Sean the Blogonaut

No Ugly women to succeed Dalai Llama

Blogonaut — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:42:31 +0000

In what might be seen as a step forward for a version of Buddhism mired in feudalism and arcane religious waffle, the Dalai Llama has announced the being a woman would not necessarily bar anyone from succeeding him:

So the purpose of the incarnation is to serve people about dharma (faith). If the circumstances are such, female form is more useful, then why not

[source]

But lest we think that this purveyor of eternal happiness is hitting on anything profound, he did clarify that statement with the following qualifier:

And I also mentioned in case Dalai Lama’s incarnation one female comes then must be very attractive female. So the very reason, you see more influence to others, an ugly female then may not much effective.

[source]

So a woman can follow him, but she must be attractive. Because Pretty women are effective at what? Establishing world peace? Giving old monks erections?

Seriously, I think the Buddha said it best in the Kalama Sutta (that’s KAL AMA not KARMA)

If it looks, smells and feels like horse shit it probably is.

Well okay maybe I am shortening it but here check it out yourself.

Free E-book – Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today

Blogonaut — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 07:34:31 +0000

I am not sure how long this will free deal will last, but if you click the image to the left it will take you to the kindle store where you can download Germs, Genes, & Civilization: How Epidemics Shaped Who We Are Today for free.

The book is pitched as a laypersons guide to the history of Epidemiology. I am reminded somewhat of Germs, Guns and Steel.

I don’t have a Kindle Damn it

Neither do I, so I am reading this on Kindle for PC which you can download for free and which will read not only books from the kindle store but any .mobi files downloaded from the Gutenberg project.

Deal valid as of August 22nd

Hillsong’s Connection with Gloria Jeans

Blogonaut — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:13:55 +0000

Hillsong issued this statement, presumably in response to rumours surrounding the legal battle being fought by Gloria Jeans:

19 April 2010

Hillsong Church does not own or operate Gloria Jeans and has no legal or financial ties to the company.

Gloria Jeans is a privately owned business.

The owners of Gloria Jeans have publically acknowledged that they attend Hillsong Church.

Hillsong Church is not associated or implicated with any pending legal proceedings before the NSW Supreme Court. Any suggestion otherwise would be highly defamatory.

As far as I can determine they are right, though I do find the wording in sentence three a little curious. This distancing themselves from Gloria Jeans is really par for the course with Hillsong. They are only to happy to be in the picture even if its by a loose association, when the going is good, but when the shit hits the fan it’s “we have no legal or financial ties”.

We are talking on an entity the has grown and I suspect continues to work on the bonds of strong christian fellowship(not legal or financial just to be clear), friendship or connection.

So let’s explore that connection.

Lets look at this sentence:

The owners of Gloria Jeans have publically acknowledged that they attend Hillsong Church.

True, Peter Irvine has I think only ever been identified as a Hillsong attendee, perhaps a high profile one owing to his membership on the boards of Gloria Jeans and Mercy Minitries. Both I might add who have at least had strong working relationships( by which I mean catering in the case of Gloria Jeans and donation to and promotion of the Mercy Program) with Hillsong.

With Mr Saleh though, I think the sentence above might be stretching the definition of attendee. Nabi Saleh is an Elder in the church. Not just an older and respected churchgoer but a member of an advisory council of sorts. On Hillsong’s SENIOR PASTORS & ELDERSHIP page we have the following listing

The Hillsong Eldership

Brian Houston is Founder and Senior Pastor of Hillsong Church.

George Aghajanian is the General Manager of Hillsong Church. He possesses a wealth of senior management experience in both Australian and international organisations, and brings a strong balance of faith and practical business application to his role.

Nabi Saleh is the Chairman of Gloria Jean’s Coffees Australia and New Zealand. His strong business acumen and Godly wisdom have also enabled him to sit on several boards of directors for many large, non-profit organisations.

Robert Fergusson is a Senior Associate Pastor at Hillsong Church. He is passionate about imparting practical life principles from the Bible, and his primary gifting and function within the church is that of preaching and teaching.

Dr. Gordon Lee is a highly respected General Practitioner, and operates successful medical practices in Sydney. He also pastors the Hillsong Chinese Extension Services.

Leigh Howard-Smith is the Managing Director of several companies in the logistics/transport and plastic manufacturing industries.

Don Cooper-Williams is a Senior Marketing Executive within the IT Industry. With both Godly wisdom and management skills, he is a gifted communicator within the church and the corporate community.

Joel A’Bell, with his wife Julia, have been on staff at Hillsong Church for over 10 years. Recently, he has come alongside Brian & Bobbie to outwork the Hillsong vision across the Hills, City, South West & Brisbane campuses. Joel is a devoted husband, and father to Harmony and Eli.

So to say that Mr Saleh attends Hillsong is a gross understatement don’t you think? But this Eldership is kind of nebulous is it not. I mean it doesn’t say that Mr Saleh fulfils any role really.

Until of course you look on the corporate governance page where Mr Saleh is listed as a member of both the Audit and Remuneration Committees.

What does it all mean?

There is no financial or legal connection between Hillsong and Gloria Jeans. The Chairperson of company that hasn’t paid its debts just happens to be on the Hillsong Elders council and is a member of two committees involving finance. Ultimately it’s Hillsong’s concern – I think it may speak to Mr Saleh’s business acumen and character but I am sure that that could be forgiven/forgotten considering how easily sexual misconduct can be plastered over( referring here to Frank Huston).

Gloria Jeans parent company insolvent?

Blogonaut — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:03:06 +0000

In April I commented on the interesting news that Jireh, parent company of Gloria Jeans Coffee had landed itself in court over unpaid commissions to another company. Well to give you an update I’ll hand you over to Ruth Pollard of the Sydney Morning Herald:

THE parent company of Gloria Jeans Coffee, co-owned by the Hillsong Church elder Nabi Saleh, is in ”financial dire straits” and should be put into liquidation and an investigation held into its affairs, the NSW Supreme Court has been told.

It is the latest shot fired in the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the coffee giant’s parent company, Jireh International, by a small US-based coffee supplier, Western Export Services.

On June 11, the court ruled that Jireh must pay the export company millions in commissions and interest after it found Jireh had breached a joint venture agreement. Yesterday the parties were back in court, fighting over the formula used to calculate the total owed to Western Export Services.

Both parties were required to submit evidence to the court on their financial circumstances. ”The defendant is hopelessly insolvent,” said Jim Johnson, counsel for Western Export Services. ”There are public policy issues as to whether this company should be allowed to keep trading.”

[Read More]

What’s this got to do with Atheism or Reason?

Nothing – new readers may not be aware of the 18 months I spent in helping out the victims of the evangelical mental health facility Mercy Ministries. To catch yourselves up on that story start here. One of the directors mentioned in the article above Peter Irvine, was also a director of Mercy Ministries and in addition to being forced to pay damages to victims after a ruling by the ACCC it appears that his business activities are about as shady as his so called charitable ones.

So this post is some continued Schadenfreude on my behalf, frankly these bastards look like they are getting what was coming to them.

State school children targeted with unsolicited Christian mail

Blogonaut — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:19:11 +0000

The Brisbane Times reveals that students at a Brisbane State High school were targeted by an unknown Christian group or person who had obtained the names of students. Students were sent hand addressed envelopes containing a pamphlet created by an American Evangelical Ministry. Apparently the teacher was required by law to pass the letters on to the students( not a lawyer, but depending on the age of the student I’d be advising parents).

Students at a Brisbane state high school last month were given evangelical religious pamphlets printed in the United States that arrived at the school in the mail system. The students’ names were hand-written on the envelopes but there was no indication of who had sent them. The students’ teacher passed on the mail, as he was obliged by law to do, but he said he had ‘‘no idea’’ where they had come from. The pamphlet, entitled Changed from the Inside Out, was printed in Illinois and included excerpts from Next Door Savior, a book written by evangelical preacher, Max Lucado.

[Read more…]

I find this story disquieting for a number of reasons and it gives me cause for concern, both as a teacher and a secularist.

How were the children’s names obtained?

There are a couple of possibilities here. A student may have provided or been coerced into giving details to a parent or adult with ties to the unknown group/person. A school chaplain, teacher or support officer with an evangelical bent may have provided names(at this stage it not clear to me if particular students were targeted or if it was a blanket mailing). In either case boundaries have been crossed.

Who sent them?

The sender deliberately set out not to be caught, providing no indication on who they were (this in itself would have caused me not to deliver them directly). Was this to ensure that the mail got to it target or to ensure that once the game was up that there could be no consequences? Deceptive behaviour in the least.

What’s next?

I do wonder what this person/group might do next, determined to circumvent parental wishes and negate the soft protections afforded by schools. Could it be baptism without consent? I think the police should be investigating the persons or group involved.

What’ the harm?

One of the comments on the original news site suggests that this is a bit of a storm in a teacup, a beat up. The pamphlets are jut encouraging students to live oral lives? What do you think? Should we let all and sundry have access to the minds of our children?

Perhaps Schools could sell mailing lists in an effort to raise funds (joking).

$437 million in total spent on school chaplaincy

Blogonaut — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:26:51 +0000

That amount¹ is staggering even before you take into account that it’s money spent based on nothing more than the whim of deeply religious politicians and the gleeful rubbing of palms from self interested religious organisations. There has been no pilot study for this program. No detailed review from independent or qualified stakeholders. Contrast this situation with that of the Secular Ethics trial.

The National Chaplaincy Program grew out of state initiatives, some operating for almost 50 years² but there does not seem to be any evidence beyond anecdote, or religious belief, that Chaplaincy is a positive influence or indeed the best type of influence. We should be aiming as a society to offer the best for our children, not just what seems to be good for them(heavily influenced by personal bias).

To even call it a program is, I think to mischaracterise it. It’s not a set syllabus being rolled out to every public school. A school might on the one hand get a homophobic bigot who believes in a literal gospel another a liberal, tolerant science accepting and qualified counsellor (even if that’s not what they are supposed to do wink-wink, nudge-nudge).

What could have been bought with that money? Leslie Cannold informs us:

In a world of scarce resources, money spent on chaplains is money that could have brought-wait for it-around 5000 qualified counselors into our schools.

[Source]

It’s a blatant attempt by certain religious groups in Australia to maintain religious privilege, the intent may be entirely good natured with the religious holding the firm conviction that a little bit of religion makes the school a better place, but firm conviction and good intent is not enough when talking about the lives of our children.

1. Cannold, L., The National School Chaplaincy Program Is an Accident Waiting to Happen, 15 August 2010

2. Koutsoukis, J., Howard backs school chaplain bid,June 18, 2006

Gruen version of Greens Ad. better than the real thing

Blogonaut — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:13:31 +0000

This Ad appeared as part of a segment on Gruen Nation. Take a gander

I can only remember seeing one Greens Ad this election and as with many of the panellists I agree that this one is better. One of the panellists joked that the Republic of Everyone (the guest as agency) would be receiving a call from the greens tomorrow .

Considering the farce that this election has become it comes as no surprise to me that it’s exactly what happened.

Greens spokeswoman Ebony Bennett confirmed The Greens contacted the ABC and Republic of Everyone over the possibility of using the ad, but the ABC would not allow the clip to be used during the election.

[Source]

The ABC declined to let the Greens use the ad. as they wanted to remain impartial.

The Australian Book of Atheism– Pre orders now taken

Blogonaut — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 11:54:39 +0000

I mentioned previously that Scribe was releasing the Australian Book of Atheism in December as an anti Christmas book. Well if you want to get in early and take out a pre-order check out Embiggen books.

Chaplaincy Roundup

Blogonaut — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:51:20 +0000

Feeling decidedly under the weather at the moment – check my twitter feed for the gruesome details. So I offer you some of the chatter that’s been generated by the slap to the face of youth mental health that is the $222 million expansion of the Chaplaincy program.

First up we have an entertaining rant from John Birmingham in the National Times:

Two hundred and twenty million dollars would be an impressive chunk of change, even in the huge amount of dough carved out of the federal tax take for education.
Much less impressive however is Julia Gillard is wasting that much on a naked and sadly desperate bribe for the god-bothering lobby.
We’ve all read the words ”chronic”, ”underfunding” and ”state school system” placed one after the other so many times now that I hesitate to do so again, lest your eyes roll back in your heads, your brain functions flatline and you all start thinking of Wendy Francis as a reasonable choice for your upper house vote.

…

[John Birmingham, Who will rid me of turbulent god-botherers? Not our first atheist PM, August 10, 2010 - 1:10PM]

The Atheist Foundation of Australia have also issued media release:

Atheist Foundation of Australia president David Nicholls today expressed deep concern over Prime Minister Gillard’s announcement over the weekend to increase funding to school chaplains by $222 million.

In a submission to the public consultation process about the National School Chaplaincy Program, the Australian psychological Society (APS) raised concerns about the credentials of many Chaplains providing counselling services as part of the Chaplaincy program in Australian schools.

In their submission they state that the ‘government is supporting a scheme which allows unregistered and unqualified school chaplains to work outside their boundaries as spiritual and religious personnel’^[1] and point out that there is clear evidence that school chaplains are engaging in duties for which they are not qualified.

….

[AFA Media Release: God’s Good News is Bad-News for Students, Release Date: Monday, August 9, 2010]

An excellent letter from statereligionvic to the president of the Victorian Principal’s Association

Dear Ms. Leigh & VPA Board:

I write to you to share an alarming development and ask for your support.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Gillard, as part of her election campaign, announced the renewal and expansion of a program referred to as “Chaplaincy”. One of the prime rationales given for this program is that it has the support of school principals. This announcement comes immediately following a meeting that Gillard held with the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) where she was told of the priority ACL placed on this especially in the contested state of QLD.

The Chaplaincy program is a priority of the ACL because it is the main source of funding for para church ministries that are aligned with its political agenda. In QLD for instance, the Commonwealth spent 33M dollars on Chaplains in state schools, most of these are employed by the “Scripture Union” organization (SU) and are present in 80% of the schools. In VIC Access Ministry has chaplains in 70% of the state schools.

…

[Letter to Victorian Principal's Association, August 9, 2010]

Feel free to add any more links in the comments below.

Christian readers, are you as outraged as I am at the lack of proper youth mental health services? Could not this money be better spent on professional counsellors -who can be of any faith or none?

Christian voters more important than the welfare of Australian children

Blogonaut — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 01:58:06 +0000

I had hoped that with the Coalition being kicked out of office at the lat election we may have seen the end of pandering to the Christian right (and indeed the demonization of asylum seekers). I had been given reason to think that the discriminatory Chaplaincy program would be reviewed with a view to determining whether or not it had any value, or indeed if there were better programs for children’s mental wellbeing in Australia’s state school students.

Where did I develop this misunderstanding – maybe here:

Education Minister Julia Gillard’s office has confirmed the $90 million program will be changed into a secular scheme when current contracts expire.

“Any funds allocated, we will deliver,” her spokeswoman said.

“After that point it will be reviewed and obviously we are looking at expanding it.”

Under the scheme, government and non-government schools can get up to $20,000 a year to employ a person with a religious background.

Introducing the scheme last year, Mr Howard said Australians yearned for greater spiritual guidance, and the program would be warmly welcomed.

[source: Ben Packham, Herald Sun January 14, 2008 12:00AM]

So has there been a review?

Not as far as I am aware. Not if you don’t count the embarrassing excuse for a review (a video link to the humorous gutting of the study the government uses) that is lauded by politicians and proselytizers alike, as the evidence on which to promote this farce of a program. No, Labor it seems are so desperate for any votes they can screw out of Christians that they intend to expand the program.

JULIA Gillard will intensify her pitch to Christian voters with a major expansion of the school chaplaincy program.

Despite identifying herself as an atheist, Ms Gillard has been working hard to court the powerful Christian lobby.

It comes amid concern that Labor’s standing among religious voters has slumped following the overthrow of church-going prime minister Kevin Rudd.

Ms Gillard will today announce an allocation of $222 million to boost the number of chaplains in schools by more than one-third, which would mean about 3700 schools will be covered under the voluntary scheme introduced by the Howard government.

…

Ms Gillard said that while the chaplaincy program had been beneficial, schools in rural, remote and disadvantaged locations had been missing out.

”Chaplains can help build the sense of community in the school, support the school ethos and provide additional support for vulnerable children,” she said.

[Source: JOSH GORDON, SMH, August 08, 2010 ]

Here’s the rub

In a time when we are supposed to be tightening our belts after the big spend that kept us out of the GFC the government is expanding a program :

that has not been properly reviewed
that cements Christian privilege
that has not been shown to be beneficial
that discriminates on the basis of religion(in employment)
that is infested with evangelical churches/organisations
that serves as a vehicle for proselytizers despite regulations to the contrary
that experts have loudly criticised
whose employees are largely unqualified(up to 97%) to deal with the problems they face

What can you do?

Well apart from voting for some minor parties like the Greens, The Secular Party or The Australian Sex Party you might consider helping fund the high court challenge against the program.