Category: atheism


The meaning of Easter today

Filed under: atheism, Easter — Leave a comment
April 16, 2012

The new President of the NSW Council of Churches, Dr Ross Clifford, has called on all Australians to reconsider the relevance and truth of the Easter story as the new atheist movement continues its destructive attacks on faith but fails to commend a life-affirming alternative.

“With the new atheist movement mounting a sustained and aggressive challenge in Australia to the Christian gospel and the witness of the church, it’s timely for Christians to speak into society and commend the role of faith in the community,” Dr Clifford said.

“The values of Christianity are the central social values of Australia today. An overwhelming majority of Australian charities began as a practical expression of Christian faith.

“At Easter, it is worth reminding ourselves of the positive role of faith, not only for our personal lives but also for the health and strength of our communities and our nation.”

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 8 Apr 2012.

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The Achilles’ heel of atheism

Filed under: atheism, faith, theism — Leave a comment
February 25, 2012

Professor Richard Dawkins

The Reverend Dr Giles Fraser isn’t your most mainstream Anglican minister, especially since he resigned as canon of St Paul’s Cathedral to become a lead writer at The Guardian.  But in a BBC radio interview with atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins on Monday, Fraser capitalised on Dawkins’s arrogance and reduced him to incoherent spluttering.

They were debating figures produced by Professor Dawkins’s think tank which purport to show that people who think of themselves as Christian turn out to be overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes to certain social issues.

Dawkins claimed that “an astonishing number [of Christians] couldn’t identify the first book in the New Testament.”  So Fraser asked Dawkins to name the full title of Charles Darwin’s classic book On the Origin of Species.  He couldn’t, and his awkwardness was both hilarious and symbolic.

As Jewish journalist Stephen Pollard put it, “the arrogance and intolerance of the atheists, exemplified by Professor Dawkins, is their Achilles’ heel.”

And, for the record, the first book in the New Testament is the Gospel of Matthew.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 19 Feb 2012.

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Religion as a civilizing influence

Filed under: atheism, Christianity, history — Leave a comment
February 9, 2012

With more than 35 books under his belt, including The Tyranny of Distance, published in 1966, veteran Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey is well placed to write his latest offering, A Short History of Christianity.

Blainey, who was raised a Methodist, took care to walk the tightrope between academic historian and “true believer” in presenting the remarkable story of the Christian tradition.

The late Christopher Hitchens famously argued that “religion poisons everything.”  Blainey takes the opposite view, observing that Christianity has been a great civilizing influence in the face of barbarism and tyranny, and a powerful antidote to widespread social indifference to the sick and the poor.

Despite the faults of institutional religion, Blainey is convinced Christianity has helped far more than it has harmed.  He says there are outward signs of decline in Christianity, but “people still have a religious strand”, and in many places the way of Jesus, the call to a different set of values, a better life, is stronger than it has ever been.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 8 Jan 2012.

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Melinda Tankard Reist and the feminism debate

Filed under: atheism, feminism, pornography — 1 Comment
January 23, 2012

You may have heard/read comments, many of them hostile, about Australian anti-porn campaigner Melinda Tankard Reist flying thick and fast in recent days. This attention was generated in the wake of her “outing” as a pro-life feminist with alleged connections to Canberra’s Belconnen Baptist Church, which to atheist bloggers and tweeters appeared to indicate MTR was a traitor to the feminist cause and a worthy target for verbal abuse (even, so I hear, threats of physical violence). I have my own views on feminism, and on MTR’s stance and tactics, which I may share later. But for now, here are the links to some of the main stories. Feel free to add your comments.

Original story by Rachel Hills in the SMH Sunday Life mag (8 Jan)

Blog post at No Place for Sheep that started the fight (10 Jan)

Follow-up blog post at No Place For Sheep (14 Jan)

Blog post at Mamamia giving some context (18 Jan)

Bianca Hall in the SMH (18 Jan)

Jill Singer in the Herald Sun (18 Jan)

Eva Cox on New Matilda (18 Jan)

Melinda Tankard Reist responds in The Canberra Times (21 Jan)

Julia Baird in the SMH (21 Jan)

Crispin Hull in The Canberra Times (21 Jan)

Anne Summers in the SMH (22 Jan)

Miranda Devine in the Herald Sun (22 Jan)

Rachel Hills follow-up post on her blog (23 Jan)

Renata Klein & Susan Hawthorne on ABC Religion & Ethics (25 Jan)

Cathy Sherry in the SMH (25 Jan)

And this interview by Jane Hutcheon (11 Nov 2011)

Your thoughts? Any significant articles/interviews I’ve missed? Let me know.
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Humanists object to Christmas

Filed under: atheism, Christmas, secularism — Leave a comment
November 25, 2011

With just four weeks to go, the Christmas rush is on in earnest.  Gifts are being bought, presents wrapped, carols are playing, Christmas trees and nativity scenes are appearing, and we’re winding down in readiness for another hot lazy Australian summer commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, in America, the Humanist Association has launched a public awareness campaign, highlighting alleged discrimination against atheists and agnostics offended by the public recognition of the meaning of Christmas, and accusing Christians of prejudice against those who don’t believe in God.

But Matthew Staver, chairman of the pro-Christian Liberty Council, said the campaign was a crass and badly timed attempt at restricting religious freedom.

No doubt there are atheists in Australia too, intent on drawing people away from the manger, seeking to impose their secular views on this great cultural festival.  If only the atheists would pause and feel the joy, and the love, of Christmas. 

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 27 November 2011.

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