Posts by Will de Cleene
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I wish there was a proper index of Hindsight episodes, not only for suggestions but to watch them again (hint).
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On the subject of contemporary Christian media, I've been hunting through my old feeds for a graph that flicked by recently showing that far be it that Christians had no say in media, policy and politics. It was more a matter of whether they had disproportionate power based on congregation size.
Nicky Hagar raised the same point when he pointed out the problems of binding Citizens Initiated Referenda. Church networks are stronger and more reliable that the pluralist diaspora. Whether the cloud can beat the flock has yet to be seen.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Sacha,
No more than any other registered non-profit charitable organisations, totally. Bringing in capital gains tax would affect the large land holdings of some churches.
Heh (thinking of Henry Williams, the first great Pakeha landholder). There's arguments to be made on the division of time and resources between education and indoctrination, at least looking at a few of the religious NGOs in the developing world are concerned.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Chris Waugh,
Or at the very least, those seeking a religious component to their kids' education should have to pay for it with no subsidy or assistance from the state.
All that changed in the 1970's when the financial crunch came to religious schools, which were bailed out to become "integrated schools" to prevent a BSOD in the state system. The incongruity with state paid religious schooling has never been addressed since. A bit of a worry when you consider the possibility of charter schools.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Chris Waugh,
How's about replacing 'godbotherers' with a more neutral term such as 'religious people' that allows for the full spectrum of religious experience and belief?
I was referring to the exodus of people to the US, the Mayflower for example, and how they differed from the garden variety NZ European emigrant in the 1880's. The term "godbotherers" was specifically used in this context as it is an important strand in what became American Exceptionalism, among other things. Describing the pilgrims who went to the New World thusly is fair game.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
You know what, Will, far be it from me to tone police anyone but you think that's a particularly helpful turn of phrase in this context?
It is not my intention to troll, but nor to censor unduly. Would you prefer if I replace the offending term with puritans or religious extremists?
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Queen St has never been the same since they moved The White Lady. They took a chainsaw to owner operators and installed chain stores. And every time I go to Newmarket, I see a cheap set to guerilla film a Stepford Wives remake.
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Hard News: Belief Media, in reply to Bart Janssen,
To me that's an important part of being a New Zealander (whatever that is), the idea that it's OK if your neighbour thinks something different from you so long as your kids can still play together without causing too much damage to the vege garden.
True dat. In NZ, it ain't no thing for a Jew and an Arab to be friends.
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Dr Bill Cooke of the NZ Humanist Society would also disagree. Most of NZ's European immigration in the 1880's was in the age of Darwin. Most of the godbotherers had already gone to the US. Hell, European immigration wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Cook's scientific funding to study the Transit of Venus.
NZ had its missionaries, but it was largely founded by whalers and sailors, followed by others who just wanted the space and freedom to do their own thing without all the baggage encumbering Europe at the time - be it religious, historical, caste or racial.
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I have been pondering something I heard Lloyd Geering say at a secular conference some time ago. He gave a wide interpretation to religion, way beyond the official nomenclature of denominations. More of a "Tao", a way of life.
It's an idea I find comforting, as it prescribes some protection for atheists and other secularists to enjoy the protections of human faith without the requisite spaghetti monster alibi.