When the Taliban gains control of a piece of land in Aghanistan or Pakistan and imposes sharia law, nearly everyone in the western world is outraged. HOW could anyone with any semblence of humanity about them tolerate these supreme authoritarians victimising women by sanctioning violence against them, preventing them from being educated and punishing them (not their attackers) for being raped, murdering non-believers, imposing disproportionate penalties for petty crime and so on? Even questioning sharia in Islamic theocracies will get you arrested and given a long prison sentence. In areas where sharia has become the law of the land, this is only possible because religion has forced itself into public law which affects all citizens, not just those who favour theocracy over public law which respects human rights. The only way religious authoritarianism can successfully be enforced is at the end of the barrel of a gun. Absent force, punitive theocracy is rejected.
Down here in Australia, we have our very own Taliban, albeit ‘Taliban lite,’ until now. The Australian Christian Lobby have the explicitly stated goal of inserting their beliefs into Australian public law. If the ACL accomplish their aims, it won’t matter if you’re not a xian, you will be required by law to live by this tiny authoritarian sect’s medieval dystopian rules.
If you don’t believe me, have a listen to ACL Managing Director Jim Wallace, excerpted from their 15 January 2008 podcast (excerpt, 2:53, MP3 audio, 344kb). Wallace describes how he will direct the group to pressure government to include their religious views into public law which affects all Australians, not just the ones suffering from a God Delusion. This of course includes the present Labor government’s deeply flawed internet filtering policy.
The ACL are also opposed to a Bill of Rights or human rights declaration, for one reason alone- they know that religiously based laws do not respect human rights first and foremost. A human rights declaration would significantly dilute religionists’ influence as laws would invariably be tested to assure absence of religious bias.
Australia has a historical relationship to xianity only in so far as the (now quite irrelevant) Queen of England is also the head of the (now quite irrelevant) English state church. Australia was not founded as a theocracy and in present times certainly doesn’t function as one. As such, there’s no popular mandate for xians to claim supremacy in public law. Australia is a pluralist society, where practice of religion or absence thereof is a personal decision, not one which can or should be imposed by government.
The only difference between the Taliban and the Australian Christian Lobby is the shape of their symbols. They are both fringe dwelling religious extremists. If participation in religiously based nonsense is optional and voluntary, as a general rule, I have no problem with it. However, when obedience to religious rules via Australian public laws becomes mandatory, it will be enforced over my dead body.
-weez
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Religion is a sanctuary for bullies and should not be tolerated.
Comment by melchior 04.05.09 @ 5:49 pmReligion is a sanctuary for authoritarians who believe they have a right to tell everyone else what they can read, say or think, but don’t believe their reasons should be subject to scrutiny. They think they’re on a mission from a god, that’s all they know and they don’t learn anything else.
Newsflash for religionists: Religion is no longer the government in the western world and hasn’t been since the days of the ‘Holy’ Roman Empire. Secularism won that war. There’s scrappy little remnants of religious influence in the western world and those are quickly discrediting themselves out of existence.
I’d far sooner leave my kid alone with an uncensored internet feed than a Catholic priest, for damn sure.
If the ACL is going to be intransigent in their demands for censorship, they’re going to be very disappointed with the intransigence, subversion and sabotage that will happen if the Conjob filter is implemented. It WILL be broken.
Comment by weez 04.06.09 @ 8:02 am‘authoritarians’ is to grand a word for these people. Mostly mediocre people with bloated ego’s who want to leave their mark one way or the other. When anything else is out of reach, religion becomes a very attractive option to ‘make something of their selves’. A lot of self interest with not really much belief.
Comment by melchior 04.06.09 @ 10:33 amLeave a comment
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