['TR, I think your religion of science, reason, and humanism is one of the most stupid ever invented - some great technical advances, but at what cost to humanity and the earth! I am a Christian but if I had to choose another religion, yours would be at the bottom of the list.'

John, you are entitled to your opinion. You just so happen to be wrong in an objective sense. But so what.]

Gotta love this. Gotta love OLO. Why can't people think rationally for a change and, at the very least, make an effort to understand each other rather than just taking pot shots?

And, if we do take pot shots, can we AT LEAST TRY TO MAKE EM FUNNY!?!?

I can just imagine the following conversation taking place in the playground at a primary school. John, and TR, and their mates, crowding around the monkey bars at recess...

"Your beliefs are some of the stupidest ever invented!"

"Yeah, well you're wrong. Not just wrong but...objectively wrong. So there! I used a longer word than you did. Top that!"

Dear me, I'm shaking my head here...

Trav,

You are being a bit mean-worded towards TR. This is a Forum for discussion.

Besides:

Old Testiment:

"The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the ends of the Earth." Daniel 4:11(KJV)

New Testiment:

"..the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them." Matthew 4:8 (KJV)

- Think about it.

Cheers,

Oly.

CJ Morgan wrote: "You meant 'predominantly', didn't you? It's fascinating how many Anglophiles can't speak English correctly."

Nope, I meant precisely what I wrote. 'Predominantly' and 'predominately' are both adverbs with identical meanings and can be used interchangeably.

I suggest you brush up on your own knowledge of the English language before you start haughtily lecturing others.

"While a majority of Australians may be of 'British' descent, that demographic feature has been declining since World War 2. Also, while many of our cultural institutions are derived from our sorry colonial past, their 'British' origins have become concomitantly less relevant as we move inexorably towards independence."

Australia has been independent since 1901.

As for the cultural institutions "derived from our sorry colonial past", you seem to forget that it is these institutions which are responsible for modern Australia's political freedoms, stability and economic prosperity.

And notwithstanding the anti-British edge of multiculturalism, the foundations of Australian civilisation remain, and will remain long after you have vanished from living memory, stubbornly British, even if that British heritage is not readily acknowledged or appreciated.

"This obviously doesn't suit that minority of Australians who want to live in the past, but that's their problem."

Sorry CJ, but I find it highly unlikely that the Anglophobic views of a splenetic old pseudo-intellectual are representative of the majority of Australians.

"Please don't presume to speak for me and the vast majority of tolerant, secular Aussies as you spout your ideologies of divisiveness and hatred."

Again, I would argue that your views are more out of sync with the majority than my allegedly "divisive" and "hateful" ideologies (whatever you imagine them to be).

'TR, do yourself a favour and stop making yourself look like an idiot. I'm almost embarrassed on behalf of you for the silly statements you keep making.'

Trav, I'm not the one telling children (with a serious straight face) that angel whats-em-o-bob sped dowm from outside space-time to dictate a God book, or that a 75 KG bloke skipped across water without going splash. I'm sorry, but most of the idiot statements arise from theologians who take themselves too seriosly.

'Um, no. The "basic teaching" of religious schools is, in most cases, almost exactly the same, or extremely similar to the basic teaching of state schools. Ie: The school curriculum. You know, english, humanities, maths, science and the like'

Well, why bother having faith schools at all then!?

But maybe it's just an advertising splurge to promote sect 'X' in the minds of children. As in, Coca Cola/Mohammed/Jesus Christ "is the real thing".

Please! intellectualise (think! analyse! think!, think sanely!) and the anti religious, particularly take note - do not put all named religions in the same category. The fundaments of Christianity is Love! Believe it! And consider all its faults, just aberrations. It is not perfect because humans are involved! Catholicism is the largest institution in the world and it has to have some faults particulary because of the numbers involved. It still needs correcting and at least eventually acknowledges and adjusts to the times. I am disgusted with the abuse of children that has been condoned. But think of all the Catholic charities throughout the world, largely involving selfless nuns, including their teachings even in some schools in Islamic countries - good education - and it is not missionary work and not like a Madras schooling - totally indoctrinated - nothing but reciting the Quran in a language alien to a lot of non-Arab Muslim cultures. Islam is not a religion, it is nothing but a Mohamedism cult, a totalitarian ideology stripped of any humanity. He was not a man of peace. He created his own cult - he was a complete egomaniac. He was a sexual hedonist, plus a pedophile and militant aggressor. Compare him to Jesus and his family? Action speak louder than words - look at the state of Muslim countries now. Their practices and beliefs are insane and empty. Muslims require instruction on every aspect of living, including on how to toilet - weird! The followers are brainwashed - robots. They need instructions on how to deal with the Dhimmis (unbelievers) - have seen site called Q&A Islam and plenty of ex-Muslim sites - it is us and them. Look, there is so much I can go into but time does not allow me. People must look more deeply into history. There is currently too much subterfuge going on.

Efranke, I'm hardly "Anglophobic" - rather, unlike some I don't regard Britain as the pinnacle of human civilisation. I acknowledge that contemporary Australia is a product of British imperialism and culture, but unlike some dinosaurs I recognise that we've moved on from those origins.

You say that Australia has been independent since 1901, which is an interesting claim given that our head of State is an hereditary English monarch. Most mature Australians expect that this anachronistic, unrepresentative and undemocratic situation will come to an end when the old duck finally expires, but there will undoubtedly be resistance from those like you who wish to maintain Australia as some kind of Antipodean colonial outpost of the 'mother country'.

I have no problem with your "delusions", as long as they are restricted to the fantasies of your Anglo-Christian "tribe". However, when your quaint hankering for a monocultural past approaches thinly disguised white supremacism, then it becomes a problem for the rest of us - who'd rather be Australians than Brits.

Your days are numbered, and you know it. By all means indulge your fantasies by engaging in weekend jousting, morris-dancing or whatever other anachronistic folk activities keep your identification with your ethnic roots alive. Just don't whinge too much when your particular ethnicity is eventually subsumed in this country by Australia's increasingly multicultural society.

And don't cry too loudly when we Aussies flog the Poms again at cricket next summer :)