Atheism for Kids

There are two* things wrong with religion:

1. The unsubstantiated beliefs, themselves, and
2. The fervour with which belief systems are defended by their adherents.

For the first reason, I want to prevent my daughter from being exposed to crazy ideas at an age predating her critical-thinking abilities.

Oaths and Affirmations

In Victorian legislation, section 21 of the Evidence Act 2008 requires sworn evidence to be given after an oath or affirmation. The difference between oaths and affirmations is that oaths are sworn to god, whereas affirmations are promises to the court.

This is faulty.

Religion, Bigotry and the Census

The Atheist Foundation of Australia, in the leadup to the 2011 Australian census, is running a campaign for people to mark No Religion on their census forms. The justification for this campaign is that many people who are no longer religious still write the religion of their youth, as a matter of habit, rather than due to any real beliefs.

The purpose of the census is to accurately record the demographics of Australia in order to better target services for the people, and for posterity. As such, I support the AFA's campaign, because I would rather decisions about how tax money is spent are made based on accurate data. I also personally agree that the AFA's goal, of taking religion out of politics, is a worthy one in a secular country.

Unfortunately, it seems that we live in a country populated by enough bigoted morons to have a noticeable effect on online discourse. I don't mean the term 'bigoted moron' to be a slur. I mean it literally. And I don't mean 'literally' the way Jamie Oliver means it, i.e. figuratively. I'm sure that many of these apparent morons are actually somewhat intelligent, but it makes me wonder to whom they have been listening.