Pastors and Priests

For the last couple of years an influential youth pastor at Hillsong Church in Sydney has had terminal cancer. He wrote a song about it that sold well and he appeared on stage at their church services with an oxygen tube to help him breathe. Guess what happened next? He died ? They prayed for him and he got better? No, not exactly - actually last month he was found to be a porn addict and was faking the whole illness! Tearful confessions all round a la Jimmy Swaggart ( for those too young to know who he was, or too lazy to Google him, he was an American Televangelist who was discovered to have been doing kinky things with sex workers when he wasnt on TV telling everyone about Jesus and getting them to send money to him - theres always money when it comes to Televangelism! - anyway he famously went back onto his TV programme and confessed everything - well not explicitly- with tears streaming down and ruining his makeup) And then there was Jim and Tammy Faye Baker - they had a multimillion dollar Televangelism empire that crashed when Jim went to gaol for massive tax fraud that was uncovered just after he had first been discovered cheating on Tammy Faye.

So what is it with religious leaders and sex? Reminded me of the Pastor of the last church I went to, back in Dunedin in the "80's - the unmarried Sunday School teacher broke down one day and told everyone that this pastor was the father of her two kids,and it was his idea to spread the story around that they had been conceived in Australia when she went there on holiday and fell into sin. Twice! And we later heard that Frank Houston, the pastor of the Auckland Assembly of God Church had been molesting boys like a regular old catholic Priest. So the circle is almost complete because Franks son is Brian the Pastor at Hillsong!

What I always find amazing when these scandals are exposed is how quickly the congregations rush to the defence of the crooks whove been lying to them and ripping them off.Even more amazing perhaps is the way in which they refuse to allow these scandals to count against the reality of their religious experience.You would think they would be shocked that they couldnt tell the difference between the genuine article and these fakes and conmen. I presume they wouldnt want to suggest that if their service is conducted by a fake cancer sufferrer living a lie and addicted to porn its the same as if the service was conducted by say Mother Theresa - yet thats what it is. To put it mathematically:

Fake Cancer Sufferer+Porn Addiction = Mother Theresa + God.

Work that out!

Climate Change denialists are so Wrong

There was a debate on TV last year about climate change and afterwards on the Internet you could log on and ask the scientists questions. One post said something like "I'm a 15 year old student and even I can see that the professor is wrong about Global Warming because we 've just had the heaviest frost ever and how can that mean theres global warming?" More recently Ive had conversations with sensible educated adults whove been equally ignorant about climate science but nevertheless expresssed equally sceptical views about it, rubbished Al Gore and his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" and repeated stuff they'd heard somewhere about how many cars he owns or claimed its just a scientific hoax or else its just part of the natural cycle of atmospheric events or whatever - this is actually no better than the ignorant 15 year old thinking he knew better than the learned professor - but just sounds a bit more impressive. Now I had seen the movie and been impressed by it but like most of us didnt really know anything else about Climate Science other than what I might have read in the papers and seen on TV. So I didnt feel qualified to disagree with the climate change sceptics and deniers - I felt pretty ignorant too. So Ive done a bit more reading and searching, and what Ive concluded is that Al Gore is right.

The first thing I realized was that Climate Deniers are an extreme minority, but they make a lot of noise, make arguments that are simple and sound plausible to most of us, and thereby create an impression that there is still an argument going on about whether or not Global Warming is happening and is a threat. The trouble is most of us are not scientists, and we can easily be impressed by glib arguments and have no way of knowing if theyre really valid. The same thing happens with creationists who try to give the impression that in Science there is still room for doubt about the fact of evolution : there is none - but which of us is actually qualified to know that, for example their often repeated claim that evolution must be wrong because human and dinosaur footprints can be found together is simply not true? There are also people who still believe that the Earth is Flat - its not- but try to unravel the arguments they make! There are others who believe that "9/11" was a US Government Conspiracy- try and argue against that monstrous lie and see where you get against fanatics whose agenda is not about Truth but about being Right!

As far as Global Warming is concerned, among scientists there are still many differences about specifics of Global Warming, but on one fundamental point there is near perfect unanimity : the main cause of a 0.75 degree rise in global temperature over recent decades is CO2 released from fossil fuel. The Chief scientific adviser to the British Government Sir David King wrote in the book "The Hot Topic " anybody who tells you differently either has a vested interest in ignoring the scientific arguments or they are fools"

So is the core of the issue for us non-climate scientists whether or not we can trust what the scientists are telling us? Well that at least is the way Climate denialists want us to view the issue, basically saying we shouldnt trust them, that rather we should listen to a tiny minority who insist that they are the only ones who really know whats going on. The odd thing of course is that most of us do trust what the Scientists have been telling us, and we've been doing it all our lives in just about everything that is part of modern life. So we live much longer and are much healthier because science discovered germs and identified diseases,worked out how the human body works, discovered blood groups and anaesthetics, insulin and penicillin and worked out how to make drugs to treat diabetes and hypetension and epilepsy. We use the phone, listen to the Radio, watch live sports from the other side of the world on TV, and cook dinner on the stove and the microwave because it was science that discovered electricity, radiowaves , satellite technology, microwaves and television; we travel all round the world because science discovered the jet engine, radar and the manmade materials that hold the planes and cars together; it was science that taught us about the history of the planet and the universe and the mysteries of the human body, and at the same time liberated us from the bonds of much ignorance superstition and fear. So forgive me if I declare my love of Science and my huge admiration for scientists and the scientific endeavour and what it has achieved in the last couple of centuries. The reality is that science works, and we demonstrate our faith in it everytime we answer the phone or turn on a light.

So what are they saying about global warming? Well this sounds extreme and unbelievable I know - but if nothing at all is done about carbon emissions, climate change will effectively destroy the entire human race before the end of this century. I'm going to repeat that : if nothing at all is done about carbon emissions, climate change will effectively destroy the entire human race before the end of this century. Lets say that one more time " IF NOTHING AT ALL IS DONE ABOUT CARBON EMISSIONS,CLIMATE CHANGE WILL EFFECTIVELY DESTROY THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE BEFORE THE END OF THIS CENTURY"

The trouble with such a statement is that its too outrageous to be believable, yet climate change has resulted in mass extinctions before: the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction over 250 million years ago wiped out 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial life. So no matter how shocking and unbeliveable it seems, its happened before and the science is telling us that its about to happen again. This means that a baby born today could witness the end of human civilisation! Thats how close it is, and is why in many circles there is a growing realisation that massive changes are going to be necessary to avoid such a crisis, the greatest crisis in the history of humanity- yes the GREATEST crisis in human history.

I might mention the Myths and misinformation the Climate denialists write about some other time. Its a massive topic. As is trying to work out what the hell we should be doing to try and get out of this mess. But I'm leaving the last word to a guy that posted a comment on a Denialists Blog :

The hundreds of tree hugging scientists are just plain wrong!We should be looking to the experts at Exon Mobil, OPEC, and the American automobile industry. All of them have done way more research and found that there is no such thing as global warming! Don't let a little bookworn, brainiac, geek like Al Gore scare you!

This ones not for Everyone

For the last couple of weeks Ive been struggling with the fact that something I did has resulted in a man going to prison for six years. Also I'm feeling pretty pissed off with everything, and I was thinking about how religion has so much to do with whats so wrong in the world, that Ive decided to write about one of my Topics for the Future - "Being a Jesus Freak".I was amazed to read what Wikipedia had to say on the subject:

"Jesus freak, while initially a pejorative term for those involved in the Jesus movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, was quickly embraced by them and soon broadened to describe a Christian subculture throughout the hippie and back-to-the-land movements that focused on universal love and pacifism, and relished the radical nature of Jesus' message. "

I was amazed because that seemed like quite an accurate summing up of what being a Jesus Freak was all about for me and my friends back then. Particularly the bit about the radical nature of Jesus message, something I took so seriously that I renounced all my worldly ambitions and left school and home on a search for the Truth, a search for God and the Ultimate meaning of existence.

My mother described one of my mentors at the time as "the man who destroyed my son" but at that stage the story was only just beginning. The thing that got me through and stopped me from being destroyed was that more than anything I really wanted to find out "the Truth" about everything. Thats why in the end, though my journey took me deep into fundamentalist christianity, and along some embarrassing detours, in the end I came out the other side, having learned a lot, but most importantly that "The Truth" was definitely not anywhere in that direction. I think its important that I was a radical christian not a moderate one, because , to use a yachting analogy I took my religion out into the deep sea and gave it a thorough testing, whereas the moderates paddle around in the shallows where faith never gets properly tested, and the cracks and faults never get a chance to leak. So I still have a kind of respect for Fundamentalists of any kind because they at least have the courage of their convictions and are prepared to let the radical beliefs of their religion correspond to radical action in their lives. In that, they have integrity.

The problem is that all religious explanations fail, especially once they moving away from a vague sort of mystical view about the human spirit and start filling in details like which kind of animal you can eat and what should be done with the foreskin or facial hair, or womens clothing. The crazy thing is that every religion, every variety and subset and sect of every religion proudly declares that everyone elses silly rules are all wrong but their ones are right. Dont drink that tea! Cover your face! No Blood transfusion! All these ridiculous stories, apalling rules and silly rituals make religion look as if its really about people - and particularly men - controlling other people - particularly women - but also gays and everyone else who's not in the In Crowd- and the reason it looks like that is because thats exactly what it is. No sensible Creator would be bothered with all that nonsense. Or ask us to believe it as a sign of devotion to "It"


So believers lose my respect however in their abandonement of that greater search for Truth, preferring dogma and blind allegiance to one narrow explanation of reality over the continuing quest for knowledge. These are people who are not interested in the Truth but in being right. And they'll argue and even fight and kill to prove it. Hence the mess the world is in today. And its not just war, its the whole failure of much of humankind to turn away from blind faith and look for a greater vision, maybe one with fewer answers but at least more compassion and tolerance and understanding.

But back to the man I sent to Prison for six years. The ironic connection between him and being a jesus freak, is that one of the Big Problems I eventually could not reconcile with christian religion was the problem of sufferring, the Problem of Pain as the CS Lewis' book that I read called it. I'm afraid the scenario I often saw in my mind was an innocent child being abused,raped or sodomised behind closed doors and happening right now - yes actually right now at this very moment as you are reading this, there are countless hundreds, maybe thousands of little girls and boys being abused in this way, raped and abused - and the Christian God supposedly all knowing and powerful watching this horror and doing nothing. I always said that if it was in my power to do something I would, I could not stand by like the christian God who acording to christian apologists is making a stand on some principle of individual liberty and the price of free will and doing nothing - if I had the power I would stop it.



The thing is about a year ago I did exactly that to a man on a Sydney street. He was exposing himself and physically sexually molesting a 5 year old girl and I leaped out of the car and stopped him. I took his wallet off him and dragged him down to a house and called the Police. And he's been behind bars ever since, and was sentenced last month to 6 years. And while Ive been thinking about this whole tragic scenario it occurred to me that the christian god didnt just abandon the little girl - he abandoned that poor damaged abuser, probably also a victim himself. And I also wondered why anyone can believe that god chose not to create a world where such things never happened , where sexual urges were not so violent and difficult to control or subject to corruption, a world where innocent children at least were safe from this ghastly fault in the human makeup. Its not that impossible to imagine we could have been made a little differently- after all humans dont have the ability to hear sounds that dogs can hear, so if hearing could be different why not sexuality? Given the world that we have, one wonders how it can be that people believe not only that the christian god chose to create it that way, but that god is a good one.


So what are the answers? I'm still looking and wondering...

Update

Update 1: Congratulations to the fabulous All Blacks and Richie McCaw who must be NZ Man of the Year. The decider last Saturday night was nail biting stuff, and a great win - the Tri Nations for the fourth year in a row and the Bledisloe for Five in a row.

Update 2: The unvaccinated baby remains unvaccinated, now a month old and the parents arent in hiding any more. They had a celebratory lunch the other day, the father quoted as saying the Doctors concern for the baby was "just garbage", and the Herald headline was "Vaccine Victory for Rebel Parents with a Cause" A spokeswoman for the Australian Vaccination Network - an extremist antivaccination lobby group - Meryl Dorey said the case was "a sign that justice can win out" The final outcome will not be known for a few years of course - I just hope the crazy gamble these people have taken with the life of their child doesnt go pear shaped and the kid die with liver failure - if it did you wouldnt hear about it from the Australian Vaccination Network and Spokeswoman Meryl Dorey, but shouldnt they be held accountable in some way?

Update 3: Tim Johnston the Firrepower conman has stayed well away from Australia. Apparently he's in London trying to set himself up doing what he knows best : ripping gullible people off.

Update 4: Tony Wood the antidrugs campaigner who was going to stand in the Local Council elections that were held last weekend, has disappeared without trace. His name was not on the Ballot paper for Warringah Council, and I cant find any further references to him in the Press. Maybe he pulled out once he realised his single issue campaign was never going to get off the ground. But there has been so much in the news about the war on drugs all round the world about police and soldiers killing and being killed, about the massive amount of money being spent on this futile endeavour which could be eliminated almost overnight if we just let adults be free to make whatever choices they wanted to about such things. Yep, heaps of them would make dumb choices but then thats what growing up is all about. Society would mature and get over it eventually, but it never will this way.

Update 5: The Bali Bombers have not been executed yet, but there was an item in the paper the other day saying they had said their last farewells to their families and the end was near....

Update 6: I am still going to Post on Global Warming.Its a HUGE issue...watch this space Folks.

The Event of the Century

I've been trying to decide what was the most significant event on planet earth in the last 100 years. I'll explain why later. Anyway firstly I looked up Time Magazine because every year they nominate a person or idea which "for better or worse has most influenced events in the preceeding year", and found results of a Poll they took in 2000 on the "Event of the Century" . And Elvis got the most votes! Really!

Fortunately the Time Editors werent quite as shallow as the rest of the USA. They decided that in a century dominated by Science, the Person of the Century must be the pre-eminent Scientist, the man whose work gave rise to the Atom Bomb, the Big Bang, E=MC2,quantum physics and electronics, the really huge stuff in science : Albert Einstein. Just about everything else that happened, from the moon Landing - which was runner up in the Poll - or the discovery of Penicillin, or Television,the jet engine and airtravel,transistors and computers and the internet were all ultimately dependent on that great explosion of scientific discovery and endeavour. Lots of people thought Hitler should have been the man of the Century but the consensus was that time would steadily diminish the impact of his monstrous lifes work, whereas Einsteins would remain for ever.

There were heaps of other incredible things that happened that century : the civil rights movements, world war one and gas warfare, world war two and the Holocaust, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Idi Amin, Mahatma Ghandi, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, helicopters,the Beatles,the Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam and Agent Orange, Fidel Castro, the rise and fall of communism, JFK, discovery of the coelacanth,heart transplantation, the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,insulin,Watson and Crick discovering the Double helix structure of DNA, discovery of Blood Groups, the immune system and antibodies, Teflon,plate tectonics,the Polio vaccine, the erradication of smallpox,the invention of nylon and PVC plastic, AIDS,radiocarbon dating, Bob Dylan,the Rolling Stones, Madonna,Woodstock, drugs for leukemia and schizophrenia,the Human Genome,lasers,Nelson Mandela,mobile phones, personal computers....on and on it goes.Has there ever been a greater century?

And for me personally,the most important thing that happened exactly one hundered years ago, while all this was waiting to happen, was that in Scotland my Dad was born on 9th September 1908.

Three things I wasnt going to Buy

Leaf Blowers, car GPS navigation systems and widescreen TV's - to me these were commodities that were made before there was a market for them and then the advertising agencies and glossy mags got going and created a demand, which in all cases has taken off. So now everyone has one. Or is being persuaded to get one for fathers day.

But me ? Well I heroically get out the old Broom (remember those quaint old fashioned cheap sort of stick thing with a whole lot of hairy stuff at one end - and much bigger than a tooth brush - ) and would labour away on the drive and turning circle in front of the garage, get rid of all the eucalypt leaves and sticks that blow in constantly and have a very nice clean drive at the end of it. And then I could go round all the verandahs and do the same. Good exercise, great to be out in the fresh air, didnt wake up the neighbourhood or pollute the atmosphere...yup,environmentally PC. And then Sue just went and got one, which I refused to use of course, noisy petrol powered plastic and junk metal chinese thing. Except that one day I really needed to clean up the drive in a huge hurry and I used it. And in five minutes I had cleaned the entire drive, the turning circle, the verandahs and the cobwebs, the detritus and half rotted litter clagging up the garden, the old hedge clippings and dried duck poo, and it all looked fantastic!

As for the widescreen TV well we already had three old TVs that worked. Admittedly the one we usually watched responded only intermittently to the remote - yes Ive used the remote for years but there was a time...- and for a second or two every few minutes the sound would stop but we hardly ever watch TV anyway. So Sue went and got a widescreen TV - shes great like that, very pragmatic. And now I watch TV like I used to watch TV when it first came in, in the 60"s, just to watch it and to marvel at the crystal clarity of the images and the sound, the realistic life-like colour, the feeling that you really are looking at reality rather than at a TV image, .....

And as for the In Car Navigation systems, whats wrong with the old "Gregory"s" - the inch and a half thick Aussie softcover road atlas book that everyone has in their car glove box? Most of us only ever drive to and from work, or the same shops or the same relations and friends, the same Pub and footy ground and only rarely ever venture out into new territory - and we always got by with the Road Signs, the Gregorys and the occasionaal winding-down-of-the-window-and asking-a-chap-walking-along-the-street-how-to-get-to-wherever.

It wasnt important that the chap usually didnt know where it was either, or if he did the instructions were too confusing and you got lost again and had to ask someone else. The point was you're out there, its one of lifes challenges and you're using your brain for once to work it out, youre meeting people and interacting with them, and at the end you get that huge proud sense of achievement when you finally arrive. Who cares if the wedding is already over?

No way am I ever getting one.