Nothing supernatural about the western suburbs of Melbourne

[worldslaziestbusker]

Been a while, KichigaiNeko. Not seen much of the Badger since we asked challenging questions at Australian Christian Forums together.

How long did you and Badger lasted on that forum may I ask?

I was there for four months. I was invited by a member who felt they'd been hard done by at the AFA forum and that atheists would be treated far more kindly on a Christian site. Funny, that. ACF was where I got my first death threat for having the temerity to say I don't believe in any god.
I suspect it's fail of that magnitude that caused the site administrators to pull the plug.

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OK, you have absolutely no clue as to how much the Anglican Church does in Australia without public funding. Sure, some things have public funding, and we have every right to petition for that funding if we can show it is being put to good use.

I don't begrudge you your efforts on your own dollar, but you have no right to take money from my pocket to push your agendas.

Why don't you worry about the money that actually gets completely wasted. Like the $90 million dollars that Tim Flannery extorted from the Rudd Government to build the "world's first" geothermic power plant. What did he do with that money?? Link.

This is a non-sequitur. Other injustices do not justify your own.

Second point, stop assuming that we "only do it" to get something back. What utter nonsense.

Why do you do it, then? Why are you Christian? If the stick and the carrot are meaningless to you, why promote your religion at all? Just calling it utter nonsense doesn't make it utter nonsese. I have examined Christian motives from within and from outside the faith and I cannot see anything other than self interest in the motives behind adhering to or promoting the doctrine. What, if not the promise of reward and the threat of punishment, winds up your clockwork. Perhaps more importantly, how can you argue that those motivators mean nothing to you? The promises made in the Bible and taught in the churches are prominent doctrine, and you expect me to believe they mean nothing to you?

Why should the government provide all the community services anyway? Do you want to live in a capitalist country or a communist country?

This is a false dichotomy. A nation does not have to be communist for the government to take care of its basic community needs. Did you fail to note that I proposed that your charitable efforts on the government dollar should be handed over to the private sector? You are trying hard, but failing to paint my views in the light you want them to be seen in. Wave your hands faster. Hand waving makes a great argument. No, wait, the other thing. You are coming across as someone incapable of comprehending written English.

Third point - as with any organization or company, the books are only as good as the treasurer who's in charge of them.

Another non-sequitur. Where is this comment supposed to lead in your case?

The books in our church are completely open, all you have to do to see them is come inside and read the treasury statement which is pinned up for everyone to see.

No. You might voluntarily make information available, but this is not the same things as being mandatorily audited. The government cannot audit your books, so there is no way of knowing whether what you voluntarily report is true. In the same way that the Catholic Church paying 10 % tax on its business interests voluntarily is of little comfort to those of us who pay more without any choice, your nod to open books is unconvincing and only underlines my annoyance at your unwarranted privileges.

It lists in detail all the expenditures of the church, including salaries and maintenance, etc, and all the revenues of the church. I don't know what other churches are like, but our books are open, so stop claiming we hide everything.

See previous.

I'll grant you the Anglicans are good at keeping things out in the open. Sexism, anti-gay rhetoric. You are definitely good at being bad in public.