Hi OzSpen,

No I didn't say "Irrefutable evidence is required to establish belief", I prefaced that with the word "if", which gives a different meaning. No, a belief can be established on circumstantial or rater scanty evidence, even on an assumption. I don't deny your right to believe in a supernatural being, a sky father, a god or whatever, personally I am agnostic on that subject. I have spent most of my life exposed to Christianity and its teachings, and the believers with their beliefs are as diverse as the non-believers and their take on such things. BTW, what evidence have I not considered? Typical of believers is such evidence as; "The Sun rises in the mornings, I have no reason for that occurrence, so therefore I believe it must be the hand of God at work." A belief can be fact, but it can also be fiction, belief is not dependent on fact.

One for you to ponder, I can say I have met a god, a true and living god. Once time venturing into the Waipoua Forest in NZ, there I met the God Tane Mahuta, in the form of a giant kauri tree. To Maori people Tane Mahuta is as real and as significant as your God. I am not one to deny that belief. My question to you is; Do you accept that Tane Mahuta is as real and as significant to Maori people as your God is to you?

What risible reverse victimhood rubbish.

In a country where the PM is part of a hard right fundamentalist sect of Christianity, where publicly funded chaplaincies exist in virtually every school, and over a third of our school students are educated in private, mostly faith based schooling, we still have the whining religious bigots claiming victimhood.

Can you please just shut the hell up.

You are essentially calling for religious based schools, hospitals and welfare organisations which are taking billions upon billions of taxpayers dollars, to be able to discriminate on who can work within those organisations. This quite frankly is utterly un-Australian and should be utterly rejected by anyone with the least regard for this country.

Dear SteeleRedux,

«You are essentially calling for religious based schools, hospitals and welfare organisations which are taking billions upon billions of taxpayers dollars, to be able to discriminate on who can work within those organisations.»

Firstly, who said that these are indeed religious-based schools, hospitals and welfare organisations?
I bet that these claims were made by those very same organisations:
Saying that one is religious, or religious-based is one thing, being in fact religious is quite another.

Other than that I agree with your last post, but I wonder what your view is of such schools, hospitals and welfare organisations which DO NOT accept a cent from the taxpayer?

Good point Steele,

The Christians would rather talk about the god fearing cake shop owner, who does not wise to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on the grounds it an abomination before god.

To quote The Gospel of Cyril ch 17, verse 6; "Thou shalt not bake cakes for faggots."

Paul1405,

<<BTW, what evidence have I not considered?>>

We would need an extensive conversation about the evidence you have considered and this is not the place. Firstly, we need to believe in God's existence: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

There are 2 pieces of evidence from Scripture that state or allude to the evidence for the existence of God. Both are in the Book of Romans.

Firstly, Romans 1:20 states, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."

Secondly, the evidence from conscience is in Romans 2:15, "They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them."

Evidence for the existence of God in design in creation is also in Psalm 19:1-6.

Those are the only 2 pieces of evidence I find in Scripture to declare God's existence. However, your statement, "god fearing cake shop owner, who does not wise to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on the grounds," indicates you do not take this topic seriously.

Dear Yuyutsu,

Who says they are faith based? They themselves.

You ask: “what your view is of such schools, hospitals and welfare organisations which DO NOT accept a cent from the taxpayer?”

As much as I see them as an affront to Australian values I would accept them dictating their own hiring practices to a degree. However just as I wouldn't accept them putting out a sign “No Jews need apply” a “No gays need apply would be equally unacceptable to me. How do you feel in this regard?