Henry ... this article from the well regarded Israeli newspaper 'Ha'Aretz' sings the praises of secularism and advocates it for that valiant little nation that looms so large in the world.

But secularism is not just a way forward for plucky little Israel. We here in Oz could do with a major strengthening of our secular credentials. Recent events here are starting to fray our secular edges ... this must stop.

Case 1.

It appears that the Federal Anti-Discrimination laws are going to be amended to allow continued discrimination against gay Australians and single mothers (!!sic).

The pressure for this troglodyte outburst by the Cabinet comes from some "Christian" group in Canberra. These purveyors of hate and fear have somehow convinced the Cabinet that Australians are dead keen to psychologically punch and kick other Australians because 'she' (the unmarried mother living in the flat upstairs) doesn't have a fella in her life and 'he' (that gay guy living in the flat next door to you) does.

Henry, Australians of the year 2009 are not of this view. The whole issue of single parenthood (a bad move in my view as it creates poverty) has been socially solved in Australia.

The welfare system supports it and there is no longer any stigma attached to it ... either as the mother or the child. It is a putrid act for the 'Christo-Taliban' lobby in Canberra to attempt to make a political killing with their own deranged followers by targetting these vulnerable women.

As for attacking gay Australians ... when will these faux-Christians give up whining and grizzling about the issue? We have (at least one) gay Australian in the current Cabinet and others in every parliament across the land.

Honestly Henry this continued obsession with the gay issue leads me to wonder whether these people are not actually mentally disturbed.

Case 2.

There is too much leeway given to schools in the matter of general religious orientation and practice. The string of Bretheren schools established under the administration of JW Howard is a bridge too far. Muslim schools fall under the same laser stare.

The function of the entire school system is to impart to students a set of commonly held (in Australia) ideas, information, values, attitudes,ambitions, loyalties and technical skills which make the students capable, at around age 18, of finding a job, forming friendships and building a life in the real Australia that actually exists all around us.

The Bretheren and the Muslim schools do not have this principle at heart.

The Bretheren ... soi disant "Christians" ... are only interested in holding onto their children as a kind of religious peasantry to be ruled over by a gang of gentlemen who seem to get richer and richer every year.

The wealth is personally held by these men (all related by birth or marriage) as distinct from the wealth of the ancient churches which is communally held ... neither Cardinal Pell nor Archbishop Jensen owns the wealth of their respective Archdioceses anymore than Wayne Swan owns the revenues of the Commonwealth Government.

The Administration of John Howard allowed this religious tyranny to get going in a big way and strengthen its hold over these locked up thousands of Australians.

A proper secular state would break this tyranny and prevent its re-emergence. Abolish these dead-end schools and make the children attend normal local state schools.

Muslim schools are similarly set up. The aim of Muslim schools is not to prepare the Muslim children for life as Australians. It is to prepare them to stay as Muslims and put Islam ahead of everything else in the world including Australia.

This policy is contrary to the world view promoted by classic Western secularism. Abolish these madrassas lurking in our suburbs and send the children to the state schools.

The academic results which may make any of these schools shine is irrelevant ... the function of all Australian schools is to produce mainstream Australians who can make properly free decisions as adults.

The function of an Australian government and parliament is to prevent any group of Australian children being denied their Australian birthright. If an adult wishes to wander off into some fantasy world where 'Elect Vessels' or imams run their lives, so be it.

Adults in a secular state can exercise the freedoms promoted by and defended by that state. Children are a different matter.

Normally parents can be relied upon to advance their children's welfare. My parents did and so did yours Henry. However, there are clearly some parents in Australia who do not accept that their children are not just carbon copies of themselves.

Children are entitled to be protected by the state when their parents won't do it. A secular state should be actively keen and constantly on the alert to prevent attempts by religious groups to limit the education of children and replace it with the fascism which is just under the surface of every religious idea.

Proper spirituality is not endangered by secular action to prevent the closing of children's minds by way of schools whose intentions are anything but educative. In Australia in 2009, religion ... the physical organisation of a spiritual world view ... cannot be allowed to corral its adherents into a closed Universe.

The mainstream Christian groups in Australian history were always open and active in the wider community. They have never presented any problems of note.

The real problem now in Australia is the small and self obsessed groups like the Bretheren and the Muslims who see their children as fodder for the building up of the little empires run by the gangs that always run such enterprises.

Australian kids deserve better. They need a protective section to be put into the Australian Constitution.

They need a proper secular state to help them make it to the common Australian adulthood which we all achieved and then they can do the rest for themselves as free Australians in a free, democratic and secular state.

Sir Wellington Boote

Writing in response to........

Why Israel must become a secular state: A thought for Yom Kippur 5770.

The demand for secularisation should be supported by all religious Israelis, because it is no less in their interest than it is in that of secular Jews.

Sometimes it seems to me that the State of Israel is condemned to re-enact much of European history. One of the processes that Israel has not completed is secularisation; and we are forced to go through this process, that took Europe centuries, in a few decades.

I will argue that full secularisation of the state is in the interest of religious Jews no less than it is desired by non-believers, and I call upon religious Jews to join the process of secularisation.

Israel's history, like that of Europe, has been determined in many ways by the tension between two conceptions of authority, revealed truth and critical inquiry.

The conception of revealed truth has dominated most of human history: truth and values are based on a source that lies in the past, and whose validity is absolute. This is the basic structure of traditional religions that derive their authority from a presumed revelation in a mythical past.

The conception of critical inquiry has emerged in a series of enlightenment movements starting in India in the 6th Century BCE (Before Common Era) and Ancient Greece in the 5th Century BCE, and gained historical prominence in Europe from the 17th Century onwards.

It denies that there are authorities that must be followed blindly. Instead it puts its trust in the combined effort of human beings to gradually inch closer to truth and justice.

It has taken Europe many centuries to move from revealed truth to critical inquiry as its guiding principle. The process of Europe's secularisation began in 1648, after thirty years of religious wars that had left large parts of Europe virtually depopulated by killing, illness and famine.

Europe realised that as long as politics and religion were intertwined, lethal conflicts could not be resolved.

Source & Full Article: haaretz.com