Tag: religion
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Why isn’t Israel Folau selling his possessions to give to the poor?
An Australian football player lost his job with Rugby Australia recently because of comments he made on Instagram. Before I disclose what these comments were, it’s worth pointing out that an employer is free to dismiss employees who break their employment contract provided the contract is legal and I would be surprised if Rugby Australia’s […]
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Faith-based leadership and a climate emergency
I was going to write a post about faith-based leadership when I came across this article – Faith without works: Why the Prime Minister’s call to pray for rain is offensive It was written by a Pastor and is very good. The author, Byron Smith, writes about a speech the Australian Prime Minister gave last […]
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I don’t like what you wear but I defend your right to wear it – part 2
If Boris Johnson hadn’t generated a media tornado this week with his burkas resemble letterboxes comment I would not have known that Denmark recently banned people from wearing face veils in public. I find it odd that everyone is focussing on the letterbox comment, which I found funny, rather than the more concerning issue which […]
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A merry vegan atheist Christmas
Things that make me happy: A green landscape. Old furniture. Victorian buildings. Snow. A good pale ale. Vegan food. Music. My family. I got all these things for Christmas except for number 4: snow. However snow and a green landscape are mutually exclusive so I’ll accept that I can’t have both. How does a vegan […]
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Be kind to living things
I’ve haven’t written much lately because I’ve been busy. Everyone is busy, I know. All the snow has melted here but it hung around for a long time. Usually when we get snow it’s all gone within a couple of days. The chances of a white Christmas now are very remote. It looks like we’ll […]
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Criticising our leaders and faith-based leadership
We live in a free society where we can criticise our leaders without fearing for our lives and I value that immensely. We ought to be challenging Theresa May on the appropriateness of a deal with the DUP. For the same reason, Labour’s Diane Abbott can’t now claim unfair treatment for the criticism that was […]
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I don’t like what you wear but I defend your right to wear it.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled this week that private companies can legally ban employees from wearing religious, political, or philosophical signs. I feel a bit uncomfortable about this ruling and here’s why. But first, let me say that I am atheist. I can’t think of anything I could wear that would fall […]
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Peter Singer discusses religion, the bible, abortion, and same sex marriage in 4 minutes
Peter Singer talks about abortion and same sex marriage in this video and specifically how Christians often focus more on these two issues than on poverty. He finds this strange because abortion is not mentioned in the gospels at all, while homosexuality is mentioned very little and mostly in the old testament; not so much in the […]
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The God Delusion
I’m currently reading Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion. I’m already an atheist but have become somewhat interested in religion lately, perhaps because of the rise of ISIS and the violence they encourage in the name of God. What makes someone believe in the supernatural? The existence of a supernatural being is no more likely than the […]
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Countering extremism with truth and reason
Sometimes it seems like half of the people are desperately trying to leave Syria while the other half are trying to get there. News this week of another group of women leaving the UK for Syria was even more astonishing that the last because this group took young children with them. A society that condones slavery and crucifixion is […]
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Easter, ethics, and Debussy
As usual I fell for all the April Fools’ Day jokes yesterday including the one about Jeremy Clarkson joining the fossil fuel divestment movement. I guess I was just feeling hopeful 🙂 The kids have been asking me lots of questions about Easter that I’m having problems answering like “How does the Easter Bunny travel?” and […]
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Angels, Christmas Trees, and Opshopping
Elizabeth said to me today, “I know what angels look like”. To which I replied, “How do you know what angels look like?”. Elizabeth: “Because Mr MacDonald (not his real name) put one up on the white screen”. Then I asked her what they look like and she said, “An orange clown”. The kids have […]
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