4. Religious intolerance will not be tolerated. I'm aiming this particularly at the aggressive atheists who seem to get their kicks scoring points, but the rule applies in any direction.
I know a lot of you are on both flists, I decided to do it now while it's still fresh in your heads. You are quite welcome to repeat/post a link to your comment over there! And yesfred_mouse I know you were also planning on stealing his idea, but, well, there's no reason it can't be stolen multiple times :D
(*)And yes, I checked it was ok. Don't want to be sued for copyright violation by the big mean famous writer :)
angriest's recent post instead(*).1. Tell me your religious beliefs. It can be as simple as "I am an X" or it can be a lengthy paragraph if you like. If you feel your religious and/or spiritual beliefs are private, either don't reply or leave a note saying as much.
2. If you want to reply to something someone else has written, feel free - particularly if you want to ask them a question about the religion you've always wanted to ask but have never been able to, or felt comfortable enough to.
3. This is one of the biggies: if someone asks you a question and you don't feel comfortable answering it, do not feel obliged to answer. Either don't reply at all, or drop a quick reply saying "I don't really want to answer that".
4. Religious intolerance will not be tolerated. I'm aiming this particularly at the aggressive atheists who seem to get their kicks scoring points, but the rule applies in any direction.
I know a lot of you are on both flists, I decided to do it now while it's still fresh in your heads. You are quite welcome to repeat/post a link to your comment over there! And yes
fred_mouse I know you were also planning on stealing his idea, but, well, there's no reason it can't be stolen multiple times :D(*)And yes, I checked it was ok. Don't want to be sued for copyright violation by the big mean famous writer :)
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No, that's not what I mean.
One of these things is not like the other one.
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Could you elaborate on what you mean when you say that we are failing to separate Church and State?
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Most politicians swear on a Bible when they take their oath of office.
There is Christian prayer in Parliament.
Churches such as Hillsong have a presence in State schools.
State funding to Catholic Youth Day.
Children are automatically subjected to Christian doctrine teaching (_not_ teaching about religion, but teaching of Christian doctrine as truth) in Special Religious Education classes in State schools, unless parents specifically opt out.
The human rights of women and gay people - to bodily autonomy and to civil partnerships/marriage - are violated because of religious doctrine.
The State funds Catholic hospitals to provide public services despite their lack of comprehensive health care to women, and their specific efforts to deny women timely access to health care.
The State prevents foreign aid agencies from providing comprehensive health care to women.
That's off the top of my head.
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- "comprehensive health care to women" is a metaphor for abortion and other contraception-related treatment.
- You mean "World Youth Day", which is a community event open to embers of any denomination, celebrating Roman Catholicism.
I did a bit of searching, but I can't find any information about these opt-out Special Religious Education classes. All I found were details on opt-in (permission slip required) volunteer-basis RE classes run for state schools by local churches, Catholic, Protestant and any other. I understand that these were "off the top of your head" examples, but could you provide some links to more info on this?
Your responses lead me to believe that you aren't differentiating between "The Church" and religious belief.
We do not have a "State Religion". The power structures of the State do not overlap with any church. Politicians are free to swear on anything they value for their oaths. Having a religious belief - or lack thereof - does not bar you from entering politics. Politicians are required to make moral judgements in making laws, and can draw moral guidance from any source they wish.
If you want a government that is anti-religion, where politicians don't have these freedoms, you had better start your own party. Or move to China.
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My state school had someone come in and teach us all creationism, and it was definitely opt-out (not that my parents would have minded RE in principle), but that was years ago.
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WA's State Education Department has no idea how many students have been opted out or what religions are being taught in their own State schools. They don't collect that data, and can't answer the question.
On the swearing on a Bible: it matters not to me that politicians can "swear on whatever they wish". I think they _shouldn't_ be swearing on any religious text when taking public office. If they must swear on a wodge of paper (which I find a bizarre concept in itself), how about the Constitution?
Claiming we have no State religion doesn't really ring true to me while the Lord's Prayer is routinely said in Parliament and State schools routinely teach Christianity.
I'm not going to dignify the "if you don't like it, move to China" with a reply. I don't want a government that's "anti-religion"; I want one that's religion-neutral, and that considers religion - all religion, whatever flavour - to be a private matter with no business in State institutions.
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Wow, ok, so if that's still in force when I have kids there will be Words.
So certain non-christian religions are allowed? I'd prefer United Universists or Bahai etc to christian, and at least that way the kids would be getting an alternative to the pervasive christianess of society (not that they shouldn't know a bit about christianity too, if only in a "these stories underpin our culture" sort of way. Cam had no religious upbringing and doesn't know useful things like "why is that Supernatural episode called "Lazarus rising"?" etc)
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I've seen the occasional parent report a Baha'i class at their school (again, it wouldn't be my choice - they might give good PR, but their beliefs are sexually repressive, anti-gay (believing as they do in faith-based "cures" of this "abnormality"), and not in favour of repro rights). Anglican, Uniting Church, Catholic seem the commonest faiths taught. I've heard of JW classes, and the occasional Islam one. Never heard of a UU course in Australia.
The general teaching _about_ Christianity falls under GRE, General Religious Education. Obviously, I have no problem with that, and we're teaching it at home same as we do every other cultural feature.
I've also had local Church advertising sent home in the schoolbag from time to time, in State kindergarten, which either means that our teachers are spending time distributing it, or some random outside person is being given access to the kids' belongings on-site during class time.
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Huh. Did not know that about the Bahai.