Church of the Poisoned Mind

Church of the Poisoned Mind

In the 1980s, British pop group, Culture Club led by the inimitable Boy George, had a hit song called 'Church of the Poisoned Mind'. It included the lyric:

Love is hard to find
In the Church of the Poisoned Mind

While the song was more of a love song than a critique of modern religion, the lyrics can certainly be applied to modern Christianity. The religious right has hijacked Christianity from being an inclusive, loving religion to one that is exclusive, hateful, spiteful and driven by greed.

Much of the modern church is a church with a poisoned mind.

The religious right treat abortion and homosexuality as the worst things in the world, they regularly vote for politicians who's primary focus is on the support of big business at the cost of the poor. They vote for politicians who wage illegal wars based on false claims. They vote and campaign for politicians who wilfully imprison and demonise asylum seekers.

It is these policies that are the biggest threat to family values, to the poor, to the downtrodden, to the vulnerable, to the persecuted.

Considering that many conservative politicians claim to be Christian, their treatment of refugees, the poor, the needy, is anything but Christian. Take Australia's abuse and torture of children for example. The United Nations has found that Australia's treatment of asylum seekers breaches the international convention on torture⁽¹⁾. Yet, both the Liberal and Labor parties continue to support the brutal and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

Christ said, "suffer the little children". This doesn't mean to make the little children suffer.

While the religious right is distracted with abortion and same sex marriage, children are being tortured and murdered by the very political policies they support. Conversely, less conservative churches, such as the Uniting Church, are protesting against the government's inhumane treatment of asylum seekers.

Abortion is a biblical issue that is younger than the McDonald's Happy Meal ⁽²⁾. As has been pointed out by The Christian Left, abortion was designed by the founders of the religious right in the 1970s to 'coalesce a right wing political movement' ⁽³⁾. It was instilled purely for political manipulation and not from faith.

While abortion maybe unsavoury for many, the religious right's concern for the child ends at child-birth. They oppose welfare, they oppose rises to the minimum wage, they oppose refugee resettlement, they oppose foreign aid but they often support war in third world nations. Each of these factors contributes to the reasons women choose abortion, each of these factors contributes to child mortality and each of these reasons are not consistent with the teachings of the bible that the religious right so voraciously claims to support. The bible teaches sharing, caring, peace and love. These are the things that the religious right either actively campaigns against or at best, pays lip service to.

Opposition to homosexuality is the other key issue that underpins the religious right's narrative and drives their political choices. Given that the bible is not the best role model for marriage, it is strange that the religious right declares that they support the biblical view of marriage.

Let's unpack marriage according to the bible:

Take your pick: rape, incest, polygamy, infidelity, sexual slavery, arranged marriages.

Yeah ... let's go with marriage according to the bible.

Same sex marriage is not going to ruin society. It is no threat to anyone else's marriage. Critics will often argue that it will destroy family values.

What does destroy families is the wilful imprisonment of children. The wilful imprisonment of fathers, mothers, sons and daughters without charge. The wilful demonisation of innocent people based on lies often perpetrated and perpetuated by the religious right in their blind support of politicians who pander to racism, xenophobia, fear.

What destroys family values is hate-driven ideology and slander. Something that a number of Christians are doing without thought of scripture commanding them to love their neighbour. instead, they're happy to spread lies about Islam or twist the words of the Quran in order to justify their own hate and fear. We're seeing an increase in attacks on Muslims and mosques reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Martin Niemöller, a German Baptist minister at the time, firmly blamed the church for the rise of the Nazis, because it tolerated the persecution of communists, the sick, the Jews⁽⁴⁾.

The religious right defends to the death the selfish and unbiblical ideology of capitalism. They believe the bible teaches them they can accumulate wealth without limit and that redistribution of wealth is theft.

Capitalism succeeds through exploitation. It is a fallacy that the rich earned their wealth from their own hard work. Most of the rich got rich through the efforts of people who slaved their guts out for little return: some not even being paid minimum wage. Workers contribute to the wealth of the company. It isn't theft to expect that wealth to be shared at least with those who contributed to it, whether they're the cleaner, checkout operator or the CEO. It is obscene that the executives are paid thousands times more than what their employees are paid. Some CEOs earn thousands of dollars an hour, while their staff barely make minimum wage.

For Christians to support this is anathema to the precepts of the bible. James 5:1-5 condemns the hoarding of wealth and the robbing of the workers through withholding of wages. Interesting then, that the USA's right wing so voraciously opposes lifting the minimum wage to a standard that it can be lived upon:

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! ² Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. ⁴ Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. ⁵ You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter.

Much of the Western world is built on the rape of the third world. Corporations are continuing to source their labour from low-income nations to avoid paying higher wages. This doesn't benefit the third world. It only serves to drive a wedge between the rich and poor, it increases poverty and child mortality.

The religious right campaigns for smaller government. It sees taxation as theft. Yet who is going to build the roads and bridges, the schools, hospitals, electricity generators? The west has seen a major drive towards privatisation. This may reduce the tax burden, but privatisation comes at a cost. It is a fallacy to expect competition to drive down prices when consumers are prisoners to the greed of the capitalists who control that competition. Corporations introduce user-pays systems to cover their costs.

Of course, the reality is that even with privatisation, the government doesn't reduce the tax it takes, so consumers are hit double:

Taxation by government and taxation by corporation.

One of the religious right's recent mantras is that government is evil. Yet again, the bible clearly states that the government is the minister of God to do good. Romans 13:1-7 states: ' ... the authorities that exist are appointed by God ... For he is God's minister ... For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers ... '

Dare to state that the Bible promotes Socialism and one will be lynched in some Christian circles. Yet the bible consistently tells us to share wealth.

The basic premise of Marxism is biblical. 'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need' is a summary of the bible which states, 'He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack' (Exodus 16:18).

Acts 4:32-35 which speaks of the basic elements of communism - communal ownership and redistribution of wealth:

³² Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. .... ³⁴ Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, ³⁵ and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.

The bible is opposed to capitalism, to the accumulation of wealth while others suffer. Luke 12:33 - 'Sell your possessions, and give to the needy'.

The racism, bigotry and intolerance that permeates the ideology of the religious right is borne of fear. If the religious right read their bibles they'd realise there is an antidote to the fear that consumes them, as stated succinctly in 1 John 4:18:

Perfect love casts out all fear 

Sadly, many in the religious right would rather reference the teachings of arch-capitalist and atheist, Ayn Rand, then reference the teachings of the Christ they claim to follow.

If the religious right is genuine in the love of Christ, they would do well to free and care for refugees, to share wealth and care for the poor, to share love and stop attacking Islam, to promote peace and stop voting for politicians in the mould of George W. Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard, who waged war based on lies and fear.

The religious right are happy to twist scripture to support their warped view of Christ, however it is all legalism. All they try to defend is anti-abortion (or pro-life as they misname it, as their concern ends at birth), anti-homosexuality, anti-Islam, anti-immigration. Their view of scripture is 'thou shalt not' rather than 'thou shalt'.

Right wing Christianity is all legality and no morality.

They care more for capitalism and greed than they do for people. They fail to care for the poor, for the refugee, for the least of these as the bible calls it in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-45): inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to Me.

The religious right should ditch its poisonous teachings and embrace the socialist teachings of the bible, the teachings of love, peace, caring and sharing.


References:

1. Human Rights Law Centre, 'UN finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture', 9 March 2015, http://hrlc.org.au/un-finds-australias-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-violates-the-convention-against-torture. Accessed 14 February 2016.

2. Patheos, Fred Clark, 'The "biblical view" that's younger than the Happy Meal', 18 February 2012, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/02/18/the-biblical-view-thats-younger-than-the-happy-meal. Accessed 14 February 2016.

3. The Christian Left, 'Abortion', 2 February 2015, http://www.thechristianleftblog.org/blog-home/abortion. Accessed 14 February 2016.

4. 'Of Guilt and Hope, by Martin Niemöller', document and analysis by Harold Marcuse, http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/projects/niem/Niem1946GuiltHope13-16.htm. Accessed 14 February 2016. This page provides the following quotation from Martin Niemöller:

'When Pastor Niemöller was put in a concentration camp we wrote the year 1937; when the concentration camp was opened we wrote the year 1933, and the people who were put in the camps then were Communists. Who cared about them? We knew it, it was printed in the newspapers. Who raised their voice, maybe the Confessing Church? We thought: Communists, those opponents of religion, those enemies of Christians - "should I be my brother's keeper?" Then they got rid of the sick, the so-called incurables. - I remember a conversation I had with a person who claimed to be a Christian. He said: Perhaps it's right, these incurably sick people just cost the state money, they are just a burden to themselves and to others. Isn't it best for all concerned if they are taken out of the middle [of society]? -- Only then did the church as such take note. Then we started talking, until our voices were again silenced in public. Can we say, we aren't guilty/responsible? The persecution of the Jews, the way we treated the occupied countries, or the things in Greece, in Poland, in Czechoslovakia or in Holland, that were written in the newspapers. … I believe, we Confessing-Church-Christians have every reason to say: mea culpa, mea culpa! We can talk ourselves out of it with the excuse that it would have cost me my head if I had spoken out. … We preferred to keep silent. We are certainly not without guilt/fault, and I ask myself again and again, what would have happened, if in the year 1933 or 1934 - there must have been a possibility - 14,000 Protestant pastors and all Protestant communities in Germany had defended the truth until their deaths? If we had said back then, it is not right when Hermann Göring simply puts 100,000 Communists in the concentration camps, in order to let them die. I can imagine that perhaps 30,000 to 40,000 Protestant Christians would have had their heads cut off, but I can also imagine that we would have rescued 30-40,000 million [sic] people, because that is what it is costing us now'.

Capitalism, racism and slavery

Capitalism, racism and slavery and how they are connected

by guest blogger, Willz

In a modern society it is hard to imagine that our ancestors ever supported or tolerated slavery. Most people today find the idea of one person being legally able to own another as repugnant. Although slavery still exists today, it is nowhere near as acceptable as it was in times past.

For the rich capitalists who saw limitless wealth in being able to exploit a whole race for profit. It became a priority to be able to justify the practice to the public. This was achieved through racism. They pushed the mantra that the black person was somehow inferior to the white person and was therefore not worthy of the same rights and natural justice that a white person could expect.

Slavery has existed in many forms in most parts of the world for many thousands of years. Free labour was a good way to get rich quickly.

The United States was split in two and a vicious war fought from 1861 to 1865 over the rights of the wealthy southern cotton farmers to maintain ownership of slaves. After 600,000 deaths and the complete destruction of the southern economy, the slaves were freed. Meanwhile, disgruntled ex-confederate officers went on to form the Ku Klux Klan, whose basic tenet was white supremacy.

But that never happened in Australia, right? We wouldn't exploit people like that. We believe in a fair go for everyone, don't we? I don't remember reading anything in the history books at school about slavery or race exploitation in Australia.

But the fact remains that between 1860 and 1970, aboriginal people were forcibly removed from their homes with many sent to work for wealthy graziers and cattle stations. They were forced to work up to 16 hours per day for little or no compensation. Some of them worked the same station for 30 or 40 years; slaving for decades until they died. The irony of it all was that the state and federal governments used the excuse that this was being done to prevent aborigines from being mistreated. The term 'hypocrisy' would be a better description.

The laws during this time gave the government an extraordinary amount of control over the lives of aborigines, including determining where they could live, where they worked and whether they were paid for their labours. Every state had its own laws. For example, in Western Australia, aboriginal children from the age of 12 could be institutionalised and sent to work wherever the government desired. Boys were generally sent to work no pastural properties, while girls worked as domestic servants. They were given no protection and were often exposed to both physical and sexual abuse. Historian Rosalind Kidd states that 'floggings were common, police would find runaways and send them to Palm Island as punishment'⁽¹⁾. Palm Island was so far from most of their families that this policy ensured the family unit was torn apart.

So the question has to be asked. How slavery could be tolerated in Australia? The answer is simple. From the time of invasion, the aboriginal people were portrayed as a lesser species and inferior to the white race. They were dehumanised and regarded as sub-human. This has always been the justification for slavery by greedy capitalists. Once they succeed in dehumanising a culture, the general population turns a blind eye to human rights abuses. It has been a tactic of the wealthy classes for thousands of years.

'Under government watch, aboriginal workers on a cabbage garden at Barambah settlement, circa 1912⁽¹⁾

Many of those on the political right-wing continue to deny the evils of slavery, racism and capitalism while many of those who oppose slavery and racism are too apathetic or lazy to do anything about it.

Anyone exploited by the white capitalist system should have a right to compensation. Without it we cannot consider ourselves a fair minded people.

Aboriginal children removed from homes and sent to work on missions⁽¹⁾.

But this is all in the past, isn't it? Not at all! The Red Cross managed Support for Trafficked People Program received 235 referrals of slavery victims between 2004 and 2014⁽²⁾.  We see the racist policies of our government used to treat refugees as a sub-human species and all Muslims demonised as terrorists.

It's a sad fact that a lot of the perverted racist dialogue is coming from the pulpits of many right-wing Christian churches. If Jesus were alive today he would no doubt be ashamed and appalled.

In closing, I will leave you with the words of a great aboriginal Australian singer/songwriter, Kev Carmody⁽³⁾:

Comrade Jesus Christ

He was born in Asia Minor 
A colonized Jewish man 
His father the village carpenter 
Worked wood in his occupied land
He was apprenticed to his father’s trade
His country paid it’s dues 
To the colonial Roman conquerors
He was a working-class Jew

Though conceived three months out of wedlock 
the stigma never stuck
He began a three year public life
but he never made a buck
Because he spoke out against injustice 
Saw that capitalism bled the poor
He attacked self-righteous hypocrites 
And he condemned the lawyers’ law

But they’ve commercialized his birthday now 
the very people he defied
and they’ve sanctified their system
and claim he’s on their side!
But if he appeared tomorrow
He’d still pay the highest cost
being a ‘radical agitator’ 
they’d still nail him to a cross

You see
He’d stand with the down trodden masses
Identify with the weak and oppressed
He’d condemn the hypocrites in church pews
And the affluent, arrogant West
He’d oppose Stalinist totalitarianism
The exploitation of millions by one
And ‘peace’ through mutual terror
And diplomacy from the barrel of a gun

He’d fight with Joe Hill and Walesa
Mandela and Frere
Try to free the third world’s millions
From hunger and despair
He’d stand with the peasants 
At the pock-marked walls 
They’d haul him in on bail
He’d condemn all forms of apartheid
And he’d rot in their stinking jails.

He’d denounce all dictatorships 
And Mammon’s greed 
And the exploitation of others for gain
He’d oppose the nuclear madness 
And the waging of wars in his name 
He’d mix with prostitutes and sinners
Challenge all to cast the first stone 
A compassionate agitator
One of the greatest the world has known

He’d condemn all corrupt law and order 
Tear man made hierarchies down 
He’d see status and titles as dominance
And the politics of greed he’d hound
He’d fight against 
The leagues of the Ku Klux Klan
And the radical, racist right
One of the greatest humanitarian socialists
Was comrade, 
Jesus Christ.

References

1. Cameron Wilson, ABC Radio National, 'Did legalised slavery exist in Australia', 10 July 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bushtelegraph/did-legalised-slavery-exist-in-australia/5580456. Accessed 7 January 2016

2. Alecia Simmonds, Daily Life, 'Australia needs to own up to its slave history', 28 April 2015, http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/australia-needs-to-own-up-to-its-slave-history-20150427-1muhg3.html. Accessed 7 January 2016.

3. Kev Carmody official website, http://www.kevcarmody.com.au

Further information can be found at the Anti-slavery Australia website: http://www.antislavery.org.au/home/face-of-slavery-in-australia.html

The Southern Cross: 'refuge of all the oppressed from all countries on earth'

The Southern Cross: 'refuge of all the oppressed from all countries on earth' 
(Eureka - a flag for the refugee)


Flags make great tattoos. Some more so than others. They are icons of nationality, ideology and symbolism. They represent culture, ideas and identify something that people are willing to live and die for. They can be combined with other icons of a culture to create a powerful image of the wearer's manifesto. In Australia, perhaps none more so than the Southern Cross, particularly as it appears on the Eureka Stockade flag. Many tattoos abound with either the Eureka Flag or a combination of that flag and the other icon of Australia's rebel spirit, the infamous outlaw Ned Kelly (who is believed to have been born in December 1854 during the Eureka Stockade⁽¹⁾).

Original and restored Eureka Stockade flag

Both Kelly and the Eureka Stockade represent a fierce, fighting spirit against tyranny and corruption while defending justice and compassion. Some see Kelly as nothing more than a thief and murderer. However, to many others he is a hero who fought against the corrupt land acquisition and injustices of the government. Local aborigines see Captain Cook as representative of the 'theft of their land, the exploitation of their labour and the denial of their cultures', while they consider Ned Kelly as being 'concerned with freedom, dignity and true justice'⁽²⁾. Kelly himself, claimed to be acting against police corruption and seeking justice for the poor. He called on anyone who has cause to fear him to give '£10 out of every hundred towards the widow and orphan fund'⁽³⁾.

The Eureka Stockade was a battle between miners and colonial forces in Ballarat, Victoria, on 3 December 1854. The miners were incensed at the cost of mining licences and taxes, the persecution and attacks by police and soldiers, the injustice of the courts, as well as government corruption. At a monster meeting on 29 November 1854 at Bakers Hill, 10,000 people raised the newly designed Eureka Stockade flag and swore the following oath of allegiance to it:

'We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties'.

Swearing allegiance to the Southern Cross 1854.

'According to Frank Cayley′s book Flag of Stars, the flag′s five stars represent the Southern Cross and the white cross joining the stars represents unity in defiance. The blue background is believed to represent the blue shirts worn by many of the diggers, rather than represent the sky as is commonly thought'⁽⁴⁾.

Over the years, the Eureka Stockade flag has been adopted by numerous groups, including unions, outlaw biker gangs and various protest groups. During the administration of Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, harsh laws were passed to crack down on motorcycle gangs, which included identifying members and their associates through certain imagery; the Eureka flag was one of those images. Newman also cracked down on the other Eureka flag flying group, the unions, by passing laws that targeted their members and placed restrictions on how they engaged politically. If there was ever a time where unity in defiance against injustice was important, it was during this time; a time when the oath of the Eureka flag was ever so appropriate.

More recently, the flag and the Southern Cross specifically, have been hijacked by those who fail to understand their significance or history. Specifically, those who have been caught up in the spirit of nationalism and its racist, bigoted vitriol aimed at attacking migrants, specifically refugees and Muslims. Yet these people would do well to remember the words of one of the architects of the rebellion, Raffaelo Carboni, who stated in his speech 4 days before the battle:

'Irrespective of nationality, religion and colour, I call on you to salute the 'Southern Cross' as the refuge of all the oppressed from all countries on earth'⁽⁵⁾.

The spirit of Eureka and Ned Kelly was a fight against oppression and injustice.

The Southern Cross represents refuge for people from all over the globe who are fleeing oppression. It is the flag of the asylum seeker, the refugee. Yet nationalists and white supremacists proudly sport the Southern Cross through their tattoos or paraphernalia as a symbol of Australian culture without realising that the very culture they claim to be defending is one of multiculturalism. Modern Australia was built from the blood, sweat and tears of aborigines as well as immigrants from many foreign ethnicities and religions. Flying the Southern Cross is to acknowledge and respect Australia's indigenous people and to welcome and honour migrants and refugees.

The arrival of British settlers in 1788 brought a spirit of racism which saw the indigenous inhabitants displaced or murdered and their lands stolen. The Australian flag can therefore be described as a dichotomy in which the brutal racism of the British colonisers is represented by the Union Jack while the fight against government corruption and persecution is represented by the Southern Cross.

To use the Southern Cross as a symbol of bigotry to oppress and abuse the persecuted is to completely dishonour its origins in the fight against oppression and injustice.

References

1. Lewis, Ian. 'Ned Kelly: A Short Life', Notes - 1. Son of Red, location 7378, Kindle version. Hatchette Australia, ISBN - 978-0734405449, 2008.

2. Ibid, location 7334.

3. National Museum Australia, 'Jerilderie letter transcription', Page 39, http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/collection_interactives/jerilderie_letter/page_1 (HTML version).

4. Ausflag, 'Eureka flag', http://www.ausflag.com.au/eureka.asp, accessed 28 December 2015.

5. Carboni, Raffaelo. 'The Eureka Stockade', chapter XXIX, location 642, Kindle version. Amazon Digital Services, Inc, ASIN B004TP1N5I, 24 March 2011. (Digital version of original book published in 1855.

Flags - hijacked by hate

by guest blogger, Willz


What is it with all the flag waving going on at the moment? Right-wing racist groups treat flags like their something sacred that every patriot should bow down and worship. Anyone who doesn't is called an unpatriotic leftist, a traitor.

But what does the Australian flag represent? In one corner we have the Union Jack; a flag that brought terror to the traditional owners of Australia and a sign of imperialist aggression in every country conquered by Britain. Underneath that, we have the Commonwealth star; another symbol of our ties with colonialism and imperialist aggression. On the right, the Southern Cross is the only part of the flag that makes any sense in a modern Australia. It was first flown at the Eureka Stockade and has remained a symbol of resistance against oppressive federal and state governments ever since.

And here we have racists from the UPF using our flag for well let’s see … racist purposes. Do they even know what it represents? They claim to be patriots, yet we all know patriotism is just a cover word for racism and bigotry.


The First Nation people’s flag is black, yellow and red. Black represents the Aboriginal people of Australia. The yellow circle represents the sun, the giver of life and protector. Red represents the red earth, the red ochre used in ceremonies and Aboriginal peoples' spiritual relation to the land. If we are serious about making amends for our brutal treatment of aboriginal people in the past these elements need to be incorporated into a new flag.

First nation people marching for their rights with their adopted flag

In the below photo, racists from the Ku Klux Klan fly their confederate and Nazi flags outside the Mississippi state legislature, protesting against the anti-racist 'Black lives matter' protest…except it’s not a confederate flag at all it’s the battle flag from The Army of Northern Virginia a flag only to be used in battle by said army during the civil war from 1861—65. So these 'patriots' are in effect disrespecting the southern veterans they claim to be … er … respecting.

These are the real confederate flags:

Another favourite of racists in both in the US and Australia, is the Nazi battle flag that represented our common enemy in which the Anzacs and other Allied forces lost so many lives fighting against … and these racists claim to be patriots?

The Hammerskins are another neo-nazi racist group on the rise. Originally started in the US, they're now recruiting in Australia. Obviously not the sharpest tools in the shed, they are nonetheless dangerous white supremacists who've embraced the extremist ideology of Hitler, the West's enemy number one during World War II. Their  logo depicting two claw hammers crossed to resemble goose-stepping legs, is based on a fictitious neo-Nazi organization featured in the 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. The portrayal of the fictional group in the film was intended to show the lunacy of Nazism and Fascism, not to be an instruction manual. The movie highlighted the damage caused and the lives lost in the fight against such intolerance and hate, yet neo-nazi organisations persist in furthering their extremist views through nationalism and a warped idea of patriotism.

So what does a flag truly represent? In modern society it should be used to represent a country, a state, an institution or a decoration for public festivities and celebrations. When a flag is used to intimidate and denigrate a particular group of people based on race, religion or other factors, under the guise of 'patriotism', it becomes a symbol of oppression and bigotry which cheapens the flag's true purpose. Something that a true patriot wouldn't do.

Those who wrap a flag around their ideology of hate have become known as 'hatriots' rather than patriots. They are the true traitors to the ideals of freedom, inclusion and the rights of all to live in peace which most western nations are founded on.

It's easier to observe holidays than commandments

'How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ’tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments'.

 So said Benjamin Franklin.

Simple translation: It's easier to observe holidays than commandments.

No better is this demonstrated than in the recurrent claims by some Christians that there is a war on Christmas or on Easter or other Christian events. The complaints surface over things such as carol singing (even though many of the carols are about Santa or reindeers or holly, anything but Christ), easter eggs (again nothing to do with Christianity) or greetings (such as complaining about people saying Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas).

Yet, where are the complaints about human rights abuses by politicians who claim to be Christian. Some people are quick to accuse Muslims of not condemning terrorism but fail to condemn Christians who imprison and torture innocent people as Australia is doing to asylum seekers fleeing brutality, persecution and war. In fact, these particular human rights abuses are popular with the electorate and many conservative Christians.

Where are the complaints against politicians, pastors and others who propagate racism and Islamophobia, who call to ban Islam, who misrepresent Koranic scripture in order to fuel hatred and fear of Muslims. Christians are called to preach the gospel, not to twist the scripture of other religions.

Where are the complaints against Christian politicians who kill millions of innocent Muslims in order to further the Christian idols of democracy and capitalism.

Where are the complaints against Christian leaders who fund terrorism, whether it be Islamic, Israeli or Western.

Take for instance the funding of the Mujahideen and Jihadists in Afghanistan which gave rise to Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the funding of Israel as it commits genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine, the funding of Saddam Hussein, the funding and support of the Ku Klux Klan and the Lebanese Phalangists, or the various death squads in South America, the funding of despots such as Saddam Hussein, Indonesia's President Suharto, Chile's General Pinochet and the list goes on. Millions displaced, injured or killed by the actions of Christians in pursuit of their idols.

Christians should remove the log from their own eye before picking on the speck in others.

There is the perennial campaigning against abortion clinics and against the welfare needed to support young mothers and families. The greatest driver of abortion is poverty, so those who oppose welfare are furthering abortion. They have no right to claim the high moral ground in their opposition to abortion if they aren't going to provide the support necessary to prevent abortion.

The parable of the Sheep and the Goats tells Christians to feed and cloth the destitute, to visit the prisoner. The Sermon on the Mount tells Christians to wage peace not war, to show mercy, to hunger and thirst for righteousness. Christ himself tells Christians to 'love your neighbour' and 'love your enemy', to pray for those who persecute you. When asked about who is our neighbour, Jesus responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, showing that our neighbour isn't just those of the same nationality or religion. Muslims are our neighbours, not our enemies.

It is much easier for Christians to attack Islam instead of loving Muslims, to torture and imprison the persecuted instead of visiting them or welcoming them with open arms, to wage war instead of bringing peace.

As Benjamin Franklin so eloquently stated, it is easier to observe holidays than commandments. The behaviour of Christians is anything but Christian if they simply carry on about the right to say Merry Christmas while failing to love their neighbour, to visit the prisoner, to defend and help the refugee, to love their Muslim neighbours or to provide welfare to the poor and the widow.

Forget the War on Christmas and stop the War on the Poor and the Persecuted.

Australia: A history of racism & bigotry

Australia: A history of racism & bigotry

- by guest blogger, Willz

Well, they were standing on the shore one day

Saw white sails in the sun

Wasn't long before they felt the sting

White man, white law, white gun.

(Excerpt from the song, 'Solid Rock' by Goanna)

This song describes how the first Australians saw the arrival of the white man and how soon they felt the sting of the white man's legal system and guns. With complete disregard for the first nation people's ownership of the land, the white invaders declared the whole of Australia to be terra nullius; a Latin term meaning 'owned by no-one'. Not long after, the original inhabitants found themselves forcibly removed from their land at gunpoint, with any attempt at resistance met with a volley of musket fire.

This sparked what is now known as the Frontier Wars, which spanned 146 years, finally dying out in 1934. Accounts vary, but it is estimated that at least 20,000 aborigines were killed, while 2,000 Europeans were killed⁽¹⁾. It was hardly a fair fight, with sticks and spears against rifled muskets. It was nothing more than a series of one-sided massacres. The indigenous people paid a huge price simply for defending their land.

There were many massacres of whole tribes perpetrated by landholders and wealthy graziers that went unrecorded and unpunished. Queensland in particular, has the worst record of all with 'nigger hunts' regularly taking place right up to the 1930s. Mobs of white men armed with Lee Enfied .303 rifles shooting aborigines wholesale out of the backs of trucks. By 1930, over 250,000 aboriginal people had been massacred, some were poisoned when their water supply was deliberately contaminated.

There were incidents of whole tribes being rounded up and the men made to watch while their women were raped and killed. There was one particularly sickening account of aboriginal babies being buried neck deep in the ground while the white men took turns at seeing how far they could could a baby's head⁽²⁾.

Don't remember reading this in the history books? Neither do I. The history of the barbaric treatment of the first nation people has been hidden and manipulated to make it seem like white man was doing them a favour.

Mounted police killing indigenous Australians during the Slaughterhouse Creek Massacre of 1838. 

Far more devastating in their impact on the aboriginal population, however, were the effects of disease, infertility, loss of hunting grounds, starvation and general despair, loss of pride, and the impact of the alcohol 'remedy' for this devastation. Smallpox alone is estimated to have wiped out over 50% of the Australian aboriginal population. Diseases that aborigines had never seen, were introduced by Europeans and had a devastating effect on their bodies that had no defence against them.⁽³⁾

The Stolen Generation

Still from the movie, 'The Rabbit Proof Fence', 2002.

When we hear about the stolen generation, we think it happened between 1910 and 1970. In reality it started as early as 1814. In New South Wales, the policy of forcibly removing aboriginal children from their parents has left the indigenous population with a legacy of trauma and loss that continues to affect the community to this day. Sadly, it was all part of the ideology of assimilation which assumed that aborigines were inferior to white people and to make the aboriginal race either die out, be bred out or be assimilated into white society.

Children taken from their parents were forced to turn their backs on their heritage and culture. Their names were changed and they were forbidden from speaking their traditional languages. Some were adopted by white families, while others were placed in institutions where they were subject to physical, emotional and sexual abuse and discrimination.^{(4) (5) (6)}

There are few, if any, aboriginal families who have not suffered the loss of a child through this barbaric policy. Stories abound of children being torn from their mother's arms at gunpoint, never to see them again.

An older aborigine told me a story that made me ashamed to be a white Australian. A truck and a police car turned up at their camp and two mothers and their children were forced into the back of the truck. The truck drove off and stopped about 10 miles down the road, where the mothers were kicked out without their children. It drove off with the children screaming for their mothers while the women wept uncontrollably. They never saw each other again.

A deep sense of sadness and loss haunts aboriginal people from that generation to this day. Unfortunately, many have resorted to the white man's drink to try to numb their minds from that dreadful past, often resulting in alcoholism and a shorter lifespan. This about this before you go pointing the finger at the people in public parks.

If you want to see a good movie about the realities of this abhorrent policy, I suggest 'Rabbit Proof Fence', a movie about three aboriginal girls stolen from their mother. The girls escape their captors and follow the rabbit proof fence back to their mother. It's a heart-breaking, but thought provoking movie.

Deaths in custody

Roebourne Prison inmates - sentenced for crimes such as 'absconding' from 'blackbirding' (slavery). Those who resisted were sent to Wadjemump (Rottnest Island). Most never survived, either killed by hanging or starved to death in overcrowded cells. 

A royal commission in 1987, investigated aboriginal deaths in custody over a 10 year period, giving over 300 recommendations which are still valid today, although very few have been implemented. Every year, aboriginal people continue to die in custody, many of them with physical and mental disabilities.⁽⁷⁾

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) conducted a major review of deaths in custody and found a substantial increase in the number of aboriginal people dying in custody over the past five years. The study found that the overall rate of deaths in State and Territory prisons has remained relatively steady over the past 20 years but there has been a spike in the number of indigenous deaths in custody, in line with almost doubling the number of indigenous Australians being locked up.

Around 30,000 people are behind bars and indigenous inmates account for a quarter of the prison population, while aborigines comprise only 2% of the general population. It hasn't been getting better. It is getting worse.

In addition, Australia imprisons thousands of indigenous people with mental and cognitive disabilities every year. A widespread lack of understanding and action underpins this shameful breach of human rights. Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities are being 'managed' by police, courts and prisons due to a dire lack of appropriate community-based services and support.⁽⁸⁾

The politics of racism

In a modern wealthy nation like Australia, one would think that the ills of the past would be a distant memory, but sadly this is not the case. The average life expectancy for an adult aborigine is 45 years. Infant mortality is still alarmingly high, aboriginal people living in remote remote locations do not even have access to the most basic health services, such as running water, electricity or safe housing. Third world diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and trachoma have been eradicated virtually everywhere in the world, except in remote aboriginal communities. People in these communities live in abject poverty. While politicians publicly sympathise with their plight, while little is done to help.

Why is this so?

The answer lies with the voting public. There are few votes in helping the first nation's people. Politicians who stand up for them are invariably voted out of office. Sadly this is because there are still a lot of racist white Australians who refuse to acknowledge their ancestors' misdeeds and racist policy enjoys popular support.

It's a sad indictment on a country that likes to see itself as a 'tolerant country'.

References:

1. John Harris, 'Hiding the bodies: The myth of the humane colonisation of Aboriginal Australia', http://press.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ch0550.pdf.

2. John Pilger, 'Utopia', 2013.

3. N.G. Butlin, 'Our Original Aggression: Aboriginal Populations of Southeastern Australia, 1788-1850', Allen & Unwin, June 1984

4. Australians Together, 'The Stolen Generation', http://www.australianstogether.org.au/stories/detail/the-stolen-generations

5. Stolen Generations Testimonies, http://www.stolengenerationstestimonies.com

6. Creative Spirits, 'A guide to Australia's Stolen Generations', http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generation

7. Creative Spirits, 'Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody '. http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/law/royal-commission-into-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody

8. ABC News, Martin Cuddihy, 'Aboriginal deaths in custody numbers rise sharply over past five years', 24 May 2013, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-24/sharp-rise-in-number-of-aboriginal-deaths-in-custody/4711764

Radicalisation & unconstitutional politics

(Fear & loathing in Australian politics)

It's always frustrating to vote for a party that fails to follow through on implementing its policies. Imagine how frustrating it must be then to follow a political party that is unable to implement its policies because they're unconstitutional.

That's the very dilemma facing the radical right-wing in Australia who want to vote for anti-Islamic politicians such as Pauline Hansen or the Love It Or Leave Party, the Australian Liberty Alliance or any of the other ones who want to ban mosques, halal, burqas and so on.

Australia, like many other democracies, is founded on a Constitution. Section 116 of that Constitution states:

The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

It's unconstitutional to prohibit the free exercise of any religion. That's not even taking into account various anti-discrimination laws that prohibit a variety of discriminatory practices on the basis of religion.

So ... dare I say it: Australia - love it or leave it. Love the Constitution or leave the country.

It's not illegal to build a mosque, wear a burqa or certify food as halal. Banning these will not stop terrorism.

Since the terrorist attack in Paris on 11 November 2015, anti-Islam messages have propagated across social media. Including one hoax that claims Japan has no issue with Muslims because it doesn't allow Muslims to be citizens. Sadly, the radical right so desperately hates Islam, it is happy to repeat such garbage without checking its veracity⁽¹⁾.

Imagine the effect that banning Islam will have. For that matter, imagine the effect that banning any religion would have. Would any religious group take it on the chin or would they fight back?

Does anyone seriously think that banning an entire religion will bring peace? Would Muslims just say, 'oh, you know what, we don't really need Islam'. Or would they be angry about it?

Imagine what Christians would do if Christianity was suddenly illegal? Would they fight or just accept it? People lost their minds over Starbucks not having snowflakes and Christmas trees on coffee cups⁽²⁾, imagine if Christmas really was banned.

Unfortunately, those who lack conceptual skills see a terrorist attack by someone claiming to be Muslim and expand it to be indicative of all Muslims. Based on that logic, all Christians are pedophiles. We even have a Royal Commission exposing the proliferation of Christian pedophiles.

The radical right are suddenly experts in Islam, cherry-picking Koranic scripture to justify terrorism. Not unlike what terrorists do. Yet, the bible also has violent scripture about killing every man, woman and boy child ... in fact, it even says to give the young virgins to the priests (Numbers 31:17-18 - scriptural evidence of pedophilia?). The Koran is full of scripture about peace and tolerance. To demonstrate this, an open letter to the ISIS leader, Al-Baghdadi⁽³⁾ explains, among other things, that it is forbidden to kill innocents or to harm Christians or Jews (People of the Book), that slavery is forbidden, torture is forbidden, harming women and children is forbidden. The list goes on. The Letter should be read not just by Al-Baghdadi and other extremists, but also by those anti-Islamic types who think they know the Koran better than Muslims do; who want to use the Koran to whip up fear and hatred rather than peace and love.

Much has been made of one of the terrorists in the Paris attack allegedly being a Syrian refugee. This is being used by Islamophobes and anti-refugee groups as evidence of why refugees should be blocked from entering the country. Even if he was a refugee, he would be one out of 50 MILLION refugees across the globe. One in 50,000,000. There is a higher percentage of Australians who are murderers.

Others have even shared inflammatory posts saying that Muslims across the globe are celebrating the Paris attacks. Again, this is complete rubbish. Muslims are people too, and like everyone else, are horrified and repulsed at terrorism. Social media has been swamped with Muslims sending condolences to the people of Paris as well as expressing anger at the terrorists⁽⁴⁾.

We can't let fear and hatred rule.

We can't let lies fuel anger against innocent people.

We can't let hate-filled groupthink drive society or politics.

It helps no-one to lose focus of the real issue. Terrorism.

By attacking all Muslims, the real perpetrators are free to radicalise others or to carry out other attacks. We must focus on the perpetrators.

It is folly to direct our anger at those who had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks. Refugees are fleeing these very people. In Afghanistan last week, seven Hazara were beheaded by ISIS in Afghanistan. This was followed by thousands of people marching through the streets of Kabul protesting against the attacks on the Hazara⁽⁵⁾. Meanwhile, the Australian government has been returning Hazara asylum seekers to Afghanistan⁽⁶⁾.

Blaming Islam for terrorism ignores the role that years of western intervention, led by Christians, has had on the rise of these groups. In the 1980s, the United States funded, armed, trained and radicalised Islamist fighters, out of whom grew Al Qaeda and the Taliban⁽⁷⁾. In the 1990s, the US was warned that to remove Saddam Hussein would create a power-vacuum. Despite this, in 2003, George W. Bush removed Hussein and Al Qaeda in Iraq established itself, along with numerous other terrorist groups. As the Syrian war developed, the West (including the US, Britain and France) funded rebel groups, out of whom grew ISIS ⁽⁸⁾ and other extremist organisations. Syria is now home to over a thousand militant groups. It is extremely ignorant and naive for Christians or conservatives to blame Islam for the rise of Al Qaeda, ISIS or other extremists, when the West has been so heavily involved in their creation⁽⁹⁾.

We don't live in a vacuum. Our actions have consequences. Islam is not the cause of terrorism. Hegemony is. Power is. Injustice is.

If we want to see an end to terrorism, end the injustice.

End the incitement.

Attacking innocent people is an incitement. Threatening to ban Islam or some of its religious practices is an incitement.

Alienating the entire Islamic community is not going to solve radicalisation or help in weeding it out. We need inclusion, not exclusion. We live in a country which doesn't force people to comply with any religion while maintaining freedom of religion. We want to keep it that way, otherwise it will create more problems than it solves.

Political parties founded on the hatred of others and the banning of their religion, are nothing more than fascist. We've seen it before: Nazi Germany did the same thing. It is only a matter of time before we see anti-Islamic groups unleash Australia's own Kristallnacht against Muslims and mosques. We're already seeing random attacks on Muslim women wearing head-coverings, on mosques and of course boycotting of businesses that are halal certified.

Eureka St - A Fascist By Any Other Name ⁽¹⁰⁾

Unless this hatred, bigotry and fear is reigned in, we will see a level of brutality unleashed by the radical right on a scale that Australia has not seen previously.

Political parties with unconstitutional policies that incite hatred and fear of Islam should be banned. They are giving oxygen to the bigots, to the violent, to the radicals. They are not helping end terrorism, they are fuelling it.

In relation to the Paris attacks (and for that matter any terrorist attack), we need justice and love, not revenge and hate.

References:

1. The Examiner, Michael Ross, Bryan Fischer: Japan bans mosques, Qurans and Muslim immigration (big fat lie), 30 September 2013, http://www.examiner.com/article/bryan-fischer-japan-bans-mosques-qurans-and-muslim-immigration-big-fat-lie. Accessed 15 November 2015.

2.Upworthy, Robert Couch, 'Ellen DeGeneres weighed in on the Starbucks cup controversy. And yes, she nailed it., 11 November 2015, http://www.upworthy.com/ellen-degeneres-weighed-in-on-the-starbucks-cup-controversy-and-yes-she-nailed-it. Accessed 15 November 2015

3. An Open Letter to Al-Baghdadi, http://www.lettertobaghdadi.com.

4. Time, Nash Jenkins, 'Muslims Around the World Speak Out Against Terrorist Attacks in Paris', 14 November 2015, http://time.com/4112830/muslims-paris-terror-attacks-islam-condemn. Accessed 15 November 2015.

5. Al Jazeera, Nadir Naim, What the Afghan protests are really about, 12 November 2015, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/11/afghan-protests-hazara-beheading-isil-151112085710057.html. Accessed 15 November 2015.

6. The Guardian, Ben Doherty, 'Australia forcibly returns second Afghan Hazara, despite fears over safety', 28 October 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2014/oct/28/australia-to-forcibly-return-second-afghan-hazara-despite-fears-over-safety. Accessed 15 November 2015.

7. John Cooley, Unholy Wars - Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism (Third Edition), Pluto Press, 2002.

8. The Guardian, Seumas Milne, 'Now the truth emerges: how the US fuelled the rise of Isis in Syria and Iraq', 4 June 2015,  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq. Accessed 19 November 2015.

9. Salon, Ben Norton, 'We created Islamic extremism: Those blaming Islam for ISIS would have supported Osama bin Laden in the ’80s', 18 November 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/11/17/we_created_islamic_extremism_those_blaming_islam_for_isis_would_have_supported_osama_bin_laden_in_the_80s. Accessed 19 November 2015.

10. Eureka Street, Jeff Sparrow, A Fascist By Any Other Name, 12 November 2015, http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=45700#.Vkg5eCArLCJ. Accessed 14 November 2015.

(Updated 20 November 2015)