By Algernon

I thought about replying to either Asty’s or Atomou’s blog but found that my response was a bit too long for that.

Looks like it might be time for someone to feed themselves to the lions. Unlike most here I’m a god botherer. I posted as such on some of the earlier blogs at UL, some here may recall some of those earlier discussions. I then decided to avoid any blogs that were of a religious or atheist bent because they seemed to be full of nutters. Many of those purporting to be atheists seemed to be to me to be overwhelmingly lapsed catholics. Similarly those claiming to be  christians by and large loony tune fundamentalists or weird Pentecostals. I could see little point engaging in debate. On top of that the debate I found to be particularly vicious.

I can tell you that I was an elder for a few years in the church I was attending at the time. Regularly people would come asking for money for food, petrol and other things. We would provide them with the food or petrol etc. On one occasion we had a couple and a baby turn up. They were from northern NSW visiting a family member on remand at Silverwater prison and had arrived by bus. They have virtually no money and a bus ticket home. They arrived at the prison to find that the date for visiting had been changed from what they had been advised, in writing I might add. No one would help them. One non christian organization allegedly told them to get lost.  We found accommodation for them at a local motel and provided them breakfast, organized for food for the baby, had their bus ticket changed to travel on the following day. What we didn’t do was shove a Bible in front of them or prostletyse. The same for any of the others who would come asking for help.

Now the best advertisement for atheism for me are religious schools. Should a child profess a faith at one of these schools then it will almost universally be junked by the time they go on schoolies or within the first year after school. Indoctrination just doesn’t work. What does seem to amaze me is the amount of lapsed catholics who send the kids to catholic schools then bleat about them. Many have been abused in one form or another then send their own to them! Of all the ministers I know only two of their children were sent to private religious schools (they get mates rates, something like a 50 to 70% discount). They send them to state schools because they more closely reflect the society they will encounter. Religious schools appear to me to be an artificial construct of society.

Would I send any of my children a religious school or private school?  Absolutely not. Never a catholic school. Apart from the fact I think the catholic church makes it up as they go along and any relationship to the new testament is purely coincidental. Private schools are just that private and should not receive funding from the public purse. The fact that they have exploded can be put down to Howard treating them like quasi public schools. I’m fortunate that I live in an area where the public schools are very good and outperform the local private schools where frankly private schools standard of education is substandard with the exception of one.

Do I think chaplains should be in public schools? No I don’t. There needs to be more councilors in schools rather than the one that might have three or four schools to look after. There is an overwhelming need for them. What I’d like to also see is parents parenting their children rather than children dragging themselves up. Having teenage kids of my own, I’ve become aware how some of these kids are just left to their own devices. Their parents have no idea where they are or what they’re up to some no older than 12 or 13. Or the 14 year old whose mother is about 30 and separated from the father. Mum relies on handouts from places like the salvation army. When at Dad’s she’s the one doing the cooking, the shopping, the washing. On the occasions she’d stay at our place and sit down for a meal she’d wonder what the vegetables were. In the end our youngest had to break with this girl – she was a source of our youngest one’s depression. Nowadays to protect herself the relationship is on our youngster’s terms.

Teachers aren’t social workers and they need to concentrate on being teachers.  Councilors are in a better position to help kids than chaplains  – or anyone really who more likely has had a few months of mickey mouse training and is really only in a position to give basic support. Heck,  through dealing with my daughter and the training we’ve got, I’ve probably got more psychological training than most of them. I wouldn’t attempt to do anything more than refer people to people who can actually help. Nor should these “councilors”.

I’m not a Christian who does things to be good or do certain works to enable me to tick certain boxes. Nor do I want to be tagged with clowns giving dates for the second coming as last Sunday, perhaps they could read Matthew 24 on that. It gave those in the Algernon household a good laugh with the youngest out looking for zombies. I’m not a catholic, never have been and never will. Nor do I have much time for places like Hillsong.

Parables like the good Samaritan or casting the first stone. I find  them more relevant.