Hi Fester,

The disparities that lead to health, education, child-
welfare, employment, et cetera in this country have
apparently led to the reactions of people like "Hurricane
Katrina."

Hi ttbn,
"I had relatives (long gone now) who worked at Ernabella Mission. They weren't missionaries: they trained young aboriginal kids for work."

I sounds like your family had good intentions.
I think David f probably does make some valid points.

That the forcing of religion probably did in some ways separate the indigenous people from their own culture, as well as (his words) "children being taught this is something they should believe in preference to what they have been taught by their parents and their tribe"

We still have these same issues today, where the state tries to impose it's ideas of woke-ism onto impressionable kids, in opposition to what many parents themselves would approve.

As I stated elsewhere on the forum the other day:
"The indigenous need jobs and hope and role models to help them achieve it. Then they need a plan to improve their communities, and their sense of worth instead of being angry and resentful with little on the horizon. Then they need the courage to include themselves in society not demand more from it."

- I believe they need more of a hand up rather than more handouts.
What your family did 'training young aboriginal kids for work' should be considered admirable.
More of that is probably needed today.

Dear Foxy,

«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.»

Have you considered the simple possibility that these were not really religious?

Hi Foxy,

You might behave like Katrina if you have a limited understanding or respect for principles like equality or the democratic process.

There was a time when cultish people thought that priests couldn't be criminals because of their moral training. I think that we are in a time where some people believe that indigenous people don't need to be audited because they are perfect moral beings when it comes to dealings with their fellow indigenous Australians.

Dear Yuyutsu,

I think you live in an unreal world. If someone does something bad or something you disapprove of, you simply define them as not religious. Therefore, religious people never do anything bad because if they do something bad, Yuyutsu will define them as not religious.

It reminds of the famous painting of a pipe labelled 'this is not a pipe.'

Dear David F.,

«religious people never do anything bad»

Even people who are mostly religious might lapse at times and do something which is incogruent with religion, something that instead of bringing them closer to God would drive them further away from God.

«Yuyutsu will define them as not religious.»

Someone who believes that God is evil and enjoys harming people, might claim otherwise, that evil people ARE religious (I would then disagree and present arguments to the contrary, but that would be a different story).

But how could an atheist like yourself who does not believe in God and prides themselves in science and logic, possibly disagree with me on that point?

In a matter of pure logic, if nothing one does can possibly bring them closer to God (which does not exist), if that be total nonsense, then the whole existence of religion must be seen as a superstition, then religion does not exist, in which case not only bad people but nobody whosoever (good, bad or anything in between) can be religious!