Paul stop misrepresenting the facts of Christianity, with the nonsense you past. "Yet the same intelligent people wholeheartedly believe in winged angles fluttering around the place, devils in fires, as well as an old man sitting up in the clouds with his son and a ghost."

None of the followers of Christ I know believe such childish nonsense. An angel is a person who bears a clear message from God, a devel is a person like yourself who tries to delude following the principles god has laid down, God is the universal dynamic personality and presence that creates, changes, decays and destroys whom humanity reflects.

Christianity is a World view that godly parents want for their children, and it is not cheap as fees are involved. The fees are to employ teachers, and are not Government funded, so the school should have the right to employ teachers who represent the values of the parents and administrators. Parents of private and religious schools are taxpayers also and their taxes are paying for public schools, teacher and curriculum they do believe in.

Politics like Religion is by nature discriminatory, as it is based on opinion. What should happen if there should be no right of religion to discriminate, the same should happen to politics, and we become a Communist dictatorship. One Party one enforced world view such as Russia, or China. All other opinions are discriminalised and put to death.

A couple of thoughts:

If each of us fights
cruelty. injustice, and greed
in our own little worlds
perhaps the will be no need
for the next generation
to go to war.

And:

Who gives society
the right to act
as judge and jury
condemning individuals
for the alleged crime
of "being different."

Dear Foxy,

Nice thoughts, but are you sure you posted them on the correct thread?

What "cruelty. injustice, and greed" were discussed here?
What "condemning individuals" and by whom?

Neither issue seems to be connected with the present discussion.

.

Dear Yuyutsu,

.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but the fastest-growing religion in Australia identified over the two last censuses has been Hinduism, which has increased from 0.7% to 1.3% to 2.7% of the population.

The second fastest-growing religion is Islam which was 3.2 per cent of the population at the last census (2021).

Christianity remains the most common religion, with 43.9%. But Christianity has reduced from 52.1 % in 2016 and 60.1% in 2011. The largest Christian denominations are Catholic, 20% of the population and Anglican, 9.8%.

Even more significantly, Australians are becoming less and less religious. There are signs of fading belief in the God hypothesis with 30.6% of those aged 75 and over no longer believing in it, compared to 46.5% of the millennials (25-39 years) who no longer believe in it.

As possible explanations of the phenomenon :

• The anthropological school argues that religion functions as an early form of science, answering questions that human reason cannot yet explain.

• The psychological school argues that people gravitate towards religion because it provides a sense of comfort and security to help cope with difficulty, uncertainty, pain, anxiety, etc.

• The sociological school argues that religion provides a sense of social cohesiveness and solidarity.

• The economic school proposes that religion functions as a means of controlling the underclass to the benefit of those in the higher social strata.

Anthropologists, E.B. Tylor and James Frazer look at religion from an evolutionary approach. In examining societies that they regard as less complex, they argue that as civilisations advance, it is inevitable that their system of belief advances as well. The more complex a society, the more complex the religious system.

They observe that all societies demonstrate some form of religious belief, and note that religions function scientifically in that they provide mythological explanations for the existential questions surrounding human origins, purpose, and afterlife.

Tylor and Frazer both foresee that as civilisations advance from religious reasoning to scientific reasoning, religion will eventually die out, as science can offer more rational explanations to those existential questions.

.

Hi BP,

With Christianity I have great difficulty making the quantum leap from Jesus Christ the man, to Jesus Christ the God, the supernatural being, the mystical deity. I find Christian believers simply use the irrational notion of "faith" to explain all. By applying the belief principle of "faith" Christians have managed over the ages to create a false interpretation of Jesus Christ, and all that is now near and dear to practising Christians is based on a world of hocus-pocus beliefs.

What I find astounding is that very intelligent people, including Priests, that I talk with seem unable or willing to ditch the irrational in favour of the rational when it comes to religious beliefs. Recently had a discussion with an Anglican Priest friend about the concept of Angles, his explanation for me that Angles were "messages from God" not messengers, but messages, seemed to me as totally irrational nonsense that he was making up on the run. I presented the "facts" about Angles as detailed in the Bible, he had no answers to that. I found it a bit like having an Intellectual discussion with Einstein and his attempts to explain the 'Quantum Physics of the Tooth Fairy'. The discussion left me rather nonplussed, going away thinking my educated friend was talking a load of bunk.

Yuyutsu,

All over the world people face inequality, discrimination,
violence, injustice and cruelty just because of who they
love, how they identify themselves, and who they are. Our
government is trying to support human rights so all
Australians are treated equally and justly - hence the
ALRC report and its recommendations. Also hence this
topic for discussion and my recent thoughts - especially
as for many - this is a special time of the year.

Food for thought.