By ASKEGG
Updated: Thu, 04 Aug 2011 11:34:03 UTC

The Australian Christian Lobby are lying again.

This time they are mischaracterising the Atheist Foundation of Australia’s “No Religion” campaign by stating (emphasis mine):

"While the census data is rightly used to assist the government to plan for services and infrastructure, other groups, including some atheists, are seeking to push their agendas by encouraging people to leave the form blank. Not every person who holds judeo-Christian values attends a church, but if enough of them leave this section blank, some will use this to minimize the importance of basic Christian values in this country. We need to prove the size of the constituency who hold these values."

Firstly, the “No religion” campaign is not asking people to leave the question 19 of the Australian census blank. The campaign web site clearly states that people should seriously consider their religious beliefs and answer the question honestly.

The central tenets of the Christian faith were determined by the Nicene Council in 325AD, and the overwhelming majority of Christian faith’s have agreed with the basics of the document. You know the drill - there is one god who made everything, Jesus was born of a virgin, was tortured and crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose from the dead after three days, and sit at the right hand of the father awaiting to return and judge us all.

Seemingly embarrassed by this nonsense, the ACL are twisting (hoping?) the question actually asks:

“What is the person’s religious basis for their values?"

It asks nothing of the sort.

Moreover, what are these “religious values” to which they refer? The ACL article is silent on the matter, but we atheists are often told god wrote the moral law in stone and gave them to Moses (although he broke that copy upon his return, but luckily god has a facsimile). “Do unto others as they would do unto you”, “don’t steal”, “don’t murder” are often cited as examples of god’s perfect law.

The trouble is, we do not need a god to determine these values. All human societies have exhibited these characteristics. As a social species we have evolved to work in groups - helping each other survive and thrive. Our instincts have been honed through innumerable generations to fight common enemies, rather than family members. We “do unto others” out of an ultimately selfish desire not to be killed, or have our possessions stolen by one of our own. These are humanist values. They were not handed down by a genocidal and judgemental god.

If you adhere to “the golden rule”, but do not really believe Jesus rose from the dead, healed the blind with his spit, or walked on water, then for god’s sake tick the “other” box and write “humanist” in the space below.

TAGGED: ATHEISM, CAMPAIGNS, RELIGION, SOCIETY