Well yes, I could have qualified that statement a bit better, but I wasn't actually saying that I was the one who thought they had no value. I was looking forward to a future world of reason and rationality where fiction and fantasy are recognised as such and not presented as fact.

As an atheist, it doesn't concern me at all that some people need to believe in some invisible god, but I strongly object to these same people influencing the UN and most governments to pander to their fantasies as if they were true, and making it a crime to criticise their religion.

So, addressing the purpose of this post:
"Fuller exposure to religious education would benefit all Australian students"

Governments have no moral right to support religious indoctrination at public schools OR to financially support church schools.

We in the western world are facing a global crisis with Islam. Not Islam the religion necessarily, but Islam, the fascist-like ideology that is intent on taking over the world and installing sharia law everywhere.

THIS is what has mobilised so many non-believers to action, like never before. Moslems (as a group) are the only people who openly reject the Australian culture, customs and standards of Human Rights and who demand that we Australians change to suit them. This is simply absurd!

This is why school children need to be taught open-minded COMPARITIVE Religion together with a suitable ethics program, before it's too late.

TBC...

“Not Islam the religion necessarily, but Islam, the fascist-like ideology ....... and installing sharia law everywhere. “

Firstly, look-up “fascist” and you will find that it was coined by Mussolini, leading the Fascist Party to power in Italy prior to WWII, and who was touted by American Industrialists as a genius until the start of the war. It means an industry/military based government, basically martial law, and that society merely exists as the workforce for those three components, and their leaders’ aspirations. It directly implies a regimented society, with the only “rights” being for the privileged. Uhm, which Islamic State does that remind you of, since it’s the West that’s industrialized and militarized, and not Third World Islamic nations?

Secondly, “imposing Sharia law everywhere”, is like saying, “Baptists are imposing their law everywhere” of Christians…both are merely sects of a larger group. And GWB was heavily supported by the fundamentalist Christians of the “Bible Belt” of Middle America. And amongst some of these extremists, is the belief that it is their duty to bring about Armageddon. Two points here…one, it could be said that because it was GWB and his supporters that declared war, that it’s “Christains imposing Western law everywhere”. And secondly, what am I to be in greater fear of, the Middle-Aged Islamic culture wanting to impose some of its precepts, or the modern Christian one with its finger on the button of nuclear destruction, and thus able to enact its bizarre sense of duty?

The idiot with the financial, technological and military means, that’s who I fear.

“Moslems (as a group) are the only people who openly reject the Australian culture, customs and standards of Human Rights and who demand that we Australians change to suit them. This is simply absurd!”

It’s a storm in a teacup, and merely again, a few extremists voicing an extreme view. Refer back to point one; then don’t incite such reaction, for what is there to gain from it, other than vilification and to feed the fire that’s burning? Don’t fuel the fire, and strangely, it dies down.

OOPS! I somwhow posted the wrong post initially, of my two above posts, and have lost what should be there. Sorry.

“Moslems (as a group) are the only people who openly reject the Australian culture, customs and standards of Human Rights and who demand that we Australians change to suit them. This is simply absurd!”

You're correct, this is an absurd statement.

Plenty of Australians (whatever their background) openly reject Austalian culture. Emos, punks, hippies etc. They all have a disdain for mainstream Australian culture, in their own way.

And there plenty of Christian groups who decry the so-called degradation of their perceived values in modern Western society, this is not limited to the minds of hard-line Muslims.

The fact is, those Muslims that disagree or reject Australian culture are far out-numbered by those that embrace it. (A recent 4 week visit I had to Sulawesi in Indonesia only reinforces my opinion of this).

Your problem is, you are blind to the existence of such Muslims because they ARE embracing Australian / Western culture, so you are totally unaware that these people are Muslim. So you can only see the minority who are being given a louder voice than they should thanks to the media who are feeding off your ignorance.

@MindlessCruelty
Thank you for the lesson on fascism. However, you missed mentioning that Mussolini's fascist tenets changed to suit him as he gained more political power. The same thing happens as Muslims gain more political power. Look around you, for goodness sake. Are you blind to what has happened in Europe and elsewhere?

Mussolini's own description: "Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State".

The catch cries of Islamic leaders: "Everything in Islam, nothing outside Islam, nothing against Islam".

They sound very much alike, don't they?

Right now, school children are being taught to hate, or feel superior to those of different faiths or no faith. This is wrong!

They deserve better.

Australia deserves better.

Humanity deserves better.

TrashcanMan:> Your problem is, you are blind to the existence of such Muslims because they ARE embracing Australian / Western culture, so you are totally unaware that these people are Muslim. So you can only see the minority who are being given a louder voice than they should thanks to the media who are feeding off your ignorance.<<

TcM, your problem is that you do not understand that it does not make us feel better knowing that all these issues are coming from a small minority that makes it worse, just knowing that there are heaps of moderate recruits waiting to be introduced to radical Islam is a concern. The reason we perceive it this way rather than heaps of moderate Muslims ready to be our mates is that the silence about the radicals from the moderates is and has been overwhelming. We don't go to where the radicals go, we do not know if they are radical or not, but the moderates do and they do nothing about cleaning their own house so it does not help our perception of the moderate majority. They don't dob their mates in, radical or not. Your view is not unreasonable, but it is not correct because you use the moderate majority as a marker to detente, but they are not committed to ending the radical influence and that is as good as siding in principal with their views to a certain extent.