A humanist gassing about religion! Presenting figures showing that most Catholics and ‘others’ (religionists) do NOT believe that their beliefs are above Australian citizenship. That's good.

A distinction between Muslims and Christians is made on “justifying terrorism; and up pops a “white-supremacist Australian citizen (who) massacred ‘about’ 50 ‘citizens’ in mosques in Christchurch in 2019”.

What does that have to do with ‘Results of a YouGov survey concerning religious belief and citizenship’?

Then we are moved onto “innocent Palestinians”. And “no belief has clean hands when it comes to violence”; and something about a very small proportion whose religion is more important than citizenship could pose a threat to civil society.

What a nothingburger. He could have just stood up and said, “Hi. My name is Max, and I'm a humanist”. We would have understood everything about him and his non-beliefs without his tortuous rambling.

The brain is a computer.
Like all computers, it works best with truthful data.
When exposed to irrational data, it can become confused.
This shows itself as erratic triggering of basic instincts.
So the person will exhibit erratic behaviour.
This is most obvious when they belong to a 'cult'.
But all religion has the same basis of story rather than truth.
And we should be wary of these 'untruths' invading our thinking.
Daily, we must follow sensible principles.
Rule one: don't harm any other person, ever, unless you are defending life itself.
Rule two: realise that there is safety in numbers.
It is society itself which provides for our safety and security on a daily basis.
So it is our society itself which should take precedence over all other ideas.
And belonging to that society is the most important aspect of life.
A person's individual ideas cannot alone provide for his needs.
It is worrying that so many are blind to the truth around them.
They prefer live in a story world, and think that that is the best way.
And this is considered normal.
And that is indeed worrying.

What a dumb article.

What does it mean to say religion is more or less “important” than citizenship? As both an Australian citizen and Chrisitan I’d say both are extremely important in different ways and for different reasons. One does not come at the “expense” of the other because they are not incompatible. In many cases they are mutually supportive. The best of Australian values – respect for the autonomy, dignity and value of each human being and their rights to be treated accordingly – are grounded in millennia Judeo-Christian thought.

And what precisely do we mean by calling “citizenship” important? Asserting “my country, right or wrong” and supporting the actions of the state even if they conflict with your conscience and values? Demanding allegiance to a white Australian monoculture, as the far right would hold? Appreciating the privileges and comforts of living in an affluent democratic country? Supporting the values and upholding the culture of our society? I’d hold with the third and fourth interpretations, but not the first or second.

Wallace says “no belief system has got clean hands when it comes to violence”, and I’d agree. But that doesn’t just hold for religious belief. The fiercely atheistic ideology of Marxism and its variations in Stalinism and Maoism inspired the murder of far more people over the past century than any religion. Fascism and other extreme expressions of nationalism were not far behind. Almost any belief system that can inspire passionate commitment and a sense of moral imperative can curdle into fanaticism and rationalisations for violence.

Wallace says “even a very small proportion of those who state their religion is more important than their citizenship could pose a threat to Australian civil society”. But being religious does not require despising civil society – usually the opposite. And valuing citizenship is not the same as valuing civil society. Many apologists for political violence, from the far left to the far right, would argue that they are trying to protect Australia and/or improve it.