RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Friday, July 14, 2023

Good morning ,

Every now and then, I get feedback on these daily bulletins from readers. Most of it, I am gratified to say, positive, but sometimes scolding. For example, a comment on yesterday's RSAD:

"Rationalism is agnostic.

Rationalism is apolitical.

Rationalism is not based upon moral arguments.

It is logic that is fundamental to Rationalism.

What you are implying is both illogical and political..."

On the other hand: 

"hi and thanks
I appreciate your emails each day
todays email made me feel ok:
the voice needs to get up , if only to make me feel better
homelessness makes me feel bad about my australia
our unchanging thinking is pathetic
we should not only stop calling feta "feta" , we should
stop being cruel to animals and eating bits of them
and you gave me the "good news" that the environment
is not as stuffed as I know it is .
(must read david benatar again)
many thanks again for your monumental efforts."

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to those who take the trouble to put thoughts to the keyboard. Sometimes it feels a bit like you're throwing a pebble out into the void and you don't know if any of this makes a difference. But hopefully it finds a pond to splash into and the ripples, while silent, move things just a bit. 

I will be off the air for a couple of weeks while I investigate how I want to spend the rest of my life. Will be back on board 1 August, 

Lots of love to you all, M.

Lead stories

QPSSS is a Qld based group of parents that for years has been lobbying against the unfair privileges accorded institutionalised religious organisations in that state, and particularly the incursion by the religious into what are supposed to be secular govt schools. Read how those years of patient lobbying have finally paid off! Great work, guys!

Not actually a video but an audio version of Hitch's last interview before he died in 2011. Just one example of his almost photographic memory: RD says, "I can't think of anyone since Aldous Huxley who is so well read", to which Hitch responds, "It may strike some people as being broad but I do think it comes perhaps at the cost of being somewhat shallow .. I became a journalist because one didn't have to specialise .. I remember once going to an evening with Umberto Eco talking to Susan Sontag .. Eco said it was his ambition to be a 'polymath' and Susan said, "Of course, a polymath is someone who's interested in everything and in nothing else." The brilliant and enduring wit and wisdom of Christopher Hitchens.

A review of Chomsky's latest diatribe: "The book contains valuable opinions which one would not hear on the news .. however, one wonders whether Chomsky is too harsh in his criticism of the United States .. many of the difficulties of Western democracies can be sheeted home to the effects of neo-liberal economics .. Kissinger writes that 'no society can remain great if it loses faith in itself or if it systematically impugns its self-perception'  .. and Chomsky risks doing that .. no one in Russia or China could publish criticism like his about their respective countries .. freedom matters."

Other stories of interest

LNP politician credits Labor's Speaker for keeping prayers in parliament | Rationalist Society of Australia

As I've repeatedly said, don't place your faith in Labor to stand up for genuine secularism.

Why a holiday is good for you - even before you take time off

It's the dopamine.

'Frightening' reason oceans are changing colour

The slow, but steady, colour change has been observed in 56 per cent of the Earth’s oceans, and tropical regions near the equator in particular have become more green over time.

Queensland Uniting church minister opposed to same-sex marriage loses unfair dismissal claim

The interesting thing about this judgement is actually the clarification of the nature of a religious minister's employment status: "not an employee or an independent contractor and is in a separate category of spiritual or covenantal relationship."

Got a comment on any of these stories? 

Write to me at president@rationalist.com.au

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