[XI_YAN]

OMG Terry Pratchett fans! YAY let's start our own group/thread! I am total addict. I vote for Corporal Carrot to run the world with Vimes as Chief of Security - who's with me?

[Crocodile]

Originally Posted by dean-dzai

Australians (whom I am one) love to make Christianity out as a conformist thing, yet in Australia Christianity is amazingly unpopular and generally frowned upon.

What is your problem? How can you say this?

From the Australian Bureau of Statistics:
"Christianity remained the dominant religion in Australia, although non-Christian religions continued to grow at a much faster rate. Since 1996, the number of people reporting that they are Christian grew from around 12.6 million to 12.7 million, but as a proportion of the total population this number fell (from 71% to 64%)."
2914.0.55.002 - 2006 Census of Population and Housing: Media Releases and Fact Sheets, 2006

Yep, 64% of the populationn identify themselves as Christian - apparently that makes Christianity amazingly unpopular and generally frowned upon?

Amazingly lame.

[dean-dzai]

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Yep, 64% of the populationn identify themselves as Christian - apparently that makes Christianity amazingly unpopular and generally frowned upon?

Amazingly lame.

I wouldn't dismiss anything as lame strait up without open dialogue. You need to measure what percent have views hostile against Christians (cannot be measured by a census). What percentage of those who ticked "Christian" did so because of cultural reasons (their parents are, or they were baptized as a baby but themselves do not hold to a Christian world view), as we found previously here many months back, there are many professing Jedi Knights in Australia but this doesn't necessarily mean anything.

People say in Australia that they are very tolerate people and they will argue how tolerant they and their nation is. So on paper of course you see that reflected. In practice it is quite different. If you ask someone, 'what do you think of such-and-such a thing' they give a neutral tolerant answer generally, but asked something more specific and the tolerance is only seen as skin deep. (This might be getting to close to home for some Australians, I am sorry if I offend anyone - this is just an analysis and I expect disagreement and open dialigue).

At least the way I experienced it, not just as a Christian but as an art student with people against my creativity. Against wearing a pink shirt (instantly labeled homosexual) or many many other areas not related to faith or religion we see similar treatment. If you come back from Hong Kong with an accent other then Aussie English you will be hasted quite a bit also (especially if you sound American). So hostility in Australia towards Christianity (or any other group) cannot be measured by census results.

Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" is a fascinating read, but in any field of topic it is open for dialogue, the response to this movie here I think reflects the comments of Ben Stein in the trailer quite well - just that, there is not an open-ness to the topic.

[Lammarite]

Here you go, a discussion on the topic for you: clicky here

[dean-dzai]

Thank you~ Not sure why this forum can't reply like they did on the other forum. The forum you posted is quite interesting.

[kombuchakid]

The National Center for Science Education is not amused by Ben Stein’s anti-evolution film Expelled, and they’ve devoted a web site to debunking what they say are the film’s dishonest claims


Expelled Exposed

[Skyhook]

Nice one Kombuchakid.

[rebekah]

The problem with the film is not that intelligent design is/is not taught, it has to do with the terms abiogenesis and evolution, and the lack of responsible research and apparently includes a great deal of plagiarism. I am sorely disappointed, as I genuinely respected Mr. Stein until recently. I would love to have seen this film done with intelligent creationist scientists (they do exist) rather than pulling bits and pieces from a few who do not include the scientific method or a good understanding of how to form an argument. Of course I have not seen the film, so I am not fully able to evaluate it, and I will certainly take back these statements if they turn out to be unfounded, but from what I have read, hoping to find it not so, Mr. Stein has sold out.

[dean-dzai]

Originally Posted by rebekah

I would love to have seen this film done with intelligent creationist scientists (they do exist) rather than pulling bits and pieces from a few who do not include the scientific method or a good understanding of how to form an argument. Of course I have not seen the film.....

Also I have not seen the film, so I guess we will have to wait and see - there has been some interesting controversy especially from people who feel quite sore about his methods of gathering information from evolutionary scientists. Personally his methods do not bother me, do what you can to get the honest thoughts from the people who you would like to get it from - it's scandalous and Michael Moore-ish, but if he filmed George W Bush saying something candid using scandalous methods people would receive this.

Comments?

[Skyhook]

I think the sensational Tim Minchin sums this topic up best, with his song: If you open your mind too much your brain will fall out.

YouTube - Tim Minchin - If You Open Your Mind Too...