Oddly enough, I think the bible has the answer.

'Give to "god" [belief] what belongs to same and to Caesar that which is Caesars'

What ever floats you boat is fine with me, fairies at the bottom of the garden, spirit in the sky etc providing what ever it is your *private* view.

Zealotic proselytizing or extremes are the same, no matter what the flavour, be that either religious or atheism.

The infamous bus ads should reflect *religion has no part in government or science*. NOT imply religion's wrong. The latter is just aggressive and confrontatious and subjective i.e. my belief is better than yours.

Logically, neither can be proved or disproved it's only their *misapplication* that can be shown to be at faulted. Therefore, it is the MISAPPLICATION that is intrinsically in wrong.

It's a bit painting one's baby with house paint to protect it from UV rays . Clearly paint technology protects from UV rays but it's the where and how it's applied, that is wrong, not the paint as such.

As ususal, Philo, you carefully ignore the blood spilt by Christians over the years under the exact same banner, that "it is legitimate to destroy unbelievers of their world view."

It's still happening today, nearly a a thousand years on from the Crusades.

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3046

"This kind of violent aggression, apparently motivated by sectarian hatred, surely highlights once more a deep problem in our society,"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/foyle_and_west/8067198.stm

As the widow said, "It was all to do with religion, and I'm not even a Catholic. I am a Protestant, it's a mixed marriage, but they just seem to hate us so much."

It is strange that you missed this part of the puzzle, Philo, as you have the only possible cure, well and truly sorted.

>>Try a world view that teaches, "Love your enemy, do good those those that hate and despise you." A wholesome society must demonstrate compassion and concern for all persons no matter their beliefs.<<

Sadly, history teaches us that we will never reach this point through religion. In fact, as long as religion exists, there will inevitably be religious conflict.

Pericles... from your articles came this, "They have said their main line of inquiry into Mr McDaid's murder is a "sectarian motive". "

That should read 'It was clearly the merciful love of God that motivated these Proddies to kill the Catholic Mr. McDaid'.

Of course, the Six Counties were fed and fueled with donations from the Christians of Boston and elsewhere in the USA for years, another link in the international funding chain of terror that this great 'Christian nation' is still engaged in today, in other parts of the world.

"You're either with us or against us", which translates into 'either Christian or unbeliever' as readily as it does from 'the other side' of the Crusade warzone.

I am inclined to agree with examinator's comments concerning the bus. The original atheist bus plan came about in response to the Anglican's publicity for their 'evangelist courses' plastered all over public transport, making the atheist campaign there more relevant. That context does not exist here, as far as I am aware, so the message should be adapted to suit the environment, and a comment on s.116 would be far more useful than a stick into the eye of 'believers'.

As for Philo's 'we all be rooned' attempt to equate atheism to Stalinism, good try, but that sounds very 'John Anderson' from a few years ago when he declared that 'secularism has gone too far' as he called for a return to the Dark Ages where the Church ran every last detail of our lives, and we were all bowing and scraping to thank them for it.

People sometimes forget why 'secularism' arose in the first place, and then confuse it with atheism.

In the Talibanised world Rudd and Abbott say they hanker for, there would be no OLO discussion of religion at all.

I like Examinator’s point that some separation between sacred and secular is a practical way to keep the dialogue open.
His point reminded me of the big tension that occurs across the congregations of all parties over this . The right of the right, and even Mr Costello( wherever he fits ), just like many in the left ,and many on this blog , just want the church to “ stay out of politics ‘.
If they are talking undue influence, I agree absolutely; but this is in prcatice now very rare – a long shot if ever I’ve heard one.
The most special thing about this great Australian tradition is that our most influential founders were very determined to make a break from the stultifying effects of state aid/control by any religion of any kind . This includes the first media magnate whose religious views were well known and whose ideas on this eternal debate are still very relevant today .
All religions must survive on their own merit and rhetoric. That’s what we believe ! And that’s why I maintain ABCTV ,in particular are often out of order.
The Blue Cross thinks I’m too hard on ABCTV in this regard – but I’d be interested in what others think –You can read my thought ‘s elsewhere. http:/abcchurch.blogspot.com . Which media machine would get the public award for consistently running a seriously cynical worldview, for example?

Pericles,
You continually try to equate me as a murderer, when the only answer is love your enemy. Those that murder innocent people are not following Christ's teaching.

Philo.... "Those that murder innocent people are not following Christ's teaching."

I've heard that so many times about people who do things in God's name... but who are not being 'real Christians'.

One wonders where these 'real Christians' do live, since they certainly do not inhabit any political leadership teams anywhere in the world, nor the business world, nor much else as far as can be seen, and certainly they are hard to find within churches and church bodies.

Funnily enough, the God Squad always insist that everyone with any vague social conscience based on humanitarian thinking rather than being inspired by god/s MUST be exactly the same as Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot etc etc and that there is no difference between 'atheists' and 'Nazis' even though Hitler was a good Catholic who enjoyed the support of the German and Roman churches and vast tracts of God fearing German, and other, people.

Just as the US is full of God fearing Christians who sound, look and behave very much like Satan on steroids.

So, just where does one find people who do follow Christ's teachings?