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Sabtu, 26 Maret 2011

Religion is Weakening But It Will Not Die

The world is at war between those who believe in God and those who do not. Christianity is becoming less relevant to some as they lead busy lives. Islam is still strong and growing. The other religions are still important to many, particularly when there are hardships in life.

All religions are under threat as people clamber for democracy in countries where whole societies revolved around the dictates of the prevailing religion. From census data taken in 85 Western nations, it was found that the number of people ticking "unaffiliated" is increasing. Though the formula predicts total extinction of religious belief it is doubtful that this will actually occur. Even when a religion is outlawed people tend to go underground with their beliefs. It comes to life again when circumstances improve.

The thing is, we will never really know if there is a God. Many go to church as "insurance", just in case there is life after death. Religious books give us answers to the questions in life. Science may "disprove" such things as Adam being created just five thousand years ago but these books are so complex that a reader will find an answer somewhere in there amongst the complicated and confusing text.

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Selasa, 05 Oktober 2010

Muslims Will Not Take Over the World Via Multiculturalism

What is multiculturalism? It is the acceptance of multiple "micro" cultures within a national culture. Many believe that it is ethnic groups taking on a national culture. This is where the problem arises.

In Europe at the moment there is the issue of the burka, worn by traditional Muslims. Furthermore, there is the problem of mosques to be built in New York and Moscow.

Some European political parties are taking a stand against multicultural polices, saying they will stop more immigration and even take away the rights of ethnic groups in their own communities. Popularity for banning the burka is increasing.

Australia has been suggested as a model for other countries in regard to multiculturalism because of the way ethnic groups have integrated into the wider Australia. But the reason for its success is the way new Australian have been absorbed into society not for the traditions of ethnic groups surviving for generations in this country. As new arrivals looked for homes and work in their new country so the hands of Australians reached out to them. Ex-Brits fitted in easily and over one generation eastern and southern Europeans took on the Australian identity. Despite the white Australia policy of the early twentieth century many Chinese and other Asians have been accepted as well.

Today, however, Australia has the same problem as other countries. It is the perception that the apparent intention of Muslims from any country is to change the culture of their new country, That is the crux of the matter. This will not happen even though Muslims have a higher birthrate than any other group: note that it is falling. Even in France with 4 million Muslims out of a population of 62 million, they will never be a majority at the election polls. People in Australia saying Muslims will take over is scaremongering.

It is unfortunate that new Muslim immigrants do seem to resent their new country - the way people live irks them because it is not condoned by Islam. No Muslim country has a democratic government. Afghanistan and Iran may claim to be democratic, though the validity of their governments is questionable. Maybe new arrivals want change forced on the majority in a Muslim led takeover. This is far fetched and unlikely to happen.

In the long run Islam will have to accept that it will not greatly influence Western countries, terrorism notwithstanding. The truth is, even non-believing Westerners prefer to live in countries led by Christian governments.

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Minggu, 22 Agustus 2010

New Solar Power Station in Western Australia

Australia goes its own way in lower carbon power generation by opening a solar-diesel power station, the world's first, in Western Australia. Solar panels track the sun during the day. The station is built in a location that holds the record for the most days of maximum temperature. Use of the solar panels will lessen greenhouse gas emissions by 1119 tonnes a year.

the local Aboriginal community if fully supportive of the power plant in the Pilbara. Aboriginals named it Pippunyah, the name of the river nearby. Funding came from the Federal Government in its renewable remote power generation program via the Office of Energy in Western Australia.

It is unfortunate that solar power generation had to be combined with fossil fuel generation. Even getting natural gas there would have been better than diesel. It seems there is no perfect solution to the pollution problem. New systems only seem to meet requirements half way.

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Selasa, 13 April 2010

Australia Will Lose It's Christian Heritage and Rule by Caucasians

Australia will lose its Christian identity; and control of the country by Caucasians will be lost. If the number of immigrants from Asia continues eventually this will happen. Chinese people have been entering Australia for more than a century, Initially, they came here in the gold rush and went home. As time went by they came here and stayed. The Chinese community is a pillar of Australian society. They obey the law and go about earning a living in a practical manner.

It is people from other countries that are worrying. They hear about the welfare state in Australia and think: "I want some of that. Let's just go there and they will let us in. Then we can live on easy street." Life is hard in their countries, so you can't blame them for trying to get a better life. Unfortunately, someone must pay for the welfare state. With the process of centralization of the medical system in Australia at this very moment, it is clear that taxes will have to be increased just to maintain the current level of service. A better system will consume more money.

A meeting has just been held by mainly conservative Australians including Geoffrey Blainey, John Howard, Cardinal George Pell, Andrew Bolt, Rod Kemp, Dame Elizabeth Murdock, Hugh Morgan and others. They are called the Foundation of Western Civilization Program (FWCP). They feel that Western cultures worldwide are under attack from those of other cultures. In the past such non-Cristian protesters have been afraid to criticize because of the sheer power that Westerners had. With globalization non-Westerners find fault openly, especially those who follow other religious beliefs.

The FWCP see Western governments restricting European majorities from fighting back. Christian values such as bank holidays for '"paying homage" are still protected, but for how much longer? Buddhists and Muslims see these holidays as irrelevant. John Howard pointed out that at the recent memorial services for those who died in the Black Saturday bushfires, Christian Bishops were referred to "as leaders of significant community groups".

While immigrants to Western countries keep strong religious faith, the great majority seem to have no belief at all any more. John Howard holds that Christian beliefs must be taught in schools as well as out British and European heritage, and has criticized the new School curriculum announced by the Labor Government (see History Wars). He says a human rights charter for Australia would be bad because it would allow people to opt-out of following the "Christian Path".

I am not sure if the claim that non-belief leads to "lies, cheating, harm and swindling." Perhaps Howard is correct and Westerners are going down the destructive path. Personally, I believe that globalization will mix people together until there is a world culture. Then, perhaps, we may long for the old days when there were differences.

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Selasa, 16 Maret 2010

Too Many Curriculum Changes Are Destroyng Western Education

Peter Freebody advisor on the national English curriculum is completely wrong when he says we shouldn't be looking back to a golden age of literacy when everyone could read. He says look at the over sixties and see that most cannot read and write. What absolute rubbish. The baby boomer generation is this golden generation that could read and just as importantly - add up. Few over sixties cannot competently write a letter and this is what they were taught to do. Unfortunately, the current generation is not taught to do such mundane things. They are taught to do "an in depth analysis of modern literacy as it relates to the widespread phenomena of the Internet" or some such gobbledygook which is foisted upon them by so-called experts in academia.

It is university educated advisors that have ruined prospects for a literate society. Get back to basics and start teaching rote again, because that is where the mistake is being made - the absence of rote learning. Ask a youngster today to reel off the arithmetic tables and he/she cannot do it. Children don't learn to add up correctly by messing around with pieces of wood of different colors and lengths. Teaching children to sort things into sets will not get them anywhere in real life.

Another thing Mr Freebody goes on about is lack of access to education, but children from all social strata can find a school to go to. It is the methods used that are wrong. For example, teaching trigonometry at high school is putting something in the curriculum that should not be there. This belongs at college level and above.

The problem is in making schools too academic. Teach children how to do arithmetic not mathematics. When you build a table you don't need maths. You must measure and cut to length. That is arithmetic. Three levels of mathematics are offered at high school when most pupils have not mastered arithmetic. You cannot run until you can walk. All schooling must return to English, Arithmetic and History and these must be compulsory. Concentrate on these three and leave the rest for college and university.

Curriculum, curriculum, we must change the curriculum - that is all you hear decade after decade. Too much change has sorely damaged Western education systems. Peter Freebody's statistics are wrong. He says people have never been more literate. Just ask an employer and he will tell you how literate! People cannot add up a list of numbers correctly, nor read written instructions. It went down hill when calculators were allowed into schools. It is like saying give all Australian children a computer and they won't need books. What rubbish. The Internet is no good for doing assignments because everything is brought down to a page, a paragraph, a sentence then a word. Go to Encyclopedia Britannica and look up "Australian History". A paragraph gives the whole history of a nation. Search for "Ned Kelly" and all the sites give the same paragraph.

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