Lies, damned lies; AA fails to stand up for an independent Australia; religious schools discriminating

Published: Tue, 05/02/23

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

When our opponents find things are going against them, they simply change the language. Or lie.

In our lead article, an anti-VAD group paid for a full page ad in The Weekend Australian claiming "a thousand" health professionals were opposed to doctors using telehealth -- being allowed to speak to patients on the phone about voluntary assisted dying. But it's just not true.

And in our third, a Centre for Independent Studies survey showed a majority thought religious schools should not be able to discriminate against gay students and teachers. So they just turn the results around and conclude that there will somehow be an inevitable backlash against the "treacherous rip of public opinion".

This is why we need evidence-based public policy!

Lead stories

Doctor anger over anti-VAD group's membership claims

Health Professionals Say No! – a vocal anti-voluntary assisted dying (VAD) lobby group – has been accused of overstating its support, with doctors claiming their names had been added without their consent.

Albanese meets King, tells Piers Morgan he will pledge allegiance

Don't expect our prime minister to stand up for Australians as independent from the British monarchy ... yet. AA said, "A demand for another vote isn’t something that can be imposed from the top because it won’t be successful .. when that demand is there, I’m sure a vote will be held... I don’t see it as being imminent." We've got work to do. [If you're not already, please consider becoming a member of the Australian Republic Movement here].

Majority keeping the faith in religious schools

Actually, no, they're not.

The Centre for Independent Studies did a survey recently and found 57% thought schools should not be able to discriminate on the basis of faith. But read how CIS interprets this result: "Faith-based organisations could find themselves "swept away" in a "treacherous rip of public opinion". They argue faith-based schools ought to be able to keep the faith, but in his submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry into Religious Schools, RSA Fellow Neil Francis shows (with his usual meticulous attention to data and detail) that "Australian parents are more likely to report perceived high academic standards, student support, and discipline than religious faith as a contributing factor for enrolling their child in a religious school."

A short intro into Steven Pinker's outstanding Enlightenment, Now! book.