I do agree, Bluecross, 'twasn't "mild praise", but heavy satire. Schools should of course be purged of all frock-coated frauds and ferragos; make them pariahs all in school zones. Chaplains are the ecclesiastical equivalents of "toolies"--a menace to the vulnerable developing mind; an unctuous and opportunistic presence praying on the credulity of children. Avast ye serpents! Get thee hence!

I heard the interview referred to. I was delighted when Fran Kelly asked Joe Hockey a question about God and Joe began his reply with "Kevin Rudd....." Of course, he went on to rubbish Rudd but I was laughing too much to hear what he said !!

An interesting and amusing discussion.

The Blue Cross - are you unfamiliar with the notion of 'being damned by faint praise'?

It can be a very useful rhetorical device...

Jennifer, thank you for a very well written and thought provoking article.

I remember reading that the two main threats to the wellbeing of the world are TV and Testosterone. I think they both have some effect which prevents people using their own brain and relying on someone else to use their brain to make the decisions that govern our lives.

Throughout history I think that more people have been killed in the name of God (who preached against violence in the new testament) than have been killed for any other reason.

There is no doubt that sending christian soldiers to attack muslim countries is not good for anyone and throughout history does not have a good success rate. We seem to learn little from past mistakes.

This christmas will be the ninety fifth anniversary of an event where the peace part of religion did have a win. In one section of the WW1 trenches the Scots, French and German soldiers celebrated christmas together and brought the war to a halt in thier section of the front.
They discovered that they all wanted to be home with their famililies rather than trying to kill people they did't know. It took the good christian generals a few months to get them back on track after christmas.

Sorry for this rambling post but there is a lot to think about when one has to do the thinking using ones own brain.

Oh noooooo Peace, not that auld hoary tale AGAIN?

Now, please analyise your post.

A win for the peace part of religion eh?

There was a great Steptoe and Son programme on just this story, tears and a thought provoked 'arold as his dad told how they played soccer together in no mans land.

When they got back to the trenches 'dad' shot his new mate Fritz.... oh yes, a real win indeed.

And of course, the court martials, executions of footsloggers for not fighting, all supported by the chaplains at the edge of the shooting.

Piffle, 'Peace' absolute piffle.

No one should have any fear of a “True Believer”. It is the pseudo Christians, the ones who pay lip service to Christianity, but in truth bat for the other side who are the real menace.

Any “True Believer” who has regularly attended either the Anglican Church or any of the charismatic Churches that accurately teach the Gospels, for at least three years, would know that Almighty God makes no mistakes. They would also know that all Judges and Magistrates in Australia today are pagan, and that the annual parade of hypocrites, where the legal profession goes to Church, or Synagogue, at the start of the Law Year, in every capital city and many provincial cities, is a charade.

The Holy Romans have a huge number of sincere and honest members, but they have a few absolutely dishonest and totally corrupt members like Father Frank Brennan, and the Attorney General who have been in denial of the enactment by the Christian Parliament of the Commonwealth of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

A person has to be a fool to deny this enactments existence. It is clearly to be found in a copy of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 . It is Schedule 2, and only a Jesuit priest could publicly deny its existence, and a poor uneducated Attorney General, advised by imbeciles, is about the only person who feels able to blatantly lie to a member of Parliament about it.

A real Christian, is a threat to no one except the Baal worshippers, who currently rule Australia. These Baalists who insist that they are treated as Gods, and kowtowed to like a Japanese Emperor, rule us from every Court in Australia, and no true believer should be under any illusions about that. Until the Judges and Magistrates of Australia become true believers, unable to morally sit and judge their fellow Australians, except with the consent of a committee of 12 grass roots members of society, in a fair open and public meeting, we will get no justice or good government