Young Australian Skeptics

Originally posted on the Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers Blog www​.gussf​.wordpress​.com

In what may be a yet proud day for Australian politics, arguably the first in quite awhile, Independent MP for Sydney, Clover Moore, is reintroducing a bill today to allow same-​​sex couples to adopt in the state of New South Wales. This sign of progress is shadowed however by the fact the bill now includes an amendment to allow faith-​​based adoption agencies to refuse to provide services to gay and lesbian couples without breaching anti-​​discrimination laws.

So anti-​​discrimination laws do not apply if the discrimination comes from a faith based group? As absurd as this may appear, sadly it seems Ms Moore may not have had much choice in the matter if she wants her bill to pass.

“While the amendments do not reflect my strong belief that there should be no exemptions in the Anti-​​Discrimination Act, the bill is so important to the security of families headed by same-​​sex couples that I cannot risk possible defeat.”

Read more »

The Advertiser reported this afternoon that a pair of Christian preachers, commonly seen proselytising in Rundle Mall, the central shopping district in the Adelaide CBD, had been temporarily banned. Shop owners had allegedly complained about the content of the sermons being delivered by the group, which reportedly contained offensive comments regarding Islamic people and threats of divine retribution. Furthermore, it is alleged that the preachers ‘shouted and screamed’ their sermons using amplifying equipment. Read more »

Originally posted on the Griffith University Skeptics and Freethinkers Blog www​.gussf​.wordpress​.com

This morning’s Daily Telegraph headline reads:

“Christian MP Fred Nile engulfed in net porn scandal ”

That’s right, the leader of Australia’s’ Christian Democratic Party, Rev Hon (sic) Fred Niles computer log in was used to access pornographic websites, with over 200,000 hits recorded!

The Daily Telegragh also tells us

“Mr Nile claimed yesterday he had never viewed pornography and said his staff had used his log-​​on and done so for “research purposes”.

In my previous post I did call for Rev Nile and his ilk to examine the literature before making ludicrous claims, however it seems I wasn’t clear enough on what ‘literature’ I meant, but at least both Nile and his staff were thorough.

My family still live in the Tweed Heads area where I spent my teens until I was old enough to escape to greener pastures. Although my Mother has some out there beliefs such as the reality of ghosts, psychics and varieties of magical thinking, thankfully our family are all vaccinated.

However due to the ignorance of people who maintain their ‘right’ not to vaccinate, we are all susceptible to a preventable disease that should be all but eradicated by now.

Diseases do not discriminate the informed from the ignorant, they just kill, not unlike bad ideas and persistent ignorance in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence. Combining these two blights is a sure fire recipe for needless suffering. It is completely irrelevant as to whether people ‘believe’ in the benefit of vaccinations, what matters is that they are safe, that they work, and that they save the lives of children, regardless of who their parents are, or what nonsense they happen to ‘believe’.

Jayson D Cooke

For further Info:
http://​www​.tweednews​.com​.au/​s​t​o​r​y​/​2​0​1​0​/​0​8​/​2​8​/​m​e​a​s​l​e​s​-​t​w​e​e​d​-​d​i​s​e​ase/

http://​www​.tweednews​.com​.au/​s​t​o​r​y​/​2​0​1​0​/​0​8​/​2​8​/​p​o​t​t​s​v​i​l​l​e​-​j​o​h​n​s​o​n​-​m​e​a​s​l​e​s​-​d​i​s​e​ase/

Cross-​​posted from The Carapace

Jeremy Irons presents a compelling argument against the death penalty. I have little to add to it except that if money is of more concern to you than human life, you ought to know that it costs more money in trials and appeals (due process that is the right of anyone) than it does to imprison someone for life. How much more? A lot more. Often many millions of dollars just to have one person executed. Really though, if the argument comes down to economics you are not fit to be discussing this subject, because your lack of compassion has already proved it is only yourself you are thinking about, you are therefore not fit to be making decisions regarding the lives of others.

National Science Week is unique because it is a national celebration of science; the joy of science, the usefulness of science, the excitement and the mystery of science. Science is so important in our lives and that’s especially true in Australia. It’s important therefore that we understand how science interacts in our lives because more and more decisions will be based on science.

- Professor Penny Sackett [Chief Scientist for Australia]

Meryl Dorey, President of the Australian Vaccination Network, recently published a media release in which she decries the media’s “witchhunt” of the AVN.

Recent investigations of the AVN by multiple branches of the New South Wales government, the reports and results of those investigations, various media interviews with Meryl Dorey, quotes from Dorey, and other factual information concerning the AVN which have been reported by the media in recent weeks really have not been looking very good for the AVN. However, this does not a “witchhunt” make. Meryl Dorey makes her own bed, and the media simply factually reports on it. Read more »

Normally I’m not a fan of tracking back through the archives of blogs that I follow, but I’m prepared to make a big exception with The Panda’s Thumb, a group blog focused on evolutionary biology and its cultural and religious detractors. In a way it’s like Homologous Legs, except older, better and the people who write it know exactly what they’re talking about — PhDs in biology abound.

This gem of an article comes from way back in August of 2004, after Stephen C. Meyer published his controversial paper, The origin of biological information and the higher taxonomic categories, in the journal Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. The editor of the journal at the time, Richard Sternberg, was widely criticised for including Meyer’s paper, and a massive controversy boiled up from there. This Panda’s Thumb article is not about the controversy: instead, it takes a look at the scientific claims of Meyer in a formal review format.

Read more »