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Australian Prime Minister... My hero
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fiero600 wrote
at 12:31 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST
Prime Minister Julia Gillard - Australia
Quote: "'IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT.. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians. ' 'This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom' 'We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society . Learn the language!' 'Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.' 'We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.' 'This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.' I'm gonna go move in with Loobee. Who else is coming? |
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Boner Oiler wrote
at 7:58 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST Chloe I subscribe to the American Atheist Group's definition of an atheist. That is to say if you doubt the canon of your church and as a consequence you are unsure of the existence of a God, then you do not believe in God.
But if you want I can rephrase to most australians aren't religious. http://rationalistsblog.net/2010/06/16/australia-losing-its-religion/ This indicates that while Australia already had a low church attendance it has even decrease more, now down to 16%. That is to say 16% of the population goes to church "regularly" whereas this figure is well about 60% in the United States. The leap of faith I made was that people who are not religious don't really believe in God. |
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fiero600 wrote
at 8:12 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST are you honestly basing the % of Australians that believe in God by the % that attend church? Shame on you, I expected a far better argument from you.
Chloe pwned you here. You're saying 'nice try' to the Prime Minister of the entire country of Australia... perhaps someone who knows more about Australia than you? |
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superxchloe wrote
at 8:13 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST While I understand that perspective, there are plenty of people who are not religious that do believe in God. Besides, our definitions of atheist differ so it's not really worth arguing the point. :)
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Boner Oiler wrote
at 8:27 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST Oh and Jesse, that source right there (dated 2010, so it's 4 years more recent than wikipedia) notes "Only 47% of people believe in God, down from 61% in 1993"
Meaning 53% of the population is either agnostic or atheist. And while yes my original post was anecdotal, I'm sure I could find a lot more hard evidence to suggest there are very few people of evangelical or even devout faith in Australia. And those that are are by far the minority. That being said, I still put myself down as Catholic on applications, surveys and etc because I don't want to be prejudiced for my beliefs. (or lack there of). |
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superxchloe wrote
at 8:49 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST I don't think it's really fair to compare that source and wikipedia since the definitions on the sites differ. Wikipedia says that according to the 1996 Australian census, 70.9% classified themselves as Christian. Since the numbers are declining, a 61% figure from 1993 doesn't make sense IF the definitions are the same. So, the definitions are not the same and there isn't much sense in arguing the point when no one is going to convince anyone else that their opinion is right.
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Boner Oiler wrote
at 9:19 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST Sure Chloe, and while I don't want to argue anything with you I bet I can tell you the reason for these differences.
Polls are imperfect and lend themselves to manipulation, that is to say. You can have the same sample give contradicting answers to the same question by simply rephrasing or changing semantics. For example, this happened a lot during the Bush years over the Iraq War. Pollsters trying to demonstrate support for the Iraq War would ask questions like "do you support our wars against terrorism" whereas pollsters trying to demonstrate an anti-war sentiment would ask questions like "Do you feel the US was justified in going to war with Iraq"... you get my point. Source: My government teacher had a masters in political science and told us how pollsters manipulated results to fit their patrons' agenda |
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superxchloe wrote
at 9:21 PM, Friday February 18, 2011 EST lol yeah veta I know about polling error... I'm kind of a stats major? sort of. actuarial science. pretty close anyway.
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