Yes, immigrants should respect the religion and culture of the people in Australia. However, the English didn't. They forced their religion on the people already here in Australia. It was a nonsense religion with a virgin having a baby, god in three parts, life after death, a man dying for the sins of others and other rubbish. I think there has been no comparable disrespect for Australian culture by later ethnic groups than that shown by the English. Not only did they show disrespect for the culture of the Aborigines, but they occasionally massacred them. John Howard objected to mentioning that history. He called it the black armband view. Of course, not all immigrants have behaved like that - not even all the English. However, no immigrant group after the English has behaved as bad.

Yes, David, the English shewed no respect for the religion of the locals, did you catch your lack of respect for peoples religion from them or have you developed your bad manners independently?

Dear David,

«Faith is a matter of opinion.»

I disagree: faith is an attitude, not an opinion.

Faith requires courage, determination, focus and strength.
One must look both fears and temptations in the eye, and follow that which they have faith in regardless.

Opinions are much easier and cheaper to have, requiring no great sacrifice.

«Doubt leads to questioning. Questioning leads to knowledge.»

It is good that you appreciate knowledge.
One can simultaneously have faith AND intellectual doubt, there is no contradiction - living by faith until such time that it converts into knowledge, meanwhile fearlessly and thoroughly contemplating the existential and ontological questions.

«In my opinion faith is a vice. It is a curse on humanity.»

Yes, any sensible person would agree that this indeed is your opinion.

Dear Individual,

«Generally, here on Earth, people work for a living for themselves»

Indeed, but do you prefer we live on earth or in heaven¹?

Mankind has stuffed it and created much more work than is needed for a comfortable survival. It also keeps overcrowding the world with more and more babies in order to complicate life, unnecessarily. The reason for that, I believe, is that people are too afraid to face the "monsters" in their own mind, so they keep distracting themselves, including through excessive and unnecessary work.

Welfare is a good way to relax the tyrannical constraints of work. It ought to keep alive the bodies of those who are willing to live frugally, who instead of seeking luxuries out in the world, are willing to spend most of their time looking within, which is free. Those who seek luxuries outside, will anyway not be content with what they can get on the dole, so they will stay in the rat-race instead.

---
¹ "And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." [Genesis 3:17-19]

Foxy,

Are you trying to turn a joke into a poem or a poem into a joke?

I'll give you a helping hand. I've run out of words so maybe you can finish this for me:

A father has three daughters, each having been invited to the high school prom.

A knock on the door:
Hi I'm Lance
I've come to take Nance to the dance
Hi Lance
Here's Nance off you prance

Second knock on the door:
Hi I'm Lou
I've come to take Sue to the do
Hi Lou
Here's Sue off you shoo

Third knock on the door:
Hi I'm Buck
...............................

Dear ttbn,

You are quite right. I have no respect for the religion of the English. However, I would not herd them into compounds, force my views on them, interfere with their practice or harm them in any way. I do not think it is bad manners to label nonsense as such.

Dear Yuyutsu,

You wrote: "Faith requires courage, determination, focus and strength.."

I agree. So does fanaticism. Faith is courage, determination, focus and strength in the service of nonsense.

You also wrote "One must look both fears and temptations in the eye, and follow that which they have faith in regardless."

Yes, that is faith. That sounds precisely like the attitude of the fanatics who flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center on 9/11. Somehow, I think it's better to think about what you are doing than to have the curse of faith. In my opinion faith stinks.