The atheist movement are mounting a campaign at the moment cos of the census to make sure people list 'no religion' cos they want to take religion out of politics. I agree with them to a point but beyond that point I almost don't have the heart to tell them that they've already succeeded due to the fact that we already have the seperation of church and state so that neither one can have power over the other. How far do they want to go? If you believe in the great flying spaghetti monster (no one believes in the great flying spaghetti monster) then you cannot hold a position in government – that seems very extreme and controlling. Others might as well start a campaign to remove atheism from politics, if we all succeed then we'll have done away with government forever, hooray!
The other disturbing campaign is the one that screams at you in CAPITAL letters to make darn sure that even if you don't call yourself a Christian you better mark down that you are or we will be overun by millions of Muslims and you can kiss our Easter parades and Christmas carols goodbye. I reckon Muslims probably get sick and tired of being blamed for political correctness gone mad when they are on the whole totally fine with others celebrating whatever religiousy stuff they want to celebrate. So for God's sake, if you believe in God, say so, if you don't, then state that, don't be a census troll. It's just a frikken census, nothing to get hysterical about.
And why isn't there a question about sexuality, is data not helpful? The census is hardly an invasion of privacy because they destroy all the records after the raw data has been gathered. They say one concern is that those collecting the form especially in small towns could read it and invade someone's privacy, which would be illegal. Surely we could fix that with sealing the forms in an envelope that explodes when meddled with or something. One other concern might be that there would be a campaign from certain elements to encourage people to inflate the gay and lesbian number in an attempt to move things like the gay marriage debate along quicker.
I'd like to know the statistics on all manner of things and I'd like to trust that those statistics would be used to help meet the Australian people where they are at. And I'd like to trust that people would answer it honestly. I'm fairly certain that the 64% that put down Christian in the last census will be significantly lower this time around but that's ok as it will be an accurate reflection of where we are at. I guess the danger is that some people will use the statistics to oppress others but if the statistics aren't there they'd probably just make them up anyway.
I wish it wasn't a religion question as I don't consider myself as belonging to religion (depends on your definition) I wish it were a question about belief but I will be putting down Christian because that best represents what they want to know if I don't want to get all uppity about the wording. If you don't believe in a God and if you feel 'no religion' best represents that then I'd encourage you to put that down. Religion, spiritual beliefs and atheism etc. are all here to stay and cannot be gotten rid of so live with it. I'll say it again, It's just a frikken census, they happen every 5 years, it's not big brother out to get you, there is nothing to get hysterical about.
I think some atheists have followed some Christians into making the same mistake of thinking just because someone doesn't go to church they mustn't be a Christian.
ReplyDeleteHaving a question about sexuality would be great. I've found it so hard to find figures that aren't being skewed by one side or the other. And you could make it optional, like the religion one, so people could leave it blank if they didn't want to answer it.
Also, "Christian" isn't an option on the census. They have things like "baptist" & "anglican".
Personally, I think treating denominations like separate religions does a great disservice to Christianity.
I put "human" down as my religion.
I HATE WHEN PEOPLE USE CAPITAL LETTERS FOR A WHOLE SENTENCE, FOLLOWED BY LOTS OF EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It just says to me that their argument is so pathetically flimsy that they have to try to use annoying-ness to convey their point.
Well said Kris.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like the idea of exploding envelopes!
I was wondering what you were going to put down Mr Nick, I thought you might do something like that on the strength of your convictions. I think that while they have the denominations for a reason they can later group the figures under Christian. But not belonging to a denomination I am compelled to answer Christian anyway.
ReplyDelete