Sunday, December 04, 2016



A church that is embarrassed to be a church

They are Australia's successors for the Methodists, who were notably confident in their faith. So it is sad to see how far they have fallen. They even deny Christ.  The Bible has some advice for them: 

Mark 8:38 "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." 2 Timothy 1:8 "Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God". Matthew 10:33 "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."



Australia's Uniting Church will avoid using religious symbols and the word 'Christ' as part of it's new advertising campaign to distance itself from child sex scandals.

The survivors of child abuse have hit back at the Uniting Church accusing the change as an attempt to 'disown' the past in a bid to avoid addressing the situation.

But the Uniting Church defended the change claiming it was the right move to no longer use 'overt' faith-based language after the royal commission into child sexual abuse ruined the image of religious institutions, The Daily Telegraph reported.

'You are right to highlight that sometimes we do not mention Christ's name in our advertising,' executive director of Uniting, Peter Worland, said.

'Since the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, faith-based organisations like ours are perceived pejoratively. So, sometimes we are overt with our religious language, sometimes we are not.'

However Mr Worland said if you look closely you can still see religious symbols.

‘Sometimes we are overt with our religious language, sometimes we are not…The symbol of the cross at its heart (the ‘t’), with a person either side of it (each ‘i’) to represent this connection and inclusivity.’

SOURCE




Don't brand Brexit supporters racist! Equalities watchdog insists people who voted Leave in the referendum wanted the 'best for the UK'

Brexit voters should not be branded racist because they believed leaving the EU was the best thing for the country, the equalities watchdog has insisted.

The message came as the Equality and Human Rights Commission urged politicians on both sides of the bitter row to tone down their rhetoric.

It warned that the hostility involved was polarising the UK and fuelling a rise in hate attacks

Nigel Farage has spoken of his fears for his safety in the wake of the referendum amid a welter of death threats. the outgoing Ukip leader was threatened with a glass at a bar last week and now does not go out without security guards.

Meanwhile, Remain campaigner Gina Miller - who is spearheading a legal challenge against Theresa May triggering Article 50 without a parliamentary vote - has revealed she has spent more than £60,000 on her personal security. 

In a letter sent to the big political parties, the watchdog said: 'We are concerned that attacks on supporters of both sides of the Brexit debate have polarised many parts of the country.

'There are those who used, and continue to use, public concern about immigration policy and the economy to legitimise hate.

'The vast majority of people who voted to leave the European Union did so because they believe it is best for Britain and not because they are intolerant of others.'

The letter calls on the Government to do more to combat hate peddled by a 'small minority' as it also suggests there should be a review of the effectiveness of sentencing for hate crimes in England and Wales, including the ability to increase sentencing for crimes motivated by hate.

It states that 'politicians of all sides should be aware of the effect on national mood of their words and policies' even when those policies are not acted upon - like the Government's now-ditched proposal for companies to list foreign workers.

'Your offices bring with them a responsibility to ensure that policy debate is conducted in a way that brings the country together and moves it forward,' the letter states.

'Robust discussion is a central pillar of our democracy and nothing should be done to undermine freedom of expression.

'The right to free and fair elections supported by accurate information and respectful debate is also essential to our democratic process.

'Our elected representatives and the media should reflect and foster the best values in our society and engage people on contentious issues in a responsible and considered way.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the EHRC, David Isaac has also expressed concerns about the way in which businesses approach religious belief in the work place.

He said: 'There are a lot of myths out there when it comes to dealing with religion at work. I want to put the record straight.

'It is about taking a common sense approach. You can send Christmas cards and have a Christmas party and you might also decide to provide facilities for special religious diets, but that is your choice.'

Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green, who backed Remain, said he was 'uncomfortable' with the abuse surrounding the Brexit debate.

He told ITV's Peston on Sunday: 'One of the things that's wrong with this country is the political discourse we have. It's become abusive, it's become personal and it's not good for democracy so I suggest everyone on all sides of the Brexit argument or of any other argument, let's be civilised, let's agree that you can hold positions on either side of an argument and still respect each other. '

He added: 'I feel uncomfortable about the level of abuse, personal abuse that has spread to some extent from social media where it's always been present, into mainstream political discussion. It's not good for the health of our politics.'

SOURCE






Fury as watchdog says it's OK to send gay people death threats – but only if you're Muslim

A Dutch anti-discrimination hotline has said it is OK for Muslims to threaten gay people

In a shocking move, the taxpayer-funded hotline said it would not pursue a criminal complaint over horrific messages from radical Islamists because the Koran says gay people can be killed.

The disgraceful stance came to light when a member of the public complained about death threats posted to an online forum which called for homosexuals to be “burned, decapitated and slaughtered”.

Dutch MPs today reacted with horror to the revelations, demanding an immediate inquiry into the remarks and calling for the hotline to be stripped of public funding.

According to Dutch media advisors from the anti-discrimination bureau MiND said that, while homophobic abuse was usually a crime, it was justifiable if you were Muslim due to laws on freedom of religious expression.

They argued that the Koran says it is acceptable to kill people for being homosexual, and so death threats towards gay people from Muslims could not be discriminatory.

In a jaw-dropping email explaining why they could not take up the complaint, they wrote: “The remarks must be seen in the context of religious beliefs in Islam, which juridically takes away the insulting character."

The revelations will further fuel the debate about free speech in the country

They concluded that the remarks were made in "the context of a public debate about how to interpret the Quran" and added that "some Muslims understand from the Quran that gays should be killed”.

And they went on: “In the context of religious expression that exists in the Netherlands there is a large degree of freedom of expression. In addition, the expressions are used in the context of the public debate (how to interpret the Koran), which also removes the offending character."

The death threats had been made in the comments section for an article about a Dutch-Moroccan gay society, which had been posted to an online platform for Holland’s large Moroccan community.

The revelation that they were so easily brushed aside by the anti-discrimination hotline will fuel an intense debate in the Netherlands over freedom of expression.

Far-right politician Geert Wilders, whose party is expected to win next spring’s general election, is currently on trial for inciting racial hatred after telling a rally there were “too many Moroccans” in the Netherlands.

And two right-wing MPs, Joram van Klaveren and Louis Bontes, have now announced their intention to bring up the incident in the Dutch parliament by asking questions of the Justice Minister.

Mr Van Klaveren will ask: “Do you share our disgust at the fact that this explicitly states that inciting violence is not a problem if it comes from the Islamic belief?"

A spokesman for the MiND hotline admitted that after “further research” of the issue it had concluded that the complaint had been “unjustly assessed”.

He added that when the complaint involved calling for violence against a particular group, the beliefs of the person making the threats should not matter.

SOURCE




Australia: African migrants at heart of daycare scandals

Another triumph of multiculturalism

Family daycare operators and teachers from non-English-speaking backgrounds are being targeted by state authorities in a bid to crack down on abuse and bending of rules that have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion in two years and put children at risk.

Senior departmental staff and Queensland Education Minister Kate Jones have confirmed a trend in rorting and noncompliance among ethnic communities, which has resulted in scarce investigative resources being focused on new services and migrant groups. Analysis of state government enforcement action in the past six months reveals family day care services slapped with conditions, suspended or cancelled were almost exclusively run by migrants from Africa, most from Somalia or Sudan.

Sudanese migrant Aluel Mawiir provided false and misleading information and failed to meet service conditions for her Victorian business, Dombai Family Daycare.

In one West Australian case, Sudanese woman Anyieth Makuei had her approval to run her Zebra Family Day cancelled on May 19 because she provided fake documents to the regulator regarding the first aid and asthma training of her staff. Weeks later Ms Makuei lost her ability to be a supervisor in the same industry because, according to the state, she “persuaded family daycare educators to produce false documents and provide false information at the interview” with the state government.

In Victoria, Milky Way Family Day Care, which lists its directors as Ethiopian-born Jale Tujuba and Adnan Yusuf, was put on notice by the Victorian government for providing false and misleading information, not meeting service conditions and failing to run required educational programs.

Family daycare providers fall under the National Quality Framework, introduced by the previous Labor federal government in 2012, and attract federal government child care subsidies.

Queensland’s Acacia Ridge service Maka Family Day Care Scheme has been suspended until Christmas Eve because “there was an immediate risk to the safety, health or wellbeing of children being educated and cared for”.

Family daycare services have grown 61 per cent in the past two years, compared with just 7 per cent for ­centre-based childcare operators.

The hike in activity, which has been higher than 300 per cent in some regions, has placed pressure on state governments, which are responsible for making sure the businesses meet stringent rules and regulations under the quality framework.

Ms Jones said Queensland was now rejecting 60 per cent of new applications. “Queensland has put in place the toughest regulation process in the country for family daycare approved providers,” she told The Australian.

“In addition (to approval rejections) there are strict conditions on approvals and ongoing monitoring and compliance checks.”

Of the 15 most recent compliance crackdowns across the nation, all but one of the services are owned and operated by African directors, with six from Sudan and another six from Somalia.

The Australian revealed the case of Sudanese migrant Ruben Majok Aleer Aguer who received $1.6 million in federal funds over just 16 months to run a network of family daycare educators which authorities could not confirm were officially employed by him.

Nor, during at least 17 inspections, did any of the ACT department staff confirm a single child was ever in care.

Sharing of regulatory responsibility between Canberra and the states means the federal government only investigates fraud offences when it ­suspects money has gone missing. The largest proven case of family daycare fraud ended last week when Albury-based 29-year-old Melissa Jade Higgins was found guilty of stealing more than $3m from the federal government.

Victoria has moved to take the heat out of the market by increasing inspections and investigations.

The family daycare sector in Victoria represents 10 per cent of the total childcare pool but ­accounts for almost 80 per cent of enforcement actions taken by the state. Services have grown by 341 and 339 per cent respectively in Melbourne’s highly multicultural western and northern suburbs.

SOURCE


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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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