Well Fuck Me ‘N.Z Religions Unite Against Violence’

The two introductory paragraphs in today’s paper encapsulated the duplicitous nature of the headline ‘Religions unite against violence’

"More than 40 New Zealand religious leaders have taken a joint stand today against violence towards women or children.

 The 35 men and six women, representing 29 organisations, have promised to encourage their believers to report family violence, hold perpetrators to account and support victims, and to train their clerics and other staff in how to respond to family violence and work with anti-violence agencies" 

The maths is simple.

41 Church leaders and just 6 of them are women.

The irony didn’t escape moi.

No journalist managed to ask if this wasn’t a bit ‘rich’ to pontificate against family violence whilst having in-house policies to subjugate women.

Then there are the more obvious overt mandates inherent in these signed-up religious bodies towards violence.

Why did the docile media give these religious leaders a free ride and ask them why they personally follow a doctrine that clearly mandates violence?

Try this for size…

"And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]... but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful.   And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah” [Quran]

“The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name” [Exodus]

The Bible has by popular count 1214 violent passages and the Quran 527.

The Quran is 8.5% full of verses that involves some form of violence, sexism etc.

It’s about time these religious leaders got their own houses in order before preaching to others.

  

Bus Company Bows to Theist Threats – Secular New Zealand? Pigs Arse!

The Atheist Bus Campaign in New Zealand has literally ground-to a halt with N.Z Bus Limited backtracking on earlier approval to display the adverts – identical to those used overseas.

This change of mind was brought-about after N.Z Bus received threats to boycott its services and complaints from some of its staff who said they would refuse to drive any bus donning the signs.

The duplicitous N.Z Bus saw no problem running ads for the superstitious, whilst in the next breath refusing those of from the growing numbers of non-superstitious who also happen to occupy seats on its services.

Theists it appears require censorship to defend their position, which weakens generation by generation, rather than open debate on religious role in modern society and the existence of thousands of invisible entities dubbed gods – they claim without a shred of empirical evidence are true.

The weak-minded squawk whenever their own freedoms to practice their chosen superstition are threatened, but see no problem denying others the exact same freedoms they see as sacrosanct.

The moment anyone dares suggesting there is no Yahweh, Zeus, Maui, Shiva, Bacchus etc etc, watching over humanity, creating planets in less than a week, saving people from burning buildings etc they are reduced to attacking the medium – rather than it’s message.

Needless to say The Catholic Church, historic world leaders in repression, bigotry & censorship, has come-out to congratulate N.Z Bus’s actions.

The idea New Zealand is a secular country is a fallacy – a total sham.

New Zealanders should take a look at themselves and the orchestrated suppression of free-thought by groups who bask, fat and bloated, in their ‘tax free status.’

A sad day in our history.

Christian Only Sporting Clubs in New Zealand create a Sectarian Divide

It’s been a considerable period, since I came to the conclusion Theists were largely from a distant galaxy, and I resided on another planet light-years away (one, that circled a Sun, rather than what The Bible has to say on planetary orbits)

We lived-in the same community but ostensibly lead separate lives, moved-in diametrically opposed social circles.

This vast space that separates our respective thought pattern’s, was best exemplified last week, as I pulled-up at the lights, behind a 4WD vehicle.

The spare-tire cover was sign-written with ‘Christian Surfers’ & a web-site address.

As I continued driving, my powers of lateral thinking engaged, I asked myself “Why would Christians want to separate themselves from the mainstream surfing fraternity?”

“What benefit could there be from Mister & Mrs. Christian, to distinguish themselves as a part of a distinct sub-culture, within a sub-culture?”

“What makes a Christian Surfer, any different from say a Buddhist Surfer or a left-handed surfer?”

“What do Christian Surfers do uniquely in our oceans, than say an agnostic wave-rider?”

I was unable to come to any logical conclusion, apart from one.

Snobbishness.

Christian Christians not only saw themselves as ‘different’, but more over ‘better’ than their peers.

This wasn’t a bonding exercise of ‘like minded individuals’, this was purely an exercise in aloof, ostentatious-ness using religion as the great justifier.

It was their mission to tell other surfers ‘we are right’ and ‘you are wrong’.

Irrespective of their motives, one wonders where this Kiwi sporting sectarianism will end & what ridiculous lengths will Christians go to, to separate themselves from ‘the great unwashed’ masses, doomed to burn in hells eternal fires?

Will this go from the sublime to the ridiculous, and we’ll end-up in New Zealand with ‘Snowboarders for Christ’?

Actually the answer on this is “yes”, and here happens to be their web-site.

No don’t tell me, there’s also an ‘Athletes for Christ’?

Tick that box as well.

It also looks like Christian Motorcyclists want to shun other bikers as well.

Then of course there’s Christian Football Association, where Christian teams play exclusively Christian teams, in their own little micro-tournament, minus all those evil atheists and followers of other Gods.

You’d like to think FIFA would ban competitions based expressly on ones religious beliefs?

The ‘them & us’ list of separatist sporting associations goes on.

So where will this move by Christians to segregate themselves from mainstream sport end?

Christian Table Tennis Association?

Underwater Hockey Players for Christ?

In any country sport, has unique the potential to unite peoples of different races, social strata & religious beliefs or lack of them.

For example the junior football team I coach, we have Muslims, Buddhists, South Africans, English, Saudi, Thai and even the odd Kiwi to fill the ranks. A true multi-cultural team where everyone is united in a common cause.

Conversely sport also has the potential to divide, and sadly for New Zealand Society, this ‘divisive road’ is the one taken by hard-line Christians in our country.

Christian Only Refugees

God botherer, one time Financial Administrator for the N.Z Catholic Church, elected United Future list member, and now independent MP, Gordon Copeland, is attempting to use his last days in Parliament in a futile attempt to grant further privileges, for those who choose Christianity as their superstition of choice.

Rather than worry about the 100 Kiwi’s crossing the ditch every day, Copeland wants the secular N.Z Government to grant exemptions (read special privileges) to asylum seekers who profess to be Christians and claim to be under some threat were they returned home.

His Press Release of the 17th April 2008, is headed ‘Copeland seeks moratorium on deportation of Christians’ & reads:

Independent MP Gordon Copeland today utilised a Parliamentary Question to enter a plea with the Minister of Immigration on behalf of Iranian asylum seekers, who convert to Christianity.

“Following the introduction of legislation in Iran mandating the death penalty for apostates from Islam, there can now be no doubt at all that the deportation of such converts is a death sentence,” said Mr Copeland.

“In the light of that reality, the Dutch, British, Canadian, and Australian Governments have stopped deportation to Iran and New Zealand should, in my view, do the same.”

“This country’s foundations are based upon liberty of conscience and freedom of religion, including the freedom to change one’s religion. We abolished the death penalty about 40 years ago and its application anywhere in the world is abhorrent to New Zealanders.”

“In these circumstances it is simply unconscionable to continue deportation.”

Mr Copeland has said that any claim to Christian conversion needs to be genuine and able to be authenticated by clergy or other pastoral workers in testimony before the Refugee Status Appeals Authority. However, should testimony provided in that manner affirm that the conversion is genuine, then it should be accepted and asylum granted to the claimant.

“At the end of the day, there is simply no option in the matter and I would rather see the benefit of the doubt extended to the asylum seeker than take the risk of discovering later that we have sent a person back to their death in Iran.”

ENDS

Apparently Copeland’s crocodile teared cry for “freedom of religion” did not extend to other faiths.

If Copeland got his way converted Bahá'ís arriving into the N.Z would be returned to face their fates. Iran is of course is both the cradle of the Bahai’s religion and it’s followers form the countries largest religious minority & have endured persecution for centuries under successive regimes.

But of course Copeland is only interested in Christian refugees.

So Refugees from other converted faiths, plus those dreaded atheists, would be on the first plane out of New Zealand, were he to have his way.

The other question that comes to mind is - who would qualify as a Christian?

The Refugee Status Appeals Authority could face arguments that a non-monotheist Coptic Egyptian was not infact a follower of Jesus and therefore would not qualify for Copelands rigid rules as who was a Christian and who wasn’t.

Problems abound, not to mention the fact Refugee Status Authority would be granting an exemption based on religion and it's independence would be called into question.

This isn’t the first time Copeland has wanted a say as to who can come into the country, and who can’t. In 2006 he approached The Minister Of Immigration (David Cunliffe) in an attempt to frustrate Australian euthanasia-activist Philip Nitschkes attempts to settle in N.Z.

No prize for guessing Mr Nitschkes point of view on the terminally ill differs from Mr Copelands, and that was good enough for Gordon to partition the authorities (including visits to The N.Z Police at one stage) to get him banned.

Copeland’s ‘Christians Only Refugee’ proposal is of course patently ludicrous.

Asylum seekers, would seize upon this window of opportunity to covert, as an easy path to follow to gain residency. Of this there is little doubt.

They would be quoting Bible passges to the cow’s come home and whole chapters of L.Ron Hubbards ‘Diagenics’ verbatim if it lead to citizenship in godzone.

The sooner the tax-payers of New Zealand see the back of this ‘lame duck’ MP the better.

PS; Would someone kindly tell Gordon, the most Christian nation on the planet, is one of the last in the Western World, to still practice the "abhorrent" death penalty he deplores.