Away for a couple of weeks ...

Published: Mon, 09/04/23

RSA Daily

For atheists, rationalists and secular humanists in Australia

Thursday, September 7, 2023

Rationale, the magazine of the Rationalist Society of Australia

Good morning ,

Yesterday I forgot to include the 10th and last of Michael Shermer's 10 moral principles (thanks to those of you who reminded me!)

Coming to the end of Shermer's list is good timing because I will be off the air for about 10 days. The reason is intensely personal but good!

Please keep checking the RSA's facebook page (here) and X-feed (here) to keep up with our campaigns.

And if you haven't already, please sign up for the Secularism Conference (here), to be held in Sydney on 2 December. I will be there with bells on and hope to see you there!

I will be driving from Sydney down to Melbourne via Canberra, then the mountains and the Victorian coast.

Will reconnect once I'm back home and settled!

Thank you for all your good wishes. XXX

Lead stories

Michael Shermer's 10th (and last) moral principle

10. The Biophilia Principle: Try to contribute to the survival and flourishing of other sentient beings, their ecosystems, and the biosphere as a whole.

Biophilia is the love of nature, of which we are a part. Expanding the moral sphere to include the environments that sustain sentient beings is the loftiest of moral commandments.

Farnham faces backlash after 'yes' to Indigenous Voice campaign

Some of the commentary: "complete PR disaster for John Farnham .. How can you sell out the very people you represented? I’ll never listen to your music again – no doubt it’ll be flogged to death over the coming weeks, then never to be heard again .. It seems like a desperate attempt on his part to remain relevant, .. Have lost any respect I had for Farnham. Total cop out. This song used to mean a lot to Australians. Now I hate it. Regardless, it won’t sway me".

How hate speech during the Voice campaign can harm personal wellbeing, as well as democracy

Not written by some postmodernist social activist but by a professor of medicine at Monash. "It was recognised that opinions would differ, but there was confidence these could be resolved through considered dialogue .. now, however, we are seeing increases in racism and hardening of entrenched positions instead of respectful dialogue .. the surfacing of Donald Trump-style conspiracies has severed the link between political claims and established standards of truth."

Health ministers maybe in office but seldom in power - Pearls and Irritations

John Menadue wrote this backgrounder to the power of the health lobbies and he should know. He chaired the NSW Health Council 2000 and chaired the SA Generational Health Review 2003. A must read!