We're told that there are 3 extremists on this
forum by a poster, obviously one who sees
himself as a keyboard warrior - basing his
judgements on views that don't agree with his own.

In other words - he doesn't consider himself or
the small minority of
his supporters on this forum as extremists.

Only those
others. And to him it all makes sense. And why shouldn't
it? He's a good person - those others are not.

He has also referred to David Fisher
as an "immigrant?" Even though our ancestries are from
somewhere else. Most of us are not Indigenous -
and our ancestors came from other lands.

How many years does it take to no longer be
considered an "immigrant?"

There are Brits who come here, and consider themselves
Aussies immediately and are also accepted as such.
Yet there's folk who've been born here - others who've
lived here for decades - who never
quite make the grade in some eyes - right?

There's also been the inference that David Fisher is some
sort of ignoramus? David is an online-opinion author.
I believe he met his late wife at Oxford or Cambridge. He's
originally from the US (Oregon, I think), and is
very knowledgeable in many fields. I have learned a great
deal from David's time on this forum.

May he continue to post for many, many years and share his
knowledge with us. This forum needs more like David and
less keyboard warriors.

Dear ttbn,

Hamas has participated in elections, has received many votes and has the support of many Palestinians. I was ignorant of that. Palestinians have supported Hamas. Wikipedia has a long article on Hamas.

I have no objection to children being taught about Christianity and other religions. What I object to is children being taught this is something they should believe in preference to what they have been taught by their parents and their tribe. I think it is good to know about the traditions of other people. Without a knowledge of Christianity much of western literature is meaningless. Without knowing about the ancient Greek, Roman, Norse and other myths much of classical literature is meaningless. Australians can learn about Aboriginal traditions. We can also learn about Asian and African cultures.

I also think children should be taught critical thinking, the scientific method and the virtue of doubt.

With all this wealth of learning we have to decide what is most important, useful and joyful.

Hi Armchair Critic,

Thank you for sharing a part of your life with us.
I was raised as a Catholic, as was my husband.
Our children were initially sent to private
Catholic schools. I'm not a regular church-goer.
And probably not a very good Catholic.
To me, my religion is a private
matter. I'm not looking towards converting anybody.
However, I would find living without a belief in
a higher authority difficult.

I understand where David is coming from. So much harm
has been done in the name of religion. And the most
bigoted people that I've ever met have been the
religious ones. Not sure why that is.

I remember someone close to me once telling me with great
pride that she went to Church every Sunday. I couldn't
help thinking - " Maybe you need to?" And felt guilty
afterwards for that wicked thought.

And with rants like this we might have a little peace from some moral authoritarians soon.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12644141/Welcome-Country-Katrina-Ngaityalya-Power.html

AC

You are entitled to criticise Christianity - or anything else. But why bother? The criticism that started this thread was apropos of nothing; it was pointless. I had relatives (long gone now) who worked at Ernabella Mission. They weren't missionaries: they trained young aboriginal kids for work.

I have visited Ernabella myself, and I can tell you that David F is warbling absolute bullshite. I can also tell you that the demise of missions is regretted by elders

Hi Foxy,
Thanks for your response.
I've only given limited info about my adolescence that related to the discussion, nowhere near enough info to put it into a larger context.

If I was to add a little more...
- I'd tell you I was born in Melbourne in '73, an only child and my parents had both worked for the airlines, They sold their home and we moved to Gold Coast when I was three to start a new life. We lived in a caravan park, my parents relationship broke down a year or so later, my Dad moved to another caravan park really close and I was about 7 or 8 when he met my stepmum - down from Brisbane for the weekend on her first big adventure away from home on her own. After my Dad and my stepmum got together my father pursued her, (and as you can imagine her parents were not pleased) after after my Dad got my stepmum pregnant he was compelled to move to Brisbane in order to get her familys approval to marry. My father is generally a decent man, but he's also incredibly ignorant and arrogant and doesn't handle criticism well.
This situation instantly made me the 'black sheep' and lead to conflict;
Neither my father or stepmum, recognised I was impacted by this new situation and to some degree I grew up a little dysfunctional, with an 'I don't care' attitude, and gave my mum a hard time, who often resorted to smacking me to keep me in line, (didn't really help things) which was why I ended up moving to Brisbane to start high school in Grade 8.

I've always been pretty big on opinions relating to forum topics, but really short on aspects of my life, not sure how relevant our personal lives are to forum topics.

Maybe I've given away too much info now?
We all have pasts, many of them were likely less than perfect or ideal.
- But I'm sure that many had it a lot worse than I did.