“Why are Christians, who celebrate the renovation of their souls through the rise of a carpenter on Easter Sunday, so selfish as to deny the MacMansionites access to the Sacred Temple of Bunnings, that they may also worship their god(s) and raise a little carpentry in an act of renovation (“No Easter Bunnings”, March 26)?
“
Peter Fyfe of Erskineville doesn’t see why Bunnings should have to close on Easter Sunday.
“Pastor Danny Nalliah believes in hell. His insensitive, heartless, opportunistic and grossly offensive comments about the Victorian bushfire tragedy might yet assure him of a place in it.”
John Apostolakis Lockleys, SA, letter to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Filed under: Religion
“The Bible is very clear,” he said. “If you walk out of God’s protection and turn your back on Him, you are an open target for the devil to destroy.”
Pastor Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries blames the devastating bushfires in Victoria on the state’s abortion laws, saying that the carnage was God’s punishment. Nalliah thus continues the tradition of the blaming of natural disasters on human sin by assorted religious nutcases.
No doubt those people who have lost friends and family to the flames think he’s a fine example of a good Christian.
Filed under: Politicians, Religion | Tags: Christian Democratic Party, Reverend Fred Nile, Reverend Gordon Moyes
“God’s will be done. If it is God’s will that he should stay and remain a thorn in our side, then so be it. But I’d find that hard to understand.”
Reverend Fred Nile, who has urged supporters of the Christian Democratic Party to pray for the removal of Reverend Gordon Moyes. Dr Moyes says that Revered Nile is anti-gay, anti-Muslim and indifferent to the problem of climate change. He also says the Reverend Nile, at 74, is too old (he himself is a sprightly 70).
“It’s astounding that any organisation – religious or otherwise – can still argue about women’s inherent and ordained inferiority.
The next time Doctor Who and the Tardis come to town, could Peter Jensen please hitch a (one-way) ride back to a century in which he belongs? And could the Doctor please let the new girl do the driving?”
Sue Hawthorn Mosman on the resistance of the Anglican Church in Sydney to the ordination of women.
Filed under: Celebrities, Politicians, Religion, Sport | Tags: David Koch, Sonny Bill Williams, Zoo Weekly
“Sonny Bill is someone who did something no Australian should do, he ditched his teammates and walked out. We’re calling him Money Bill Williams for scarpering off to another continent just for the cash.”
Zoo editor Paul Merrill comments on the lad mag’s annual People We Hate list. Labor MP and Iguanagate veteran Belinda Neal was third behind the Bali bomber, with the Pope featuring in seventh for “shutting down our streets and filling them with a bunch of weirdos” during World Youth Day in Sydney.
“Generally we don’t like him (the Pope) he’s old and looks a bit strange, like he should be in Star Wars,” Merrill said.
TV personality David Koch merited inclusion “because he’s a bit of an old fart”. The full list:
1. Sonny Bill Williams – Bulldogs deserter
2. Amrozi – Bali bomber dubbed the smiling assassin
3. Belinda Neal – Tantie-throwing, night-clubbing federal Labor MP
4. Wayne Carey – Misbehaving former AFL player
5. Nick D’Arcy – Dumped from Olympic swim team over assault claim
6. SA Attorney – General Michael Atkinson7. Pope Benedict
8. Indy 500 General Manager, Greg Hooten – banned booze and boobs.
9&10. John Earnest and Anne Deaves – father and daughter who became dad and mum.
11. Big Brother 2008 winner Terri
12. Corey Worthington – Melbourne party boy
13. Greg Norman – golfer
14. Mercedes Corby – convicted drug smuggler’s sister
15. Schapelle Corby – convicted drug smuggler
16. Peter MacDonald – James Hardie boss who avoided paying compensation
17. David Miscavige – Scientology boss
18. Dennis Ferguson – accused pedophile seeking compensation
19. Kyle Sandilands – radio host
20. David Koch – Sunrise presenter
21. The girl from the AAMI ads
22. Marcus Trescothick – English cricketer
23. Rove McManus – comedian
24. George W Bush – US president
25. Toadie from Neighbours
26. Bank CEOs
27. Japanese Whalers
28. Radovan Karadzic – accused genocidal Serb leader
29. Sheik Yamani – price-rising Saudi oil minister
30. Martin Lawrence – actor
31. John Darwin – Briton who faked own death
32. Sarah Jessica Parker – actor
33. Jamie Oliver – TV chef
34. Todd McKenny – Radio and TV host
35. & 36. Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton – gave false hope to Bigfoot believers
37. Judge who jailed lesbians in Dubai
38. Gordon Ramsay – foul-mouthed chef
39. Britney Spears
40. Patrick Swayze – gets cancer, continues to smoke
41. Tamsyn Lewis – Olympic athlete
42. Amy Winehouse – drug, booze and self-pity hound
43. Pamela Anderson – no-show for Zoo Weekly
44. Madonna – singer
45. Joanna Griggs – voice of the Olympics
46. Heath Franklin – comedic performer and writer
47. Peter Hore – serial pest
48. Heather Mills – Paul McCartney’s former wife
49. Tim Johnson – the Firepower man
50. Milton Orkopolous – former NSW pollie and convicted sex offender.
Filed under: Religion | Tags: Anglican Church, Phillip Jensen, St Andrews Cathedral
Two responses in the Sydney Morning Herald to news that the organist at Sydney’s St Andrew’s Anglican cathedral has been asked to tone down the music he plays at the end of services because it is too loud and parishioners “cannot hear themselves think”.
“Given the anti-intellectual stance of most modern evangelicals, I don’t think it’s the organist’s fault that parishioners of St Andrew’s are having trouble thinking.” Anthony Hooper, Oatley.
“Music at St Andrew’s is an easy target and has been since the takeover of the Anglican Church in the Sydney diocese by those modern-day Puritans, the Jensens. They will not rest until every vestige of what makes the Angloican Church Anglican is replaced by a dumbed-down, one-size-fits-all, mindless, soulless and Godless “worship facility” devoted to the delivery of a sermon.” Greg Oehm, Robertson.
Filed under: Aussie Aussie Aussie, Ethnic Insults, Religion | Tags: Camden
“Why is that racist? Why is it discriminatory? It’s very simple: people like some things but don’t like other things. Some of us like blondes, some of us like brunettes. Some of us like Fords, some of us like Holdens. Why is it xenophobic just because I want to make a choice? If I want to like some people and not like other people, that’s the nature of the beast.”
Emil Sremchevich, president of the Camden/Macarthur Residents’ Group, which notoriously rejected a proposal by the Quranic Society to build a school in the area. The Residents’ Group has subsequently welcomed a Catholic organisation’s plans to build a 1000-student high school nearby.
“Millions believe in alien abductions, virgin births (yes, there’s been more than one), homeopathy and the liver-cleansing diet. In comparison, a petrol pill sounds positively plausible.”
Regular letter-writer Debby O’Brien makes a good point about the Firepower scandal, which, argues Lindsay Cook, “demonstrates again that a persuasive snake-oil salesman can etxract large amounts of money from gullible and probably greedy people without any of the regulatory organisations taking worthwhile action”.
Aaron Timms shares his observations of World Youth Day and agrees it was a Good Thing:
“No doubt I am not alone in expressing this wish: we totally should have the Catholic youth of the world around to Sydney again. If there’s one thing this city needs, it’s more happy, unsexed Slovakians. I mean that seriously: a city filled with singing Eastern European virgins is a city at peace with itself.”
“Good ideas to come out of World Youth Day included Pope Benedict XVI (has there been a more loveable octogenarian German theologian?), non-dogmatic Pope impersonations )”Do not liff your life in see pursuit of material possssseshonsss) and the use of backpacks as a marker of religious affiliation. The bad things included the secularists who took no part in it, secularism, secularist filth and secularizing, valueless scum.”
As two young train travellers at Town Hall noted:
“There are no hot pilgrims.”
“Those rucksacks don’t help.”
