Runner and other creationist supporters.
Biology, geology, astronomy and archeology each individually destroy many of the arguments of creationism and combined the destruction is total. We live on an unusual smallish planet (some of which appears to be the remnants of a supernova) in orbit around a minor reasonably young sun, one among billions of other suns in our galaxy which itself is one galaxy among billions of other galaxies, some of which existed 13500 billion years ago. Creationists offer no testable evidence for their hypothesis.
Our forefathers developed their empathy and essential ethics long before modern religions were created some 200,000 years after those forefathers first walked this earth armed for the hunt. Some of those ethics are no longer appropriate.
The article was an excellent assessment of how religious fundamentalists of all persuasions are deluded into believing that they and their religion alone are correct and being so deluded they assume that they have the right to try and impose their own foolishness on everyone else.
Foyle

“Secular humanism has taught that we are just another species of animal which leads to people acting like animals.” (Runner)

No, Science should cop the blame for that. And there is little point in complaining about it, because that is just the way it is.

There isn’t much attitudinal difference between a pack of African Wild Dogs tearing the guts out of a Wildebeest, and Joshua following God’s orders in Jericho where he put every man, woman, and child to the sword.
Morality balances favourably towards the dogs: at least they’re out for a feed.

There is something to be said for those members of our species having the moral sensitivity to notice compassion exhibited by a bird keening for its just-killed mate - all so similar to the desperation of disconsolate humans.
For those who will not acknowledge such similarity, get your nose out of the temple of your particular God and His human-interpreted book. Observe what is going on in the real world beyond them. Get to know what morality is really about.
Take enough interest so that you can see that cares and concerns are manifest by sensitive individuals across the boundaries dividing the numerous religious faiths, and non-faith; and also within many other animal species.

Morality in its bright and its ugly shades has been brushed widely, and somewhat evenly, across a wide canvas. Christianity, as with most others of the great range of the world’s religions, has a history of exhibiting the full range of colours.

A pox on politicians trying to unravel a peaceful tangle of incompatible beliefs by imposition of unauthorized superiority of personal religious belief. Taking a step back towards the seventh century attitude of “There is but one God, and Allah is his prophet”. It had its day then – one that was intolerant, bloodthirsty, immoral. Let it remain there, we don’t want to give it a re-run. Keep human decency as part of the political arena and religious intolerance out of it.

Colinsett,

"Taking a step back towards the seventh century attitude of “There is but one God, and Allah is his prophet”. "etc

Is your statement correct.

I thought it was something like: "There is but one God called Allah and Mohammed is his prophet."

Other than that I would entirely agree with you.

Ah yes, Bigmal. It is all too easy to bog down in the fuzzy imprecision created by the Whirling Dervish dance where Gods and Profits are all mixed up.

runner - your claim that private schools get less funding is false. The federal government picks up the slack where the states leave off.

Your assertion is fatally flawed in that it would require the most wealthy people in our society to willingly send their kids to private schools, which are less resourced than public schools. This state of affairs is unlikely.

Merry - in relation to your creationist argument:

The key difference between evolution and religious argument is that evolution is not a religion. Because creationists see the world through a religious prism does not make it so.
Evolution is simply the best explanation we have in the absence of religion, which is unprovable. As science progresses, we make changes to evolutionary theory.

The moment you and others of your ilk push for creationism in Australian schools, you validate every single religious theory being taught as fact - in which case, I would have to demand equal rights for pastafarianism. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster would therefore deserve its place as well.

http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

I have just noticed my own number error in my initial posting. I wrote that some galaxies existed 13500 billion years ago. It should have been 13500 million but even the smaller number makes the creationist idea that some figment of human imagination created it all a few thousand look the absurdity that it is.