A week or so ago Fred Nile from the Christian Democrat Party came out and announced that he would “torpedo” the State Governments industrial relations legislation in the upper house unless philosophical ethics classes were either:
A. Removed from state schools altogether or;
B. Timetabled so as not to clash with SRE.

Needless to say, these two points are easily addressed from an (ahem) ethical point of view. In regards to Fred’s plan A the point is simply put, a Christian Reverend simply has no business telling secular/atheist/other interested parties what they can and can’t discuss during a period of school time reserved for students to learn more about their own parents/families beliefs and values. The plan B suggestion to move the classes to a non-SRE teaching period is just as pointless of course. A constructive alternative to existing non-SRE is not so constructive when it is not offered as an alternative.

In other words plans A & B are one and the same. Fred Nile’s point then is also simply put: You are not entitled to an alternative beyond that which Fred himself is prepared to grant you and if you refuse to learn about God then you must sit down and shut up. Given the recent statements from the Anglican Education Commission and the Catholic Conference of Religious Education in State Schools that they withdraw their objections to the ethics stream in SRE you have to wonder exactly who these Christian Democrats are? There seems nothing much democratic about this behaviour and I’m pretty sure that “screw people over who don’t share your beliefs” was not mentioned in the sermon on the mount.

So it’s all religion so far. Fair enough, you would expect this kind of behaviour from a certain sort of person. The sort whose personal faith disqualifies non-believers from the human race. There can be no question of equal treatment here: If your parents want to send you to a religious class to learn it’s history and values – go for it, if they don’t – some kind of apartheid of metaphysics! Still, this sort of thing is easy to understand. It’s been the prevailing position in State Schools not just in NSW but around the country for some time. The part I’m most curious about is the political aspect.

After the news broke that everyone except Fred and his CDP were ok with ethics they started to look a little lost and alone. Marginalised and irrelevant is no happy place to be in politics I guess. So a deal was done. The Shooters and Fishers Party who hold the other useful vote in the Upper House came out with a “we’re with Fred” statement. If they weren’t messing things up for our kids I could almost feel sorry for them. A politically naive bunch I think. In return for a few extra licences or kilometres of coastline to fish or perhaps a bit more freedom with their firesticks they are prepared to sink industrial relations legislation and social justice for our states children.

I actually would agree that more freedom for our recreational past times like shooting and fishing are quite legitimate voter issues and enough people agreed to get them a seat in the Upper House, but I do wonder, as much as an Aussies recreation means to them, how many people who voted for this party realised that a chance for more fishing and shooting would come at the price it looks like we might have to pay?

For those among us who feel that the claim of a deal done here is a little cynical, you should take a look at the website for the Shooters and Fishers. They have nothing to say about ethics or religion. In fact the only common ground that Fred and the Shooters and Fishers publicly have is on immigration. This common ground is however far from complete. The Shooters & Fishers want no immigration and Fred Nile just wants no Muslim immigration. They say that politics makes for strange bed fellows but it can apparently also make for merely imperfect ones as well.

It’s often said that something you caught or killed yourself tastes better. This time it might end up leaving a pretty bad taste indeed.

This was one of those moments when I actually felt glad the old bugger was up there on the podium praying away. Here I thought, is the proof that we can still make common cause with our religious, fellow mammals. The priest was up there, talking common sense and not overdoing it. He managed to mix a bit of stern admonishment into his mild rebuke. All in all, a job well done.

Fast forward to this year and I couldn’t make the dawn service. One of my kids was sick in bed, so my missus took the oldest down and I got the slightly guilty pleasure of staying in bed with the little one. So I missed the spirit of ANZAC day really, that was until I saw Jim Wallace’s twitter comments reported on the ABC website this Friday. So what did Jim from the Australian Christian Lobby have to say on ANZAC day?

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

It was very, very disappointing to see a public figure use this platform (ANZAC day not Twitter) to push a bit of bigotry. By associating his views with those of our diggers Jim Wallace has done them a grave disservice. I undertsand that Jim Wallace had a distinguished career in the army but you know what? I had a grandad in WWI, a grandad in WWII and my dad served in Vietnam. Pardon me for speaking plainly here, but I don’t think any of them would piss on Jim Wallace if he was on fire.

So, as you would imagine this effort got widely reported and pretty soon Jimbo had to apologise. What never fails, the thing that is never missing from incidents like this is the woefully inadequate explantions public figures offer when they fuck up. In fact, let’s not call it an explantion, let’s call it what it really was: a justification. Here’s Jims effort:

Ok you are right my apologies this was the wrong context to raise these issues. ANZACs mean to much to me to demean this day, not intended

He also later clarified that it was because he was sitting with his old dad, reflecting that Australia has changed, as if that somehow explains it. My opinion is that Australia probably has changed a great deal. The Australia our diggers fought for was not an Australia of ipods or playstations, it was not an Australia with a female Prime Minister and it was not an Australia where petrol could cost up to $1.50 a litre. Jim Wallace didn’t publicly reflect on any of these things though. What he did was express a bigotry that should no longer be acceptable in this country.

The whole thing has died down now (the news cycle is fast – what’s next, what’s new!) but for me this still leaves a bad taste. For now, religion is a zero sum game. For every mild and thoughtful priest out there there is another bloke who just hates people – not for what they do, but for who they are. It’s a real worry. The ratbags don’t want a zero sum game – they want to win. The Australian Christian Lobby calls itself a “voice for values” but what exactly does a guy like Jim Wallace stand for? It seems he would have us live in a world where he decides who you have sex with and what you believe in. That’s what lobbyists do right? Try and influence Government to legislate. He is a genuine ratbag.

The blog on the ABC Religion portal was unpardonably kind to Jim Wallace. The writer (Rev Rod Benson) explained this away as bad timing as did many of Wallace’s other supporters. The argument that ANZAC day was the wrong day to be a bigot is a pretty stupid one. As I think back to the mild rebuke delivered by the mild priest on a drizzly ANZAC morning a few years ago I can’t help but hope that next year the reminder to “beware excess nationalism” will be book ended by a few sterner admonishments: beware racism, beware homophobia, beware bigotry and most of all beware people calling themselves the voice for values.

And so we should be wary of any public figure who awards themselves such high ground.

Asshole and fire

Terry Jones is the pastor from the Dove World Outreach Center who announced last year that he was going to burn the Koran, then said he wouldn’t and then went ahead and did (and I kid you not, after holding a mock trial with himself as presiding judge).

Predictably, this led to violent protest and loss of life in Afghanistan. Who couldn’t have seen that coming?

Now this guy has been briefly arrested because of a planned protest in a Muslim neighbourhood. The question has to be asked: Is Terry Jones just a bit of a fame whore?

I think this guy has been bitten by the bug of his notoriety to be honest. He said some stupid stuff and got some attention, so he did some stupid stuff to get a little more attention. I think we can look forward (if that’s the word) to seeing this guys hound dog features popping up on our screens for some time to come. He’s obviously loving it. Asshole…

I have to assume that Jones has completely missed the irony of his actions. How does he think his Bible would fare if put on trial? I have an idea it wouldn’t do so well.

From KungFuWoo	From KungFuWoo

I was amused more than anything, but then turning over on to the back page I was impressed with this womans fees:

• $90/ half hour for a cold reading
• $50 for a demonstration
• Workshops ranging from $75 – $150

Man, I am in the wrong job. I could make a lot of money just by bullshitting for two hours a day. Just two hours…

We get on well and have discussions about this stuff and I always hold up the skeptical end of conversation. I have introduced her to cold reading, regression to the mean and many other ways of explaining the mysterious and miraculous. She takes it pretty well, all the time agreeing to disagree.

Coming back from lunch the other day I got a good look at the “problem” with a skeptical outlook. As I took my seat opposite her, my colleague, looking quite excited by what she was reading on the screen in front of her turned to me and said, “Do you want me to read you your stars? It’s the Chinese horoscope!” (this foreign version being somehow more credible). I guess I don’t have much of a poker face because as I turned to face her, the expression fell from excited to sombre on her face. “Don’t worry” she muttered, “you’ll just spoil my fun”.

I laughed this off but was a little hurt and disappointed. Does she really think I’m out to spoil her fun?

Thje difficulty I have with this idea is that she is never joking. She takes her horoscope perfectly seriously and pays good money to see psychics. I’m reasonably earnest when I suggest these things are no good, much in the same way that she and others tell me I should stop smoking. I’ve never felt tempted to tell her she’s spoiling my fun.

I’m well aware of the potential for skepticism to be perceived as mere cynicism and I don’t prosthelitise my skeptical outlook but if asked a question, I always give my honest answer. This seems like the least you can do.

What I’d like to know is where is the line to be drawn? I feel like I’ve just revealed there is no Santa Claus. At the same time it must be said that she is forty. Maybe now is the time to learn the truth? Maybe at forty it is too late. Old dog/new tricks, that sort of thing and any truths you don’t have under your belt now will probably never be understood. One thing is certain. A late truth is not appreciated. I guess it’s like an insult to the last half of your life. To change your mind so late is to admit to a certain amount of waste. I guess that’s not easy to do.

All that's left of my library

Problem: 3 bookcases cluttering up my sun room and approx 500 books distracting me from my work.

Answer: Box everything up and shove it under the house.

New problem: What am I going to read?

New answer: Keep out a dozen or so books for when I just have to read something.

After everything was boxed up and put away I looked at the books that I had kept out and was a little suprised. My dozen books contained not a single work of fiction and most of these books were related to skepticism. The longer I looked at this pile of books the more meaningful it became. I’ve been collecting my books for a long time and a lot of treasure went in to those boxes. Books I would never throw away or trade, some of them worn thin as you like with no other reader but me ever touching them. Sci/Fi (Niven/Heinlein), fantasy (Pratchett/Tolkien), thrillers (Hiassen/Patterson), historical fiction (Sutcliffe/Cornwell), horror (Stephen King) and classics like Dracula, Pride and Prejudice and Heart of Darkness. None of these books made the cut to stay out of the box and with me. Boy, I think I’ve really changed.

Let me take you through the list and why these books had to stay:

The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin: Despite the importance of this book (and it is important), I think the reason why I kept this book out was because it is accessible like no other science writing I’ve come across. I mean 1) It’s science and 2) It was published in 1859. I don’t mean to denigrate myself but these two facts should exclude it from my list of books to enjoy but somehow it doesn’t. I think a lot of writers could benefit from consideration of Darwins method here.

The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan: I defy anyone who has seen Cosmos to read a Sagan book without hearing his voice. I have read numerous quotes about this book being the standard text book for skepticism and that might be a fair description of the book. This book however, is much more than that. A championing of science that is never at the expense of humanity.

The End of Faith, Sam Harris: The End of Faith is a fantasic read. Sam Harris is a lucid and persuasive as any writer I’ve come across. I was raised without religion but I married into it and I worry about the effect it has on my kids. I have consumed a lot of new atheisim and to me, atheism is skepticism, it’s about as skeptical as it gets.

The Case of the Pope, Geoffrey Robertson QC: When I said I married into religion I meant Catholicism. The more I got to know it, the more I am convinced that it is the stupidest of the manistream religions. It’s administration is vile and corrupt and it’s laity are gullible and passive in the face of it’s atrocities. Although only hypothetical, it is good to see the case for Vatican accountability spelled out here. Transcripts at the end of depositions by pederast priests are harrowing, not for their detail but for their indifference.

Holy Bible – King James Version, God et al: Ok, so I lied about having no works of fiction on this list. If you take out the magic, the judgemental shit and the minor adjustments to time and space that were made to fulfil prophecy then some of it might be true and it certainly reflects the world view of certain peoples over the years (this doesn’t really convince me either). I’ll just be honest and admit that I am studying Myth in the Ancient World this semester. Particular emphasis on creation myths. Only need the first chapter. At least it is the cheapest text book I’ve bought lately!

God is not Great, Christopher Hitchens: An awesome book! Even if you are not an atheist and have no interest in atheism you could do worse than read this book. If nothing else you will get a better grasp of the english language and just how well it can be used. A side note to this is that I recommend the audiobook (read by Hitchens himself) as further demonstration of the skill of Hitch. He speaks just as well as he writes. This book is, in my opinion the start, middle and end of the argument. What a legend.

Philosophy for Beginners, Richard Osborne: I think some would call me on this “book”, it’s more of a comic really. I have considered a little philosophy in my studies and often get quite excited by an idea or theory that gets mentioned. Then I start to read about it all and it gets dense and heavy and starts to look like a pissing contest between smart arseholes. However this light little book with it’s one page summaries of various thinkers and ages continues to encourage me. Maybe next semester…

Raising Freethinkers – A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan et al: So, I don’t often go in for this sort of thing. A practical guide to anything is a thing that looks suspiciously like a self help manual (the cover doesn’t help this impression either). However! I was pleasantly suprised and have got a lot out of this book. As much as I love my kids to death I have to admit that there is a small part of me that sees them as some kind of social engineering experiment (I wouldn’t be giving them my best if I didn’t) and this book has helped my in my approach to my kids as they grow up. Let’s be honest, you can tell another adult that it’s all bollocks and they can fuck off! But this approach doesn’t work as well with kids. If your raising kids and feel your missing a beat with life beyond belief then get this book, it’s worth it.

Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Oxford Press: I love reference books like this. I have spent so much money on things like the SBS World Book and so on. year after year until I realised you could download very simliar from the CIA for free! Still I got this dictionary when I started university ‘cos it’s very helpful. It is also fun to just open the thing at random and learn something new.

Cruel and Usual Punishment, Nonie Darwish: Interesting book. A few years ago with the Muslim bashing going on unabated I thought I would try to learn a little bit more about Islam and Sharia. I make it a point if I can, to start with the skeptical side of things. If I want to learn about something, I don’t start with it’s supporters. In religion especially there is rarely ever any honest appraisal of an ideas limitations from within the camp of supporters. This book is very critical of Sharia and for the outsider it is interesting to have something like a Sharia marriage contract gone through section by section to see exactly what’s going on here. Mostly a book about women and Islam but there are some interesting ideas about the status (and state) of men here too.

A much better book than the Complete Infidels Guide to the Koran which basically turned out to be a Christian manifesto for holy war.

Seven Theories of Human Nature, Leslie Stevenson: Great book. It’s only short but gives a great distillation of the theories of Plato, Christianity, Karl Marx , Sigmund Freud, Sartre, B F Skinner and Konrad Lorenz. Each section ends with a list of recommended readings for those who want to pursue them. All in all a good place to pique your interest in “stuff”.

The Panic Virus, Seth Mnookin: Just finished reading this book. A thorough look at the anti-vax movement and how it got started. What is interesting about this book is that it takes you beyond the vaccination debate and looks at the reasons why people believe things against overwhelming evidence. It is a very human thing as it turns out. Mnookin doesn’t slant the story either. He goes into some detail about where the mistakes have been made with vaccines, government agencies and so on.

—————-

So what is it about these books? I think this list reflects a change in myself over the last few years. I’m craving a bit more reason in my life. I know that having kids who are now old enough to ask “very good questions” plays a big part. My answers count now and I can’t afford to be dismissive. The other significant reason is that having not had an education past high school it is amazing to read Sagan or Charles Darwin. I’ve never been exposed to so many awesome ideas and facts about the world. If knowledge were food I would be more than just a little peckish. Having thought about it, that’s about the best reasons I have. Still, they’re pretty good reasons.

I hope that one day soon I’ll be in a position to get all of my books out and back onto shelves. Maybe when we move next year. For now these books will do.

I wonder what my bookshelf will look like in a year? I’m going to put it in my calendar so I don’t forget to revisit the idea

My job/family/studies have had to come first (and still do) but I am adding some new balance to life and a commitment to put my thoughts down here.

Same rules as last time. I will only moderate comments if the spirit of those comments goes south.