The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove

1:21 In episode 110 we kick off with a survey of expected participation rates in the upcoming postal vote.

8:15 The Fist then launches into Part A of a theoretical discussion of the difference between ideological identities and non-ideological identities and how this needs to be determined as part of deciding what level of criticism is acceptable.

13:50 Part B of the theory lesson is a discussion of the nature of freedom and more specifically the nature of religious freedom and the Fist’s view is that religious groups must volunteer to give up religious freedom is if they wish to participate in our civilised society. Giving up freedoms and agreeing to regulations is the price that people must pay in order to receive the benefits provided by our society.

24:01 The Velvet Glove is wishy-washy about George Brandis and Pauline Hanson but the Iron Fist pulls no punches in castigating George Brandis. Oh the irony. The left likes to say that nobody has the right to tell women what they can or cannot wear except apparently the left has the right to tell Pauline Hanson what not to wear. And on the right side of politics, George Brandis has previously championed free speech and the ability of people to say things that other people might find offensive or insulting but apparently that right is not available to Pauline Hanson in relation to Islam.

There is nothing wrong with mocking any religion and the book of Mormon is currently playing in Melbourne yet we do not hear any protest from George Brandis about that. Pauline Hanson went further than mocking and she is entitled to do so.

40:54 We briefly talk about dog whistling.

42:56 Various religious leaders have called for protection of religious freedom so that people may discriminate against gay couples and The Fist applies the theory discussed in the first 10 minutes to rebuke such arguments.

51:50 The Uluru Bark Petition is an outrageous document purporting to speak on behalf of the entire Aboriginal people of Australia.

55:20 At least a Queensland Imam is honest when he objects to gay marriage because of doctrine and does not rely on notions of religious freedom.

1:00:15 We refer Bill shorten to the word xenophobia which would have been handy for him on last night’s QandA.

It turns out there are biological reasons why women are under represented in technology jobs.

1:05:20 Dean has criticised the secular index but has not offered to help.

1:09:48 We find another consecrated virgin

1:12:24 Donald Trump is running what can be described as a Ku Klux Kardashian presidency.

1:17:39 The Fist picks out a few highlights from the “Retreat on the Western Liberalism”

1:22:40 We finish off with the Queensland women flying interstate for abortions because the female Premier and female Attorney General are seemingly not motivated to quickly pass the necessary legislation.

1:23:23 Tiki Torch Nazis

 

Here are the links:

George Brandis, Pauline Hanson and the Burka and his previous statement on S18c

A religious worldview cannot expect the same kinds of tolerance as racial, gender, or sexual identities. Here’s why

What is religious freedom and how does it rank compared to other freedoms?

Dog-whistle politics is political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup.

1:55 In episode 109 we look at the arguments put forward by religious groups opposing marriage equality and note that they have not been honest enough to admit that scripture is their primary reason. It is dishonest and disingenuous of them to put forward arguments of religious freedom, freedom of speech and the danger of the safe schools program.

14:12 We look at the latest public opinion polls on marriage equality.

19:37 The Child Abuse Royal Commission has recommended that Catholic priests must disclose to the authorities information received about child abuse even if that information is provided during the sacrament of confession. Incredibly, the Archbishop of Melbourne, Dennis Hart and Father Frank Brennan have both publicly stated that they would rather go to jail then disclose evidence of child abuse. At least Francis Sullivan from the Truth Justice and Healing Council has said that priests should follow the law of the land however Mark Coleridge, the Archbishop of Brisbane was vague in his statement.

Also in the Royal Commission, they recommended a new rule to remove good character as a mitigating factor in sentencing where that good character facilitated the offending.

31:10 The Royal Commission also called for greater use of evidence by multiple victims in relation to a single perpetrator arguing the exclusion of this evidence in the past has led to unwarranted acquittals.

David Van Gend has complained that his book did not receive enough media coverage and the Iron Fist has invited him to come onto the podcast. We await his response.

56% of Australians believe in Heaven but only 38% believe in Hell while 37% believe in the Devil. We reveal these and other statistics.

We introduce the IFVG secular index and humbly request your assistance.

1:03:34 New Zealand’s involvement in our citizenship crisis. It seems to us that Julie Bishop has jumped the shark and Christopher Pyne has joined her in this.

1:09:42 We reveal everything you would want to know about section 44 of the Constitution and an obscure case from 1949.

1:15:05 Malcolm Turnbull claims that we are joined at the hip with the United States of America which seems to be a dangerous exaggeration of our relationship so we look at the ANZUS treaty and compare it to the NATO treaty.

1:23:13 Finally, we look at Charlottesville and the demonstration by the white supremacists and take aim at identity politics for causing a large part of the problem.

 

Marriage Equality Opinion Polls

Yes vote threatens religious freedoms: Fisher

Melbourne Archbishop says he’d rather go to jail than report child abuse heard in confession

The royal commission also called for greater use of evidence by multiple victims in relation to a single perpetrator, arguing the exclusion of this evidence in the past has led to “unwarranted acquittals”.

National Secular Lobby

The IFVG Secular Index

Some interesting...

In episode 108 at 1:32 we look at the marriage equality postal vote and the plebiscite fiasco and we ask who is Andrew Broad and what are the Christian Values Awards?

The Queensland Labour conference votes to support the introduction of voluntary euthanasia legislation

34:50 The religious lobby will complain that the proposed legislation infringes on freedom of religion for clerks working in marriage registries and also wedding cake providers.

45:48 A mother of 13 challenges the validity of the abortion clinic exclusion zone in Melbourne and the Liberal National Party in Queensland momentarily puts down its banjos in order to pass a resolution making abortion more difficult while dressing it up as pastoral care.

53:25 Bronwyn Bishop has a theory about scripture classes.

56:05 We demonstrate how quotas and affirmative action can have unintended consequences.

Mother challenges validity of abortion clinic exclusion zone

Who is Andrew Broad?

The answer – The Christian Values Awards

Queensland Labor conference votes to support introduction of euthanasia legislation

With Victorian state parliament set to decide whether terminally ill people should have the right to a physician-assisted death, a formidable coalition of opponents is fighting the legislation, The Age reports.

Religious Freedom protections in new same sex marriage proposals: too few, too narrow

The Liberal National Party Has Committed To New Abortion Controls

Quotas and Affirmative Action – Unintended consequences

Google engineer writes 10-page manifesto against company’s diversity drive

Liberal Tim Wilson Humiliated In What Could Be World’s Shortest Political Interview

 

In this episode of the podcast, the Fist is joined by The Squeaky Wheel.

4:56 The Fist offers a dinner party tip for men

6:22 We kick off with a Sikh family who want their son to wear a patka when attending school and we debate the merits of their case. The Fist plays Devils Advocate.

32:28 The Victorian Deputy Premier has decided he is not in favour of voluntary euthanasia laws and surprise surprise he is a staunch Catholic who is seemingly only persuaded by personal experience.

40:16 The Fist proposes a register of politicians religious affiliations similar to a political donations register.

42:29 A couple of recent articles compare the current conservative split in the Liberal party to the DLP split in the Labor Party, however, the difference is that Cory Bernardi’s Party will always give preferences to the Liberals so Malcolm should let them go and enjoy life without the troublesome right wing.

50:28 Tim Manda has a problem with gender diversity in the Parole Board and The Fist plays a clip from a recent LNP conference featuring duelling banjos. We discuss the merits of targets for cultural diversity in government and private organisations.

1:14:01 We expose and interesting twist to the Charlie Gard story which comes about as the UK courts had to consider an assisted dying application at the same time.

We think our patrons and play a clip from John August.

1:24:29 The Fist repeats his suggestion that we do away with dual citizenship all together but the Squeaky Wheel provides a good reason for keeping it.

1:30:11 And we finish with a look at Donald Trump, who he has sacked and who he is yet to sack and can he pardon himself?

School uniform policies need to accommodate students’ cultural practices

Government split over euthanasia bill

Bemused by a strange political decision? Scratch the surface and find a Catholic.

Conservative Catholics left Labor in the mid-1950s – and we now know they were bound for the Liberal Party

LNP politician claims ‘Major gender imbalance’ in board with more women

Shadow ministry 4 female and 14 men

Cultural diversity in leadership

The Liberal National Party Has Committed To New Abortion Controls

Charlie Gard and our moral confusions

Dual citizenship – why allow it at all?

Topics include:

Who are The Rationalists?

Co-operation between secular groups

Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne in February 2018 – “Reason to Hope”

Clementine Ford

Lyle Shelton on Sky

41:40  QandA on furniture and terrorism and GREG AUSTIN. Australians have little to fear from terrorism at home – here’s why. 

Domestic Violence in religious groups

 

The Religious Right is blocking progressive reform of assisted dying, religious instruction and abortion law. They are taking over the Liberal party in a Tea Party like takeover and will push neo-liberalism as well as it fits their dominionist worldview. Unfortunately, the Left is consumed by Identity Politics and we have lost our ability to decide moral issues with consistent moral rules.

In this episode of the podcast, the Fist is flying solo and single-handedly attempts to turn you into a Monday morning water cooler expert.

1:11 He kicks off with assisted suicide and the refusal by a Catholic hospital to provide the service if it is legalised and he also looks at whether the Federal government could overturn State legislation.

9:27 Next, we look at scripture classes in New South Wales and the religious beliefs of the various players on both sides of politics.

18:29 This leads on to an examination of how religious groups are branch stacking the Liberal Party.

26:08 As a quick diversion from major social changes, we look at the need for gluten free Eucharist as well as the increase in exorcisms in the UK and 30:47 a Guru who is on ice, literally.

The Fist mentions a German choir where boys were unfortunately but not surprisingly abused by the Catholic system.

34:00 We have mentioned before that religious groups are blocking progressive change on social issues and in this episode we discuss dominionism and the desire by religious groups to impose neo-liberal policies. This is an adoption of the prosperity gospel which has been happening in the USA.

41:40  Watch out for neo-liberalism. The Fist plays a clip from Yanis Varoufakis describing the difference between Star Trek and The Matrix. In the short term that can be seen in the difference between Canada and the USA. The Daily Telegraph by publishing a special future shock front page let everyone know that it is out of touch.

57:35 In Texas you can skip the gun check line if you have a licence to carry

58:47 Abortion law changes when the conservative right wing gets power.

1:02:30 Having exposed problems being caused by the right we ask whether the left can do anything. An article on rural America suggests that it is too late for America.

1:14:30 Unfortunately, in Australia the left is obsessed with identity politics instead of the real issues affecting the disadvantaged in our community and that is the real crime of Yassmin Abdel Magied.

1:19:25 Victims of racism are now asking for racist policies but do not recognise the ethical inconsistency nor the danger which demonstrates a theory from Alistair McLeod that we have lost our ability to discuss ethical issues. The discussion regarding the recognition of Aboriginal people in the Constitution is a fine example of this.

1:32:45 Finally, as a true example of a jumbled mess of ideas, the Fist presents a recording from the Moroccan Soup Bar in which the owner diverts attention from Islam by blaming poor interpretation and men generally and the Fist provides some evidence that perhaps men don’t have it all their own way.

The links:

Health provider will refuse to perform assisted suicide

It would seem likely that federal Parliament could overturn a state euthanasia law as the constitution grants it authority over the provision of medical services

In this episode, Trevor speaks with Alison and Julia from Qld Parents For Secular State Schools.

Here is the link to their Facebook page

 

00:46 In this episode of the podcast we discuss a crazy Catholic nun who terrorised young children into thinking that they were being permanently removed from their parents. The ordeal lasted for 5 1/2 hours and is a fine example of the sensitivities of the Catholic Church.

05:25 We discuss why we cannot discuss Cardinal Pell because of the sub judice rules.

11:08 Three women in Detroit go through a ceremony where they are married to Jesus. There are 4000 consecrated virgins in the world. It is strange that the Catholic Church objects to gay marriage because it is not between a man and a woman yet the Catholic Church is happy to consecrate a marriage ceremony between 4000 women and a mythical being. At what point should society step in and help delusional people as they do with the hikikomori in Japan.

18:45 The Trinity Lutheran Church case in America has set a dangerous precedent and has fractured the wall separating church and state.

29:38 Andrew Denton highlights the actions of the Christian lobby to stop assisted dying legislation in Victoria.

36:02 In some respects, Peter Dutton is more powerful than Donald Trump.

The Fist objects to protests using #NotInMyName. It is a narcissistic self-centred form of protest in which people unnecessarily paint themselves as victims.

44:05 In India it is safer to be a cow than a woman.

48:13 Jeff Horn learns to fight to avoid being beaten up …

50:11 How long till Abdel-Magied appears in the UK

51:50 John Dixon asks how anyone can still take Jesus seriously today and we agree that this is a good question. Our answer is that people do not think rationally but that is unlikely to be his thesis.

57:13 The Fist compares the study of the Bible with the study of Grimm’s fairy tales. If you are studying how the stories were gathered and how they evolved over time and the differences between the stories and matters of that type then it is legitimate study. The problem is that the scholars of Grimm’s fairy tales do not actually believe that the fairy tales are real which unfortunately is a mistake often made by theologians in relation to the Bible..

59:59 A politician in Jakarta suggests that a sharia law tourism zone would be popular.

1:02:18 We finish with another great article from Kenan Malik where he explores the idea that cultural identity is a form of racism practised by both the right and the left.

Last week, Sandeep and Reena Mander were denied the chance to adopt a child. It was not because their local council, Windsor and Maidenhead, thought that they would not have provided a loving family home. Nor because there were no children to adopt. It is rather that the Manders are of Indian Sikh heritage – though both born in Britain – and the only children needing adoption were white. ‘They took the colour of our skin as the overriding reason not to progress with the application’, Mr Mander said.

Links:

We slam Catholics and the next day Cardinal Pell is charged, a crazy Nun appears and Tony Abbott has a rethink about submarines

Come home Cardinal Pell. Sub judice and fair trials.

Pell had incredible access to Prime...

01:20 The census result

06:40 The Fist says the result is a disgrace.

10:15 The Fist explains why we must get a different religion question in the next Census and he also takes aim at cultural Christians.

12:32 What will it take for people to get interested in religious interference.

13:56 Don’t want to donate an organ? OK, you go to the bottom of the list if you need ever one. We should do the same with the census question response and future needs for progressive laws.

16:10 We look at the theories put forward in a book called “Thinking Fast and Slow” and compare our statistics to other countries.

32:07 One Nation vows to boost school chaplaincy funding

35:47 The Fist looks at the current Federal Cabinet to see how many are religious.

44:44 In Montréal the Catholic Church has issued a directive that priests should not be left alone with children.

46:52 We look at a play where the audience decides whether to kill off one of the characters.

49:10 Australians do not understand the dangers of political donations.

52:31 The submarine contract is a fiasco and now it is revealed that it will not provide jobs as promised.

55:02 The F35 fighter plane will probably be as big of a disaster as the submarine contract.

57:38 If you thought a sex change operation was a loophole in the same sex marriage debate then you are wrong.

59:57 The problems in the Philippines have been going on for 400 years and we should stay out of them.

The 2016 Census

Political donations

Gonski 2.0 – what happened.

Tanya Plibersek says Labor will restore Catholic school funding irrespective of budget

Montreal Catholic Church Forbids Priests From Being Alone With Children

Audience votes to kill ‘mum’ in play

Future submarine jobs in Adelaide have been thrown into doubt in the wake of an apparent U-turn by French company DCNS on how much work will be carried out locally, Senator Nick Xenophon says.

What went wrong with the F-35, Lockheed Martin’s Joint Strike Fighter?

The intractable scene in Mindanao indeed is concerning but it is born out a much longer and different history than elsewhere – one where the US (and others) have long been involved. Australia needs to be very careful not to become militarily entangled.

1:08 We look at a hard-line Christian hoping to replace Gillian Triggs as head of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Augusto Zimmerman is backed by Margaret Court and does not believe in evolution. What could possibly go wrong?

7:08 We explain why three government ministers are facing contempt of court charges.

14:26 In Canada, students at Catholic schools can refuse to attend religious classes thanks to the Canadian Charter of Rights. But that doesn’t mean Australia should have one.

19:06 We have exported our fair share of religious nutters to the United States and we can add Andrew Snelling to the list.

22:09 Shark attack victim Tiffany Johnson thanks Jesus for saving her.

25:23 The Fist argues why we should allow terrorist groups like Hezbollah to fly their flag and March in our cities.

34:44 Sunni-Shia divide gets a better explanation.

40:35 Jimmy has given us a voicemail.

43:17 A politician admits that he cannot follow Jesus and be a progressive politician at the same time.

48:24 Christina Kineally once again has a go at Catholics and introduces the term “Catholic extremist”.

54:24 Norway plans to ban the Muslim veil

1:01:52 Kenan Malik examines cultural appropriation.

1:10:18 We look at an alternative to democracy

1:19:38 We finish with more crazy Americans (chocolate milk comes from brown cows)

1:20:25 An unusual marriage in Columbia (3 gay men)

Hardline Christian hoping to replace Triggs

Explainer: why three government ministers might face contempt of court charges

Our politicians show an alarming ignorance of the separation of powers

Contempt case could bring down Turnbull govt

In Canada, students can opt out of religious classes at Catholic schools after a complaint settled

More info here

Australian Christian geologist sues Grand Canyon for religious discrimination

Shark victim Tiffany Johnson pulled ‘mangled stump’ from jaws

Flying terrorist flags in the capital is an insult to victims of the London attacks

Confederate Symbols and the Black Flag of ISIS: Two Sides of the Same Coin