But I'm back and I hope I can engage you to participate too. Here's a new post for 2014! Long live Liberty- of speech, or anything and of course(something no one can control-THOUGHT!
Onward Christian Soldier?
I don’t normally buy a national newspaper; I’m content to
browse the pages of my ‘Free’ local paper, The Manly Daily. Yesterday, I
happened to be the recipient of The Sydney Morning Herald, courtesy of our
ex-neighbour. She has moved on to another home in the area and sent me a text
message to say I was welcome to take possession of her copy of the Sydney
Morning Herald, which I did. I then proceeded to ‘browse’ the pages of the
publication.
For those who are unfamiliar with the political scene and
goings on in Sydney Australia- A little over a week ago, Sydney siders were
shocked to learn that our ‘squeaky clean’ ex-Premier Barrie O’Farrell had
resigned from the premiership having been ‘caught out’ over a bottle of very
expensive wine. Turns out, a lobbyist had ‘gifted’ him a bottle of Grange worth
AUD 3000/- no doubt expecting favours in return. It so happened that Barrie did
no such thing (good on him) and I am led to believe that the lobbyist then
dobbed poor Barrie in to the ICAC. That’s Independent Commission against
Corruption (for those who don’t know). When asked about it, he said he could
not recall having ever received it. Mind you, the lobbyist paid attention to
detail, in that the Grange in question was bottled on O’Farrell’s birthday-
1959 and on the exact day of Barrie’s birth-I forget now, which date that was
but who cares anyway. It’s sad really; to lose a position of such importance
and responsibility over a bottle of wine; no matter how expensive the drop.
Anyway, enter Mike Barid, the new Premier. He is my local(Manly)
member of parliament and from all outward appearances, a nice enough fellow. I
pass him by often when I am on my early morning walk along the sea front and he
has on occasion, returned my smile and nod of G’day. I often saw Bruce Baird (Mike’s
father) walking his dog along the said sea front, even after he had moved from
NSW state politics to the Federal arena. The tradition it seems, continues in
the family.
Back to the issue of the SMH 26th April 2014
and page three with a picture of Mike Baird and the caption, “Onward Christian
soldier- a premier’s faith”. The article goes on to describe Barid junior as a
family man with religious Christian beliefs. In fact it reports that he even
considered becoming an Anglican minister before entering politics.
For those interested, please access the article with the
following link:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/onward-christian-soldier-a-premiers-faith-20140425-379pp.html
No harm in this religious fervour. I sincerely hope
though, that young Mike has considered that every religion believes “their God” created the Universe and
controls all forms of life-and for that matter death and the afterlife too. So
hopefully Mike Baird will be astute and compassionate enough as Premier, to
recognise that we are human beings first and foremost-nothing else matters. I
hope he is sincere when he says he will govern the state of New South Wales for
everyone. That he will not personally discriminate or be influenced to by his
team of reportedly fervent Christians, against people of other faiths and that
includes people of NO religious faith too!
I read with interest, comments reportedly made by Mike’s
chief of staff, Bay Warburton, ''I've
served Jesus in a number of different jobs and now I'm serving Jesus as a chief
of staff,'' Mr Warburton said. ''And Mike, who's the Treasurer - he believes
he's serving Jesus as the Treasurer of the state. He believes that he has a
great opportunity to help people by making responsible decisions about the
money from this state.''
He
said he prayed for guidance before taking a job to make ''wise choices''. ''And
how do you do that? Well, you read your Bible … and you understand what God's
plan for your life is and how he wants us to make choices and what sort of
criteria we should use to make those choices.''
Mr
Warburton told the students they were privileged to learn about ''the Lord of the
universe who put stars in the sky, who created the world, who created every
single part of what we live in, who created each and every one of us''.
I’d like to remind Mr Warburton, that people of other
religious inclinations believe (as mentioned earlier) that “Their Lord, is the Lord of the Universe”.
Try convincing them otherwise. I hope you are not going to impose ‘your Lord’ on all these people of other
religious faiths, Mr Warburton. And what about those who simply don’t believe
in any “Lord of the universe”?
Reverend Freddy Nile would be pleased by all this
Christian spirit in the upper echelons of the NSW parliament. Consider what the
article further reports:
Mr
Warburton is not the only like-minded colleague in Mr Baird's inner circle. A
notable addition to cabinet is his close friend Rob Stokes, the new environment
minister, who holds a diploma in Bible studies. During Wednesday's swearing-in
ceremony Mr Stokes omitted the words ''under God''.
He
later said the decision was guided by Matthew's gospel in which Jesus frowned
upon the swearing of oaths.
Jesus frowned on many things. Barrie learnt a bitter
lesson when he misled ICAC on that very expensive bottle of Grange. And Jesus
would have frowned on that no doubt! But unlike ICAC, Jesus would have also
forgiven Barrie. The ICAC didn’t- that’s only human! J
The article reveals even more of what’s to come into the parliament
of NSW:
New
finance minister Dominic Perrottet - a former protégé of one-time ''religious
right'' faction leader David Clarke - attended Redfield College in Dural, a
school run by the conservative Catholic order Opus Dei.
Mr
Clarke, whose wife Maria-Louise is an Opus Dei member, remains parliamentary
secretary for justice.
Throw
into the mix the deputy Premier and Nationals leader Andrew Stoner - who
attends the evangelical C3 church - and the Baird/Stoner government is shaping
as the most devout in living memory.
Mike, the good citizens of NSW don’t need devout leaders.
What they need are honest men and women to act in the interests of ALL citizens
no matter what their race, colour or religious persuasions; if any.
Let me be fair in also transcribing (from Sean Nicholls’
article) what Mike said about his (Mike Baird’s) religious convictions and
faith:
But
Mr Baird rejected the notion his government would be influenced by the strength
of religious belief in his office or his cabinet. ''I'm not going to hide who I
am and what's important to me, but I govern for everyone,'' he said.
He
said faith ''is a matter for the individual''. ''My position has been clear in
the Parliament,'' Mr Baird said.
''I
don't go into Parliament and seek to legislate that. I'll respond on the basis
of conscience.''
It’s nice to know this fact Mike. But is the next little
tit bit true?
Mr
Baird is on the record as opposing same sex marriage, embryonic stem cell
research and same sex adoption. However, he committed to allowing Liberal MPs a
free vote on such matters, as did Mr O'Farrell.
I wonder if Jesus would have frowned on Gays, Lesbians or
same sex marriage. Jesus is reported to have said to a blood thirsty mob of
self-righteous (so called) stalwarts of the law, “Let he who is free of sin,
cast the first stone!
Mike, please consider our Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist,
agnostic, gay, lesbian brothers, sisters and people of all walks of life,
living in NSW and the world, when you make decisions concerning their welfare.
You have been entrusted with a very important job. I sincerely hope your
religious beliefs (Faith and belief are not the same thing, Mike) do not
interfere with the general welfare of the people of NSW on religious grounds. Religion
and Politics don’t mix. Remember Mike, Jesus is also reported to have said,
“Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God, what is God’s”!
Bless you J!