polydaidaloi.com

In Australia, there are no laws against blasphemy.As there should be. If your god can’t take a bit of criticism, he or she is a very petty creator of the universe.

However, the UN is considering an anti-blasphemy resolution that allegedly would be binding for member countries.

The anti-blasphemy measure seems to be motivated as a bulwark against bigotry. Indeed criticism of religion can and does cross over into bigotry. But one can be critical of Islam or Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or whatever without being bigoted. One can be critical of religion without being intolerant.

The most worrisome interpretation of the anti-blasphemy laws is the use to suppress religious or political dissent. There is also the potential to use such laws enable human rights violations such as subjugation of women.

Look, no matter what religion you practice, you will have a lot of silly, unprovable ideas. That is a philosophical issue and affects no way in how I deal with you as a person. But an implication of an anti-blasphemy law is the notion that there is a truth central to the religious ideal under discussion. And a court case to test the laws would be a doozy.

I wonder, would god appear for the witness or the defense?

Senator Steve Fielding is the lone(ly) Family First senator in the Australian Senate. By a quirk of the electoral system, he is part of a group of senators that the ruling Labor party must court to pass legislation. As Fielding is a “family values” type, his interest in legisalation revolves around promoting such values. So how does Fielding get excited about environmental issues? He finds research on the adverse environmental impacts of divorce.

Amazingly, the report actually exists. You can read it here.
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I’ve come across an idea called Hallowed Secularism. Now any idea that explains it self by a parable showing a “good” guy and “bad” guy is generally not a good idea. It usually means the heart of the idea rests on faulty generalisations and misguided assumptions. And this seems the case with Hallowed Secularism.

The chap behind Hallowed Secularism is Bruce Ledewitz. His rationale is:

A group of self-announced atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens, is currently trying to push secularism toward atheism and away from religion. But secularism need not be atheism. The secularist rejects many things the religious person holds dear: a traditional God, life after death, miracles and so forth. But the secularist can still have a conception of God or Godhead. The secularist may see a deep pattern in history and may feel a profound connection to all that is. Secularism can be holy. You and I will live that possibility.

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Yeah, I put up some AC/DC vids yesterday but that was a special occasion. But I have a treat for you all. Now, some of you might know of my love for Thommo (as well call him in Australia). There are plenty of vids of one of his best loved tunes, 52 Vincent Black Lightning floating around. But this one is special.
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29 years on since his death, Bon Scott still remains one of the greatest frontmen of any rock’n'roll band ever. And that is no mean feat as he was in a band with a guitarist that has become one of the most enduring icons of rock’n'roll.

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Australian may have noticed the increasing amount of sharks sighted in our water. Not to mention the two recent attacks on Sydney. It is obvious that these deadly fish are in plague proportions and after human flesh. But for now, no-one can explain the dramatic increase in numbers for this most deadly creature of the sea.

But I have a theory. One so shocking that the authorities do not want to know about it. One so outrageous that you will find it hard to believe. And one so dangerous that it threatens the very core of democracy.

A threat to democracy!

And what is my theory?
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I don’t get Valentines’ Day. If you are doing the love thing right then you don’t need commercial forces telling you that you must be romantic on one specific day of year. A silly thing if you ask me.

But it does provide and excuse for some music. So an 8tracks mix of songs about lurv. There is poetic lurve. Grungy lurve. Lost lurve. Wild monkey lurve. Unrequited lurve. Unsure lurve. Hoodoo lurve. Electric demon lurve. Aristocratic lurve. Real lurve. Illicit lurve. How do I leave you lurve and more wild monkey lurve. Embedded for your listening pleasure.

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Happy Darwin Day everyone!

It is almost over in Australia but Dave will soon be getting up and into the spirit of Darwin Day. Or he will just watch some hockey.

I’m just going to link to some cool articles on Chuckles for my contribution.

Why Darwin?

Don’t call it Darwinism.

Darwin’s influence on our language.

Charles Darwin, the meteorologist

Crunching the data for the tree of life

For some reason Shaun attempts an apology for some loon who blames the Victorian fires on abortion laws. If I apologized for every American religious nut job who affixed the purpose of every natural or man-made disaster to some sin of some sinning country I wouldn’t be able to do anything else at all. Let’s face it, nut jobs do nutty things, and you can’t do much more than react with disdain.

I first became aware of Danny Nalliah at the Inquisitr website. At first I was amazed at the ignorance. I mean, ever since those fun-loving, Pre-Christian days of deifying anything that could remotely harm us we have understood how fires start. Because of that knowledge most of us assume you don’t need to offend Jesus and his stern Paw to create flaming tragedy. Science my be too hard for Mr. Nalliah, but you’d think basic common sense might dictate some reflection.

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To those overseas types who have noticed the ravings of Danny Nalliah.

As Australian, I apologise for the comments by fundy fruitcake Danny Nalliah claiming the Victorian fires are act of retribution from a cruel, capricious god. I especially apologise to those from the United States. In the past, when tragedies have struck your great country, invariably an element of your religious right would claim the tragedy is punishment for perceived sins. From our antipodean vantage point, we would shake our heads in bemusement that such ghouls would commonly intrude their stone age thinking into the concerns of the nation after a tragedy.

Alas, Australia can no more look askance at the other countries as well now have our own home grown religious nut jobs that exploit tragedy to push their superstitious nonsense. Not sure what we can do about it other than ignore them. And if certain politicians would stop pandering to them that may help keep them out of the national spotlight.

It goes without saying that good Australians in various locations are not impressed. We hope that this will be just an isolated incident of religious extremism.

Be assured that the tragedy in Victoria has brought out the best in the Australian spirit exemplified by generosity and compassion.

Regards,

Shaun