Rex,
Education on sex does not reduce abortion in Australia. The trainee Nurses and Medical students in Australia have higher insidence of abortion per head of population than the general population. Fear of pregnancy is reduced because of the ready availability of abortion proceedures. I have family in the Medical Faternity who report this.

"Humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God"

Such are the words in the pre-amble of our constitution.

These words refer to the God of Judao Christian history.

When the constitution further says government can make no law to promote or hinder any "RELIGION" the context clearly means 'Christian Denomination'. Why ? obviously due to the large numbers of Irish and English in our population and the Catholic/Protestant history and associated wars.

I believe the government has a historical and social responsibility to ENSURE that our social fabric is not torn apart by the intrusion of Oil Money funded Islamization in the form of:

-Islamic Education
-HUUUUUUGE Mosques (40,000 Worshippers in UK)

If the Muslim community could be trusted to respect the will and feelings of the Australian community, this would not be such a worry.

but the blatant "IN YOUR FACE YOU RACIST SKIPPIES" attitide of Muslims in the Baulkam Hills prayer centre issue, along with the "We will use your laws against you no matter HOW you feel about it"
show a different story.
and

IF.... the Islamic Council was not trying to impose Sharia Law on Christian Pastors in Melbourne through the courts....

IF ...we did not have 13 Muslims in Melbourne, 9 in Sydney on comittal/Trial for Terrorism activities and one just jailed for seeking to blow up our Electrical grid.

IF ...they were not trying to alter our laws re burial, stamp duty and food preferences...

IF... we did not experience bashing of Australian icons, the burning and spitting on our flag and racist 'territory claims' in Cronulla by Muslims..

Then perhaps there would be no need to have concern. But the converse is the reality today.

So, a purely secular government would be forced to allow such things but the story goes "The chains which bind the hardest, are the ones we make ourselves" and once bound.... where is freedom ?

The best place for God... is in OUR hearts and minds. Then, our government will reflect this. Governments cannot place God in our hearts, but WE, can install Governments

It is a sign that the system is out of control that these questions need to be asked at all.

Simply stated, we have lost sight of what we want "government" to do for us.

Today, it would appear that the majority of punters see government as some kind of benevolent guardian, ready and able to rush to our aid every time we scrape our knee in the playground, or to come to our defence when we complain that Scroggs Minor took our lunch.

Our expectations are somehow boundless.

We want to be protected from invasion by Johnny Foreigner, but also think it is ok to rush off into someone else's playground to beat them up when we feel like it.

We want all criminals behind bars. Forever. Except when it is that Johnny Foreigner who convicts them, because their system is by definition corrupt.

We want lower taxes, of course. But we don't have the faintest idea where our present taxes are being spent either, and are apparently happy for the government to avoid any responsibility to tell us when we ask.

Government has evolved over the years into an innately corrupt institution that makes rules for itself that apply only to itself. It is self-perpetuating, and highly protective of the privileges it affords itself.

Religion in this context is just another of the many vested interests that individuals in positions of power are allowed to maintain, and to affect their decisions. It could equally be property interests, or casino interests, or any one of a laundry list of special pleadings.

The likelihood in these times that a politician or company director might say "I have a vested interest in the outcome of this vote, so my conscience tells me I should abstain" is, regrettably, nil.

"Education on sex does not reduce abortion in Australia. The trainee Nurses and Medical students in Australia have higher insidence of abortion per head of population than the general population. Fear of pregnancy is reduced because of the ready availability of abortion proceedures"

Ah Philo, you raise that old chesnut yet once again! I think its
been shown time and time again, that good sex education, as in
say Holland, in fact does decrease both the abortion rate and
teen birth rate. Australia's sex education certainly cannot be
regarded as "high standard", too many objections from religious
nuts.

What we do know about the Christian Taliban is that they are hoping
that if abortion were not available, then fear of pregnancy would
be a reason to not have sex, if women refuse to keep their
legs together for Jesus.

Perhaps the real problem is the really weird and warped attitudes
that the Godsquad have about sex. If they think that sex before
marriage is so evil, why don't they just come out and say so and
propose to make it illegal. The community can then vote on it
and they'll see how far they get.

WE STAND AT A CROSSROADS....TODAY.

3 Judges are deliberating on the Catch the Fire 'vilification' case.

At issue is TRUTH....

The defense has argued as follows:

"The tribunal has found there is something wrong with saying it. Truth is not a defence, it's irrelevant to contravention of the act."

Note the point "Truth" is not a defense !
Would someone mind telling me when 'TRUTH' ceased to be a defense ?

"Do you promise to tell the TRUTH, the WHOLE TRUTH and NOTHING BUT...THE TRUTH..SO HELP YOU GOD" ?

We stand on the edge of a dark age..... if 'TRUTH' is ruled out of order.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/questions-over-ruling-on-muslims/2006/08/22/1156012542812.html

So, what should government do ? CHUCK OUT THE RRT 2001 ! Thats what.

The defense claims that this truth vilified Muslims and the 'overall context' must be taken into account.......

WHAT ABOUT THE OVERALL CONTEXT in which Christians were urged to LOVE Muslims ? Is that part of the 'context' ?

This shows how close we are to SHARIA LAW being imposed via the EOC and RRT to Australia.

You can be sure of one thing, I WILL be standing outside some key places with some response to this, and I will invite them to sue me.

And Jesus said..."WOE to you Lawyers, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

Go for it David, I wish more Aussies had the back bone to stand up for this country and our Judeo Christian heritage.
We see migrants demonstrating their violence unchecked in our streets yet Christian pastors up on charges of racism.While I believe in freedom of religion, the freedoms I believe in must apply to all.
And all must obey Australian law.
Or we will find our good country will become a medievil backwater run by a theocracy like those the above migrants came from.

I was a proud labour girl when younger, we fought the fight and helped many get better hours, wages and work conditions. I became a democrat when Labour became Liberal spelt badly. I didnt stay with Democrats for more than a few months, and now I know why. What an absolute piece of dribble that survey you posted for us to review on was.
What do we teach children at school? How the hell do I know. I send my children to a school that teaches them the morals, values and principles that I want help to instill into their minds. Their religion is christian, but I am of the buddhist principle. They know this and incorporate it into their lives. I would like to think I have enough faith in my beliefs and the children have enough faith in their god not to fear hatred of their god or to fear death if it comes to them. Teaching children about a God they dont know, care for or like will make no impression on them. Teaching them about compassion, understanding what all religions are about, realising how people believe would give more control in how they view others, allowing our children to see all religions and different cultures to my sense of logic would make the world more open to a country that takes over a day to get to anywhere in the world. We are just as naive and closed off as our indigenous culture was when we came into their world, and now the world has entered our culture and we have not had enough time either to adjust to the dominance of others out there. Knowledge is power, give our children this knowledge to lessen their fears and allow them to mature. They have no choice, the world is getting smaller each day

Yabby, you’re not only funnyyyyy but also correct; sex education combined with contraception is the BEST remedy against unwanted pregnancies.

In my opinion, the church needs to stay right out of politics- they bully. They interfere in people's lives and think they know it better because they belong to a group that is, in their eyes 'always right'.

We do not need some rules and commandments to ‘be moral’. We are a democracy. We do not need religious interference to tell us what is wrong and right, we have a conscious, we have brains and we can reason. We can make decisions.
We can make up our own minds about anything at all.

Out with the old bible quotes- you can use them in your own life but the quotes, rules, bullying of churches have to stay out of politics.

You guessed it: I favour a secular state.

Pericles, you journey well, and with wisdom as your companion.