Hi Mhaze,

What don't you understand about, " .... I hope we never get to the stage in the erosion of human rights in Australia when it is a criminal offence to criticise religious beliefs .... "

Crudely put, religion is ideas, interpretations, points of view. So are ideologies. They compete for influence in the world of ideas. No religion has any privilege over any other, since they are equally backward, more or less.

If it's true that some 'holy books' prattle that the Earth is flat and that the sun and moon revolve around it, and if modern-day adherents staunchly defend those 'teachings' to the letter, then clearly those sets of ideas and beliefs need to be ridiculed, castigated, derided and laughed at out loud before they do too much damage to small children.

Joe

Obvious? To who? As for gibberish!? I'll let other posters decide who's being civil and reasonable and whose the lead sprayer?

And exampled perfectly by your (first refuge of scoundrels) enraged incoherent Sh!t spray response!

And rolled out, as usual, to simply and always, avoid having to provide compelling factual evidence based, actual examples for your blatant bigotry!

You'll have a nice day now, y'hear.
Alan B.

Loudmouth,

Apologies. I misinterpreted what you were saying.

Hi Mhaze,

No probs.

Clearly, some adherents to various backward religions (now, there's a tautology) are going to keep pushing until their particular religion is declared an 'ethnicity' and therefore never to be criticised, because it would be so obviously racist. The next step would be for its various backward idiocies to be declared sacrosanct, and also above criticism, no matter which Australians they affect, since eventually they would 'affect' all Australians, one way or another.

Women can then be assuredly declared to be witches - after all, many of them float, don't they ? Therefore they must be made of wood, like the Devil ? Therefore, they must - for the good of other Australians - be burned at the stake.

Hmmmmmm, I wonder who I can accuse of being a witch, there's that hot chick who knocked me back last week ...... and my next-door neighbour ..... and my other next-door neighbour .....

The last witch to be killed in Europe was supposed to be burned live in Hungary in 1928.

It would be so easy to, say, declare Christianity to be ethnic, since most of them are European. Therefore any criticism of it is clearly a racist attack on European ethnics. So no more jokes about Christ and Mary Magdalene, or saying 'Get thee behind me, Satan', (that would be so homophobic too), or about a nun and a horse walking into a bar.

Joe

The good Senator keeps tinkering around the edges.

A voluntary society, whose members are there by choice, has every right to restrict the behaviour of its members, including what they are allowed to say. Such a society has every right to guard the morals (or perceived morals) of its members, however it understands those morals.

A non-voluntary society, such as a state, has no similar rights.

Where a place is public, that is truly belonging to a public, I see no reason why that public should not be able to impose its norms over those who choose to visit there. This obviously is not the case in places that are not rightfully owned by the public, such as your own home or business, or that of friends who invite you.

«If you "insult" a registrar in bankruptcy proceedings»

It depends where this insult occurs. Has the registrar invaded your home? If so, then you should be able not only to insult but also to shoot him. If, however, the registrar is sitting in some public city-office and you come out to see him, then HIS rules should apply, not yours! If he wants to call you by any name, including "bankrupt", than its his call, his free speech.

«The same applies if you "insult" someone officiating over your entitlement as a veteran, or your claim to copyright.»

If you go to those officers, entering their space and asking for favours, then they have every right to demand that you do not insult them and to punish you if you do. Simply, don't ask for their favours and remain free!

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Dear Joe,

«I hope we never get to the stage in the erosion of human rights in Australia when it is a criminal offence to criticise religious beliefs»

This is not on the cards and never was, perhaps in Putin's Russia, but not here, so lets get on with this important original topic.

Yeah it would be aweful if we could not speak the truth and call butchering the unborn murder and pointing out the obvious health risks of sodomy. The religion of secularism is very crude indeed as well as scientifically flawed.