Canterbury Atheists

Are Atheists the only sane people on the Planet?

2008-07-24T11:12:00.006+12:00

This gentleman is Antonie Dixon.

Last week, jurors in the Auckland High Court were told he heard the voice of God, before a violent spree that left a man dead and two women with horrific injuries.

His weapon of choice to inflict those injuries: a samurai sword.

"I went outside and spoke to God and he said they were Judas's, to behead them, and to turn the sword and kill myself."

Dixon is charged with seriously injuring Renee Gunbie and Simone Butler and murdering James Te Aute in January 2003. Dixon said he shot Mr Te Aute because he could see horns coming out of his head.

Dixon also testified he could telepathically communicate with his mother, and that he was told by her that he had inherited a demon from his father.

What the court must decide is whether Dixon was truly ‘around the bend’ when he went on his rampage or simply feigning mental illness to get off the rap.

The ‘Devil made me do it’ defence is a fairly prevalent occurrence.

David Berkowitz, the serial killer known as ‘The Son of Sam’, claimed demons drove him from his family home and then the neighbours pet Labrador was possessed, and the dog commanded him to go on his killing spree.

But let’s face it - it’s not just so called ‘nutters’ say they can ‘hear’ God, Demons, Angels etc.

Are there simply degrees of ‘religious psychosis’ that modern psychiatry has yet to get a grip of?

Let me introduce my theory:

- At one end of the spectrum we have individuals who are not susceptible to religious indoctrination. They form the backbone of the skeptic,atheistic communities.

- In the middle some where, is your standard Sunday Church goer who likes to ‘believe’ in nice things, and accepts the existence an invisible god father. They engage in the practice as a harmless diversion to the real world. They would either label Dixon 'mad' or claim 'God would never instruct anyone to do this'.

- Then at the other end of the scale we have the Antonie Dixon’s, David Berkowitz’s of the world who claim profusely, to hear the literal voice of entities, and act on these. These are also the people that crash planes into buildings.

Worryingly we have people in the corridors of power in fall into this last category.

Namely, the most powerful man on the planet.

“God told me to strike at al Qaida and I struck them”

“George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq. And I did. And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me"

Believing in a deity, believing that deity controls your actions etc, is therefore a matter of degrees.

Billions of humans believe invisible deities guide their lives, and are not thrown into straight jackets.

By in large we treat those grasped by religiosity in the same way we treat a child with an invisible friend.

It’s only when that ‘friend’ instructs you to slice an arm off using a samurai sword, your sanity is questioned.

Speaking to God is fine, but receiving instructions from an Alien out the back of Proxima Centauri would be enough to get you certified.

Are atheists by definition, the only sane ones on the planet?

The Jelly Bean Approach to the Bible

2008-07-21T10:47:00.012+12:00

This is obviously a rather large jar of jelly beans.

It contains literally thousands of jelly beans.

But some of them, for purposes of this summation, are salted.

Specifically it’s the red and green ones that taste disgusting, and are best avoided where possible.

So when anyone reaches into the jar, they are soon careful to exclude the greens & reds.

Now let’s just imagine each of the jelly beans in this jar is inscribed with a biblical passage.

Further, you have to wear a blind-fold every time you reach in for one.

There are of course plenty of ‘tasty’ beans to enjoy.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails...and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love (I Corinthians 13:4-8,13)

Do unto others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables." (Proverbs 24:3)

Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good works." (Hebrews 10:24)

But now and again, you get to chew on one of those hideous salted beans.

Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. (Exodus 35:2)

If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city. (Deuteronomy 22:23-24)

And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend. (Jeremiah 19:9)

Behold, I will corrupt your seed and spread dung upon your faces. (Malachi 2:3)

We then take the blind-fold off.

After a few experimental plunges, those dipping into the jar are again soon practiced at ‘cherry picking’ the contents.

Sound familiar?

The GODS of The Bible

2008-07-18T09:45:00.010+12:00

“In the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth”

The word for Gods in the Old Testament is Elohim.

Elohim is a plural noun, and the ‘im’ on the end denotes masculinity.

Christian scholars agree with the fact the word Elohim is plural, but attempt to argue that this plurality is negated when put alongside a singular verb. But we see in Genesis 20:13, Gen 35:7, 2 Sam 7:23, and Psalms 58, this proposition is not born out in fact. In these writings the word Elohim is followed by a plural verb.

More importantly if God is singular, why not simply use the singular term for God available at the time: Eloah? The word Eloah is, after all, used no less than 250 times in The Bible.

In my humble opinion the ‘gods versus god’ debate , does not surround the linguistics.

The writers of The Old Testament referred to multiple Gods ‘Elohim’ no less than 2,500 times, and they knew the difference between the plural and singular.

So let’s not forget, the word for multiply Gods appears ten times more in the Old Testament than description of a singular entity.

The Hebrew writers therefore used Gods and God where necessary.

“In the beginning Gods created the heavens and the earth” is the literal translation.

There are also other clear references to multiple Gods in the scriptures.

"Let US make man in OUR image". (Gen 1:26)

Christian scholars attempt to discount this text by claiming God is part of a trinity and therefore is in effect suffering a case of schizophrenia, by talking about himself to himself.

Besides which, this trinity business only occurs in The New Testament & not when the tracts referring to ‘us’ and ‘them’ were scribed.

A much more obvious conclusion is the God referred to in The Old Testament, is not alone.

Theologians however try and make the story fit the facts (simply cut and paste where necessary)

"Behold, the man has become like one of US” (Gen 3:22)

God clearly has some buddies.

And other Gods do pop-up in the pages in the scriptures.

To name but a few we have: Ashima, Baal, Bel, Chemosh, Dagon, Milcom, Nebo, Nibhaz, Rimmon, Tammuz.

More importantly to this debate – to the writers of the Bible these were real Gods in the sense of the term, not just historical entities:

“Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD (Yahweh)” (Sam 5:2-3)

But wait I hear you say, there are plenty of contrary passages where state there is only one God.

"Hear O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4)

[ Footnote: Hold on, you guys are telling me ‘The Lord is one’?! I thought he was a trinity for one second? ]

“Yet for us there is one God,the Father,from whom are all things and for whom we exist”

Despite the texts which refer to ‘a’ God, in my mind the door is still open to the interpret that ‘this’ god has fellow entities.

There is nothing to discount my proposition that the God of the bible is but the ‘regional’ God of Earth and man should worship only him, and not say his twin brother Zeus who is off being adulated in some other part of the universe.

A simplified view of what I’m saying here is: the God of the Bible was allocated the heavenly caretakers role for planet Earth, but in no way is he alone (to accept that argument you must disregard the story of Jesus which indicates Gods can go forth and multiply, even if it means knocking-up the local populous without their permission)

“Do not worship any other god, for the Lord (Yahweh), who name is jealous, is a jealous god” (Exodus 31:14)

When considering the plurality of Gods in The Bible you are faced with these choices.

1.) You believe God is a diverse character with a habit of conversing three ways with himself.

2.) All passages of the Old Testament which indicate plural theism, like the 2,500 usages of the word ‘Gods’ are not to be taken literally, and instead need to be ‘interpreted’ . Any confusion regarding these writings arises due to linguistics, and the times at which they were written.

3.) You believe literally in just the Biblical passages which support the proposition for one god, but disregard other passages which counter this position. Christians of course love engaging in this ‘jelly bean’ approach to the bible. Pick the ones you like, leave the ones you don’t.

4.) Combinations of 1, 2 and 3.

5.) When God talks about ‘us’ and ‘our’ he IS referring to other God like beings, and he wants mankind to worship but him and not his fellows, a small variety of which are mentioned by name. It’s obvious the Hebrew writers knew the difference between the words ‘God’ and ‘Gods’. Monotheism is a fallacy, best summed-up in this passage: (Deut 10:17) “For the LORD (Yahweh) your god is god of gods and lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome”

I find the most credible option to be number five.

Popes Pilgrims do a runner!

2008-07-17T10:11:00.008+12:00

The Popes new feature movie ’78 year Old Virgin’ was meet with rapturous applause at its initial screening.

Indian pilgrims bound for Catholic Youth Day in Sydney, have taken the opportunity of a stop-over in Auckland to ‘do a runner’.

The absconders from an escorted group of 220 were billeted in Auckland prior to traveling to Sydney, but almost as soon as the plane had touched town, a number high-tailed it and are now in hiding.

It’s become clear a number of this group were simply using Catholic Youth Day as a ruse to scam N.Z Immigration authorities into issuing temporary visa’s and it’s that very same Department that now has to spend tax-payers dollars tracking down the missing pilgrims.

One of the naive billets from St Thomas Moore Church in Auckland tried to persuade the public that this was not a mass immigration scam by claiming “I’m guessing they’ve taken a holiday in New Zealand, but I don’t think they’d give up the chance to meet the Pope”.

Clearly this individual was not at Auckland the airport to see the 39 missing seats on the connecting flight to Sydney, the equivalent of one in five from the original group.

Another host was more realistic as to the absconders motives. Kim Wannenburg told Newstalk ZB the two men she was billeting told her they were going to the local shops to buy her daughter a present. They never returned.

To rub salt into the proverbial wound, a spokesman for the N.Z Shikh Community who are now assisting authorities find the group, said the majority of the missing men were not even Catholic!

New Zealand Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer (pictured) told Radio New Zealand the mass defection was “shocking” and “there was no reason to believe the missing pilgrims were not genuine”.

As per usual this shock and indignation from Catholic Church authorities did not translate into dollars. It’s the standard ‘all care no responsibility’ policy and the cost for finding the group is now being picked-up by the muggin’s tax-payers.

What Freer and the N.Z Catholic Church have yet to answer is ‘why were large numbers of pilgrims of other faiths traveling with the group in the first place?’.

With a modicum of journalistic detective work is was easily established (via the local Indian community) that the pilgrims contained a large number were Shikhs, and it’s likely it will be within this community, that the missing men will ultimately be located.

The lyrics to Monty Pythons ‘Every Sperm is Sacred’ seem strangely ironic:

I'm a Roman Catholic,

And have been since before I was born,

And the one thing they say about Catholics is:They'll take you as soon as you're warm.

You don't have to be a six-footer.

You don't have to have a great brain.

You don't have to have any clothes on.

You're a Catholic the moment Dad came,

As I’ve rallied before on this blog, New Zealand is now seen as a soft haven for economic refugees who use ‘religious persecution’ as a guise to gain access to residency. In this case a so called pilgrimage sponsored by The Catholic Church was sufficient for N.Z Immigration officials to ‘lower their guards’ and the result of their intransigence is all there to see.

The intriguing story of Alfred Wallace: Darwin’s Rival

2008-07-14T12:16:00.011+12:00

Alfred Rusel Wallace

It's 150 years since Darwin made one of the the most significant breakthroughs in scientific history - the theory of natural selection. But if it hadn't been for a young ornithologist Alfred Wallace, on the other side of the world, his seminal work might never have appeared.

Alerted to Wallace’s own theory of natural selection, and afraid it would be Wallace who be credited with ‘his’ theory and in effect washed a life-times work down the toilet, Darwin was was prompted to publically announce his research, and then publish them as ‘On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection’.

The Observer's Robin McKie tells the extraordinary and fascinating story behind 'The Origin of Species' press here .

Inside The Destiny Church - Bowels in Motion

2008-06-27T14:27:00.005+12:00

There’s a superb New Zealand made doco running on Sky’s Documentary Channel at the moment.

Check-Out: ‘Destiny in Motion’.

I’m bold enough to suggest, overseas readers will also be keen on this micro-documentary, as much as Kiwi’s.

Kiwi comedian Te Radar joins the rank & file from the political arm of The Destiny Church, during their ineffectual & doomed 2005 New Zealand Election campaign.

Without trying to spoil the plot, but to put their polling failure into some sort of electoral context, Destiny receives just a few thousand more votes than The N.Z Legalise Cannabis Party.

That’s to say: 3 parts of sweat f**k all.

In a TVNZ interview made less than a year prior to the 2005 election, the Churches charismatic founder Brain Tamaki, made the bold prediction that “in four years The Destiny Church will be running New Zealand”.

Hmmmm….let me think, 2004 + 4 = 2008!

Looking at my calendar Bish Tamaki and his storm-troops, had better get their ‘arses into gear’.

So unless Destiny are planning some sort of insurrection in the next 6 months (no need to provision for uniforms, they’ve got that covered, mandatory black) this claim will be seen for its fatuousness.

These sort of megalomaniacal postulations are not unusual for the self–appointed Bishop Tamaki.

In 2003 he came-up with another time-definitive claim of grandeur: “I predict in the next five years, by the time we hit our 10th anniversary - and I don't say this lightly - that we will be ruling the nation."

Memo to Bishop Tamaki: take a history lesson from The Seventh Day Adventists, and avoid continually issuing false prophecies.

Tamaki, should also avoid picking-up that dog-eared copy of Readers Digest residing on his doctors waiting room table. Their readers (Issue: May 2007) ranked Tamaki as New Zealand's least trusted of 75 the prominent persons listed.

But back to the documentary, and for those of you unfamiliar with Te Radar, Destiny Church, New Zealand Politics etc, but wanting a better overview of this documentary - imagine a thinner & funnier version of Michael Moore (minus the political bent), going inside say Ted Haggard’s spooky New Life Church, armed only with a sense of humour.

This truly is an amusing insight into your ‘average garden variety Kiwi religious zealot’ & a further heads-up to avoid political parties which march (nein, goose step)behind the banner of ‘family values’.

There’s something about ‘piss-takes’ like this that 'spin my wheels' (can you tell?)

‘Destiny in Motion’ is compulsory viewing.

PS: More on that great geezer Te Radar here

Dead Man agrees that ‘Prayer doesn’t work’

2008-06-20T13:41:00.009+12:00

We all face times in our lives when we feel helplessness, and distress.

When ‘bad things’ happen we instinctively look for answers, and the hope there IS someone, or ‘thing’, that can help, an eternal & mystic shoulder to cry-on and solve our problems.

Sometimes there are no answers, and nothing we as individuals, or our fellows, can do to change the outcome.

As humans we find this ‘powerlessness’ hard to accept.

Prayer offers comfort.

Prayer allows one to ‘believe’ they are doing something positive, and that process will produce a similar outcome.

Does prayer work?

There’s not a scred of scientific evidence, nor a credible independent study, that can confirm the efficacy of intercessory prayer.

No test to even prove in a supernatural entity that answers prayers, even exists in the first place.

If the world’s entire population of amputees, all prayed to their chosen god, in an attempt to re-grow their missing limb or digit – what would be the result?

It doesn’t matter if you pray to: Celtic Gods, Polynesian Gods, Slavic Gods, Gods of War, Gods of Thunder, Underwater God with snorkels and flippers, Hindu Deities, a long forgotten three-headed Animal Deity from 2,000 B.C, Spirits of the Forest, Spirits distilled from wheat, primordial Goddess of Fertility, Goblins, Demons, Guardians of the Oceans, mystical Nymphs in skimpy clothing, Saint Germaus, Saint Eric, 1980’s Aussie punk band The Saints (or for that matter, all of the lot of them combined).

In reality ‘there’s no one at the end of the phone to answer your call’.

When the Pope gets sick he sees a doctor, rather than relying on ‘the power’ of prayer, as there is no substitute for real medicine.

When the Popemobile breaks down they take it to a mechanics for repairs, rather than summonsing God.

Praying for any outcome what so ever, is but issuing a wish, it won’t alter an outcome one iota, and in some cases the total reliance on prayer can have serious adverse ramifications e.g. parents who neglect a sick child and rely instead on ‘Gods will’.

IF it did work, there would be after all, no disease, poverty etc and indeed no dead people, and every week we'd win lotto. An earthly eutopia where all prayers were answered (remind me to e.mail Terry Gilliam with the idea for a new movie)

Seriously folks, knell down, close your eyes, clasp your hands and say after me: "prayer will never change an outcome".

Successful outcomes are mere coincidence, nothing more.

What prayer does, is provides a vestige of hope, for things to go our way, which could be interpreted simply as ‘positive thinking’ or ‘visualisation’.

It’s instinctive to look for ‘a reason’ for things, and if we think it is a God behind all of our daily activities, it’s understandable to try and communicate with him (or her, or a half man/half animal, half human/half god, dead relatives, the sun, aliens, spirits etc, etc).

There will always be prayer, in one form or another.

But it’s time for all of us to elevate our thinking and uniformly admit: praying simply does not work.

The Stone Idols of Political Correctness

2008-06-17T20:47:00.011+12:00

When is a rock not a rock?

When, it’s imbued – that’s imbuing of a spiritual kind, by the way.

And much like the better known 'rock-stars' out in the public domain, rocks like this, have to fly first class.

When Christchurch opened last Saturday’s newspaper (Press 14th June) readers were left to muse over a front-page article which back-grounded the zany journey of a 35 kilogram lump of green stone (more commonly known as jade, or pounamu in Maori) between Christchurch and its sister city in China, Wuchan.

This large stone was gifted by The Christchurch City Council, and flew in the first class section of an Air New Zealand plane all the way to China.

And because of it was imbued with the spirit of the Ngai Tahu tribe ( for the benefit of overseas readers a tribe = iwi ) two members of the iwi went along for the journey.

To be fair to the members of the iwi that accompanied the green stone, they ended-up in ‘cattle class’ and it was only the lump of rock that got waited-on up in first class.

Readers, bemusement at this almost comical scenario, turned to anger when it was reported the local Christchurch rate-payers portion of the trip was a cool $2,500 (not including the cost of the rock in the first place, which for the record was $5,000 max, so it's not going to pass muster with Elizabeth Taylor or be the prime target in a jewel heist )

$2,500 was in effect the price paid to abandon common sense, in preference to the stone idols of political correctness.

Maori protocol prescribed that any inanimate object blessed with the tribes ‘spiritual force’ needed to be treated in such reverence, and handed over by only those in the iwi with authority to do so, and this make-believe was good enough for the Mayor and his politically correct minions at the local Council.

But fear not residents of Christchurch, The Canterbury Atheists have gone ‘into bat’ for the maligned rate-payers of Christchurch, and anyone else, who has progressed beyond 'looking at tea-leaves in the bottom of cups'.

We've asked our Mayor (Bob Parker) the following questions:

1.) Surely it would have been cheaper to arrange an ‘unblessed’ piece of green-stone and air-freight the thing?

2.) Is it only Ngai Tahu, who have a monopoly blessing rocks & inanimate objects in this fashion, or can the rest of us take imbuing lessons and get in on the lark? Seattle is one place I’d like to visit and as a Sister-City I’m putting my own hat in the ring, both as a spiritual & practical body-guard.

3.) When an inanimate object needs blessing does the Council get comparative costs from other ‘approved’ providers like say The Druids, who are, after-all ‘into rocks in a big way’?

4.) How do the ratepayers actually know it was properly imbued in the first place and the spirit didn’t jump-out of his/her first-class seat, and disappear in a puff of smoke, prior to arriving, thus rendering the whole expensive process redundant?

I will post Mayor Bob’s answers to these pertinent questions, the moment he replies (take note of below posted at the time the article was submitted online).

Authors Note : For the record I have Maori blood (per my fathers family tree my iwi is Muaüpoko) Irrespective of my personal heritage, I'm expecting Mayor Bob to 'play the race card' in his reply. By accusing detractors like me of racism, rather than seeing our opposition as rationalism, he will attempt to stifle debate on the legitimacy of his Council funding this superstitious nonsense about 'rocks with spirits'. This will be his tact, for sure.

When Aliens Go Topless

2008-06-09T19:20:00.006+12:00

"She came from Planet Claire" "I knew she came from there"

"She drove a Plymouth Satellite" "Faster than the speed of light"

Nanu, Nanu Earthlings.

Traditionally religions are out to repress sex in one form or another.

If it’s not homosexuality, sex outside marriage, masturbation, it’s institutionalised sexism and even calls to ban contraception.

But there, located amongst in the dessert section of the smorgasbord of superstition, comes one belief system that embraces the marketing value of sex.

This ‘Johnny come lately’ religion (in the loosest sense of the term) is also on a mission of liberation.

It wants all those females around the planet, well at least those that are so inclined, to start getting their titties-out, specifically on the 23rd August.

We are talking about The Raelian’s here, and that skinny dude with the 70's Disco medallion (above) is their leader.

Claude Vorilhon is his real name, but he now likes to call himself Raël. Amongst all sorts of weird & wonderful things, Claude claims his biological father was an alien, which looking at the size of his biceps means we have little to worry about from any extra terrestrial attack.

But before we continue with ‘the good stuff’, that’s to say women going topless en mass, let’s do a quick bio on The Raelians.

Back in 1973, Vorilhon was walking amongst France's volcanic mountain ranges when a spaceship appeared. A four-foot-tall extraterrestrial in a green, one-piece suit with almond-shaped eyes, long, black hair (being an advanced species the Aliens had found a cure for baldness but looking at Vorilhon’s photo, failed it seems to pass the secret formula onto their earthly emissary) ,a black beard and slightly greenish skin exited the spacecraft and taught Vorilhon that mankind was created in a test tube by a race of space creatures, referred to in the Old Testament as "The Elohim."

The diminutive aliens informed Vorilhon, that he was the last of the 40 prophets chosen to spread "the message." The space traveller instructed the Frenchman to change his name to Raël and start a religious movement.

Not content with building a spacecraft which can travel in excess of the speed of light, also included in the Aliens “message” (fine print anyone?) was the something about Raelian followers giving 10% of their income to Claude.

Now if you carbon life forms are getting lost with this story already, just remember it was The Elohim created all of the religions and mankind was created in test tubes, then take three deep breaths and take heed of the effects continual use of recreational drugs can have on ones sense of rationality. Star Trek Conventions have a lot to answer for.

And in case ‘The Raliens’ sounds strangely familiar to you – yes it’s them that are behind ‘UFO Land’ (it’s located in Quebec, Vorihons new home) and those ludicrous claims about human cloning back in 2003.

Do an internet search on ‘cloniad’ if the thought of having a ‘mini me’ is of interest & if by the way you are picking a name for your clone, make sure you do a better job than The Raelians did with ‘Eve’ – I ask you.

Manmade immortality via cloning is The Raelians ‘big sell’, topless rights for women ‘the soft sell’ (I prefer them perky personally)

One look at his Nubian entourage (Korean devotees below) and this is one religion that gets my attention.

“As long as men can go topless, women should have equal right” states Rael who has gone one step further and done mankind a massive favour by founding www.gotopless.org.

Who are we to argue?

Death-ray any dissenters Rael – that’s my call.

I’ve marked the 23rd of August on my calendar and so should you.

Shoplifter Sentenced To Death

2008-06-06T09:51:00.004+12:00

The un-repentant sinning shoplifter, garnishes a sentence of eternal damnation.

This news-headline would be amusing – if it wasn’t sadly true (at least in the minds and in the writings of Jews & Christians)

The God of the Bible has no given hierarchy of sins & but one punitive punishment option open to him.

And whilst we in the secular world can recognise & rank the severity of individual acts (murder versus say masturbation) to the followers of the scriptures, Gods word is a is final, so if a masturbator ends-up in hell ‘them is the breaks’. It is Gods privilege alone to issue a death warrant on a shop-lifter, and not for you plebeians to question the heavy handiness of such a decree.

Depending on Gods whim, a rapist and a thief are same, and the process of this judgment is not one in which mankind deserves a say, irrespective of the seeming inequality of the respective sins.

But wait there’s even more illogical pensiveness (and no ginzu knife) in respect to Gods so-called justice, coupled with a disturbing degree of blind acceptance of his draconian rule amongst believers.

A despot like Joseph Stalin culpable in the murder of million’s, can confess his sins on his death bed, and based-on Gods whimsicality be exempted his wrath. That’s like a murder admitting “it’s a far rap, I’m sorry fella’s” and being allowed to leave the court a free man.

Conversely a clean living, fun-loving atheist who hasn’t hurt a fly enters Gods court and is automatically sentenced to ‘the lake of fire’.

A combination of Judge Dread, morphed with the perfunctory ‘show’ trials of Nazi Germany, the God of the bible does, at times, not differentiate between the sins of mankind.

If he’s got a beef against shop-lifters on the day you die – that’s the way it is, get use to hot pokers up your backside.

If God’s had an argument with ‘the mrs’ on the day you depart the mortal-coil, then even the most pious character, guilty of say the most trivial of sins through-out their lives, will end-up being roasted.

No right of appeal.

If he’s in a better mood then you can literally get away with murder.

The Old Testament is full of examples of Gods petulance and the unevenness of his sentences versus the crime/sin in question.

Viewed through the eyes of mere mortals – Gods justice is not just.

Holy Cow: The Loathsome Cult of Mother Teresa.

2008-06-02T12:07:00.010+12:00

“She started off with one companion and a borrowed apartment. After a course in nursing, she went out, picked up a dying man from the gutter and brought him home to her apartment. In those nearby slums she could easily find old people dying in the gutter, abandoned babies in garbage pails, lepers thrown out by their families and other such rejects”

She remembers that first day: “Such a beautiful day, to meet Christ face to face in the poor. He was there – the hungry, the sick, the naked Christ – and the thought of Him in this distressing disguise gave me great joy, peace and strength”.

"This woman was, of course, Mother Teresa – the embodiment of a Christ-like virtue; the human face of COMPASSION"

[ Excerpt from a sermon made by Year 13 student at Lindisfarne College, N.Z ]

Keen to continue both the myth and revenue streams, every year hundreds of Kiwi teens from Catholic secondary schools are flown off to Calcutta to worship at the alter of a deceased Albanian nun: Mother Teresa.

If ever there was a case of reputation blighting the facts – Mother Teresa’s is it.

Christopher Hitchens accurately summed-up this ascetain as “the single most successful emotional con job of the 20th century”.

Let’s get this straight from the beginning - Mother Teresa’s ‘driving force’ was her extreme faith, not some philanthropy to help the poor and less well-off. She became ‘the poster girl’ of the Catholic Church (thankfully not the centre fold spread) on the back of the Papalist propaganda machine aided by a news media eager to lap-up ‘good news stories’ and a gross failure on their behalf to look beyond her visage.

M.T was an open advocate of suffering ‘to bring one closer to Jesus’.

Her warped method of alleviating suffering - was to practice it.

In any ‘Nobility of Suffering’ – Mother Teresa would be queen.

"The most beautiful gift for a person is that he can participate in the suffering of Christ," (obviously her words, not mine)

At the bedside of one screaming sufferer, she was heard to say "You are suffering, that means Jesus is kissing you." "Then tell your Jesus to stop kissing me" rebuffed the poor man.

She provided grotesquely inadequate medical care and pain relief at her so called ‘hospitals’ and hospices.

What she ran was a ‘Home for the Dying’. There were no doctors or nurses (in the Western concept of the terms) little in terms of medicine to cure the sick, no palliative care to speak of . These were merely crude doss-houses for the poor victims to spend their last miserable days. The largest of these ‘Homes for the Dying Destitute’, had one communal ‘open plan’ toilet, stretchers for beds, no chairs and a policy which banned visitors.

Saving souls was priority, not saving lives.

When she became sick herself, she flew off to a clinic in the United Sates, first class, on Air India. A wise decision one thinks, given the sad state of sanitary conditions her own facilities. It’s hard to imagine Teresa wanting to squat-down next to some destitute as they went about their bodily functions, when she herself headed an Order with a seven figure bank balance.

That Order she founded banked millions upon millions, which was never spent on the poor. Her ‘Mission of Charity’ remains the only Indian Charitable Organisation that refuses to ‘open its books’ so donors can see where their money has been spent. Vatican bankers don’t exactly have a reputation for honesty and prudent investment, but odds on that’s where most of the donations ended up.

Not one hospital was built with the millions that flooded in, but there are at least 150 known convents that benefited.

She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women to decide their own conceptive needs. Better to have eight staving and sick ‘little Catholics’ than plan for a family with two, both of which at least stand a shot at a decent life.

Over-population is an acute problem in India and MT’s solution was to add to this misery by campaigning for a ban on birth control, which I guess ‘drummed-up some more business’ for her homes for the dying, and further added to her credentials as a Saint (at least through the blinkered eyes of The Catholic Church)

“I would say it was a certainty millions of people died because of her work” (Christopher Hitchens on Penn & Teller)

She was happy to fill her coffers with the monies misappropriated by the atrocious, corrupt Duvalier family from Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) “It was a beautiful lesson” was what she said about her time with the Duvalier’s.

Whilst the dead and dying lay on their crude beds in her hospice, this master manipulator found time to travel the globe and ‘meet & greet’ world leaders like the Reagans and Princess Diana. Cripes she even had time to campaign in Ireland against the right to divorce and re-marry (it must have been the leapers low season back home in India) When asked about Diana’s divorce, just two months after visiting Ireland, MT bowed to expediency and stated “it was for the best”. In other words - it’s fine for influential ‘blue blood’ benefactors to get divorced but not Irish plebs. Hell -why not sell an indulgence and be done with?

When Lady Di & Mother Teresa meet it was always in an outdoor environment.
They could never find a man-made structure big enough to house both egos together.

And when she made her Nobel prize-winners speech she spoke-out against the ‘greatest threat facing world peace’. And what is that threat you may ask? Well in Saint Theresa’s world (as opposed to yours and mine) it’s abortion.

She was expedient with the truth when it suited her own needs. For example she claimed that her mission in Calcutta fed over a thousand people daily. On subsequent occasions (depending on her audience and the depth of their pockets) the number rose to 4000, 7000, and 9000. In actuality her soup kitchens fed no more than 150 people, and this included her retinue of nuns, novices, and brothers. She claimed at one point that her school in the Calcutta slum contained five thousand children when it actually enrolled less than one hundred.

People hate being fleeced and tricked, so when facts like these are presented to say those Kiwi kids about to board their flight to India, it’s human nature they'd either refute them (in preference to the propaganda spread by those with a vested interest, that’s to say the Catholic Church) or attack the source of the revelation as being ‘mean spirited’ or ‘ignoring the good things she’s done’.

To the great unwashed there is no ‘Bad’ Mother Teresa only ‘good’ and to these devotees, this is where the matter rests, there amongst what are little more than Vatican Press Releases spread by negligent journalists. Rational critique of her life is seen as blasphemy, such is her pre-eminence in the annals of popular belief.

But those who dare to ‘scrape the surface’ will see little of virtue in her life and little if any compassion - just twisted devotion.

"Please don't, I'm saving myself for my priest"

2008-05-28T07:15:00.012+12:00

A new movement toward abstinence that has been sweeping across America and England for the past 10 years, has hit New Zealand. Christian teachings and morals campaigners have always promoted abstaining from sex before marriage, but now there are church organisations working hard to persuade teenagers to abstain, and remain chaste. The idea here is, you wear your religious convictions in the form of a tacky ring.

The ring states to any prospective suitor: look but do not touch.

Those who wear and promote the rings argue that abstinence is the only way to practice truly safe sex, and using this sort of logic would no doubt like to see the closure of drinking establishments to prevent alcoholism. The rings come in men's & women's styles, plus a declaration to remain pure until marriage (civil unions just wouldn't do)

But why stop at just a ring?

Why not go 'the whole hog' and re-introduce the full chastity belt and be done with?

Imagine 'daddies little angel' goes on a date with the open-side flanker from the first fifteen.

What use is a flaming ring going to be, after she consumes six alco-pops, and this testosterone charged teen starts groping round in the back seat? Her purity is going to be a hell of a lot safer in a kevlar re-make of a 15th century chastity belt ,rather than an innocuous religious inscription, microscopically written on to a crappy $25 ring, a chastity belt would have plenty of space to state in luminous letters "my dad holds a firearms licence and has ridden for the Highway 61".

You also have to ask – will they find any candidates in New Zealand at all for the male version of the ring? Is the small pool of potential male wearers merely just crying-out for hormone treatment?

As chance would have it, my wife is a very proficient fashion designer and is working diligently towards a modern-day version of the traditional chastity belt (for marketing purposes we'll be renaming it a 'Purity Only Belt' or P.O for short).

She has kindly offered to model the prototype pictured below.

It comes with optional 'statements' embossed largely upon the front.

You have a choice of:

- Twins run in my family
- Will you be a dad to my two other children?
- Stop confusing HIV Positive with full blown Aids
- Do you mind if I inject before we start?
- I have incontinence problems, it helps if I wear nappies
- Don't worry my family broke me in
- I can explain the red sores and pus

Orders are being taken online here and it's extra if you want your own personalised 'statement'. We sold out of rings ages ago, so don't ask.

Celibate? You can't give it away!

2008-05-21T10:37:00.006+12:00

Attention males, given a choice between (a.) receiving a million bucks for being chemically castrated (b.) continuing a have a sex life. What would you favour?

Ask this question to any guy wandering this planet, and apart from those living in abject poverty and those aged 90 plus - the almost universal answer would be B.

Biologically men are designed to breed, slaves to millions of years of evolution.

Nothing can stop this genetic driving force & the irrepressible power of sex within males.

But some try, and 'they' it seems, are fighting a losing battle.

One of these is the 300 year old Catholic order: De La Salle.

It appears (Christchurch Press 21/05/08) the New Zealand branch of De La Salle brotherhood is battling dwindling numbers.

One of the major tenants of The De La Selle brothers is lifelong vow of celibacy.

De La Salle spokesman Brother Mark McKeon is quoted as stating the obvious, which is “While a life in the church might not be for everyone, it offered a satisfying alternative for some Catholic men”.

By ‘some’ I gather he’s referring to the rare male who would choose chemical castration given the above options(?).

And in terms of satisfaction – they don’t come any better than ‘a great shag’, a fact lost on Brother McKeon but not on the twenty year olds they wish to entice into a life without sex.

Fighting a rear guard action and the very foundations of human sexuality the brotherhood have launched a website that claims to provide ‘intimate details of their previously private world’.

This isn’t obviously intimacy the rest of society enjoys and for this very reason, and unless the brotherhood can come up with a latter-day Moses, the tides are coming in and the De La Selles sand-castle is about to vanish into the secular sea.

To see if you are suited to a ‘life of faith’ why not complete the De La Salles ‘Test’ [click and see how you go]

My test results were:

You’re a positive and happy person to be around. Popular with your friends, you’re not afraid to accept the challenge to be a leader when necessary. You’re hungry for new experiences and excited about the future. You’re committed to making a difference to those less fortunate. You’re seeking a bigger life full of purpose and meaning - a life less ordinary. Being a Brother isn’t for everyone. Could it be for you?

I was about to post my Application, but I discovered in the ‘small print’ on the site, you’re not allowed to have kids. Bugger, and I’d just taken my first course of female hormones.

Neighbours cross over religious cross

2008-05-16T10:06:00.000+12:00

Damn Gerry Anderson was right!

Those evil Mysterons, have been sending their mind-bending rays to earth (where’s Captain Scarlet when you need him?) and we need to protect ourselves from their effects, before it’s too late.

Mankind is finally waking-up to the threat, starting in Mount Roskill, Auckland!

Fear not peoples of earth, the Gupta family has designed the following symbol, which when placed on a roof, wards away evil spirits and brings good-luck:

Hmmm, may be it's just me, but I think I may have seen that design some where else?

In a war film I saw or something? Death camps come to mind along with a dictator sporting a funny mustache?

Anyway, I’m pleased to indicate this ‘crocked cross upsetting the Auckland neighbours’ business has all been sorted, Captain Scarlett and Green are here to rescue us.

The Gupta family have bowed to pressure & replaced their religious symbol with one of my own design (my design commision invoice is in the mail)

Courtesy of The Canterbury Atheists, we now have:

Courts soft on crims who use religion as a defence

2008-05-15T12:19:00.000+12:00

An Assyrian Christian has been convicted after hitting his 20-year-old daughter.

The reasons behind Ishak Ishak (pictured above) dishing-out his hiding to his daughter was that she was going out with a Muslim.

His daughters choice in suitor would have bought shame on his family and that was sufficient enough for him to act in what would be construed as a 'crime of honour'.

We are all familiar with 'Honour Crimes' from overseas, where male relatives pursue and sometimes kill female members of their family, but in this case, the crime occurred in suburban Wellington.

This wasn't Pakistan.

The Judge in the case told Ishak he had to comply with the laws of New Zealand and that she was concerned at his behaviour. But not apparently concerned enough to actually imprison him, instead sentencing him to come up for sentence if called upon within nine months.

In other words he was allowed to walk free from the court, setting either a dangerous precedent or merely re-enforcing religions status in 'the eyes of the law'?

It appears, at least looking at this case, religious beliefs can be used effectively as a defence against the full force of the law in terms of punishment at least. One's religious/cultural beliefs are evidently mitigating factors and will be taken into account when sentencing.

What other conclusion can be reached?

It was outlined in court Ishak had gone to his daughter's room while she was in bed to confront her about going out with a Muslim. He became angry and abusive and hit out at her several times while she cowered under a blanket.

Now let's see what would happen if we take the religious factor out of the case completely.

1.) Ishak,returns home from works, gets into an argument with his daughter,assaults her. He says in his defence "I was angry" & offers profuse regrets for his actions. It's likely the court would ensure he get's anger management to treat his problem.

2.) Ishak, comes home from the pub intoxicated and assaults his daughter. Doubtless in this example some drug & alcohol rehabilitation would be issued by the court.

Looking at these scenario's it's therefore prudent to ask - why didn't the judge restrict Ishak from practicing his religion?

He was open to the court his 'beliefs' were behind the attack, so the judge was in a position in this case to strike at the issue behind his criminal behaviour, in the same way were his defence team to blame alcohol as the catalyst.

But an individuals rights to practice their faith is sacresent, even when it leads to practices deemed criminal.

This we see, time after time.

Family First: For God & Country

2008-05-11T10:25:00.000+12:00

Family First are currently fronting a massive media campaign in an attempt to achieve the 300,000 threshold necessary to initiate a referendum. The petition needed 280,275 signatures to force a referendum, but recently fell short after 13% were excluded because they were either illegible, the signatory's date of birth could not be confirmed, or involved people who signed multiple times (perhaps the liberal application of the wooden spoon is needed to remind signatories to be honest?)

Family Firsts latest ‘beef’: the new smacking law.

All this effort, expense and melodrama for a non-binding referendum, seems wasted to most neutrals. A recent N.Z Police report stated they receive on average, just one complaint per week in relation to smacking. Scaremongering ‘the courts would be full of cases of good parents being treated as criminals’ have come to nought. In fact based on these statistics, and the disinterest by N.Z Police to change the new law, you’d have to wonder what all the fuss is all about?

To background this, Family First are a thinly veiled Christian Political pressure group. Their leader Bob McCoskie (pictured below) says his organisation is “the voice of the family, it’s not the voice for Christianity”. Then in the next breath goes on to say “but you’re right, people involved in it have a Christian background”. That’s like Martin Bormann stating “Hey, we are not Nazi’s, we’re National Socialists”.

To give Family First their dues, they are very media savy and have made headlines with some regularity & some what laboriously in the same vein as past self-styled moral guardians. The Media know where to go to ‘get a bite’ and I guess it’s a bit hard these days getting interviews with Graham Capill (incarcerated) & Patricia Bartlett (r.i.p). Family First fill this ‘chicken little’ vacuum nicely.

F.F is the group which wanted the public to boycott Hells Pizza chain after their ‘Condom’ promotion. Personally I would have thought the name alone would have been enough to scare-off Bob and his righteous bunch.

F.F wanted ‘Californication’ taken from our T.V screens and the way to do this was to rally support, in the form from a boycott on advertisers who dared showed their wares during breaks in the programme.

F.F protested against ‘The Boobs on Bikes’ and tried to ruin the titillation (pun intended) for bunking schools-boys.

F.F successfully had an Aid’s Foundation magazine advert banned. Those naughty guys at the Foundation had a picture of a penis of all things. And god forbid, to make thing worse – it was regaling in a bright coloured condom!

F.F warned parents of teenagers of the evils of the internet by targeting www.missbimbo.com . Never heard of it? Well neither had I. But after a quick preview, it didn’t make my muster in terms of porn content so it won’t be going on my ‘favourites’. F.F didn’t outright ask to ban the site, rather ‘filter’ it.

Bob himself, complained to The Broadcasting Standards Authority in 2005 about the use of the words “ass” & “wanker” in an episode of the cartoon The Simpsons. BSA dismissed the complaint ruling the words we used in a satirical rather than abusive manner. This is the view most balanced New Zealanders would take to comedy.

So you’ll see from their track record, F.F are right into bans, boycotts and censorship.

The exception being: smacking. On the subject of belting ones own child in the privacy of ones home, F.F have the audacity to trot-out the line “this is Nanny State telling us what to do”.

Parents have a god given right to smack their brats, but not to settle down in their lounges and watch some crappy melodrama, staring the guy out of the X-Files, who’s got ‘a thing’ for nuns.

There’s of course a grand reason why F.F carry on in this contradictory & duplicitous fashion. It’s called ‘The Bible’. Biblical texts are F.F’s sole compass and where it points F.F tear off like a rabid pack of hounds chasing a fox.

‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’ sound familiar to anyone?

F.F camouflage their agenda behind warm fuzzy terms like - ‘traditional values’.

They want us to return to those romantic by-gone days (re-runs of The Walton’s anyone?) and get families eating dinner together. Never mind if dad takes his belt to the kids for not eating their brussel-sprouts.

One thing that get’s any Christian Pressure group frothing at the mouth, is homosexuality, and F.F is no different.

“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.” [Leviticus 20:13]

Now F.F are politically astute enough not to come straight out and ‘doom those evil gays & lesbians to hells eternal flames’. Instead they veil their agenda under headings like ‘Children Deserve Better’. in which they outline principals in flowery terms like ‘the natural family is the union of a man or a woman’.

Loving Parents can only be ones that are married. End of story.

And don’t dare mention ‘Civil Unions’. Dear oh dear. Unmarried couples will never do.

They also take delight telling the heathen secular community what to do with their reproductive organs. Putting them into condoms isn’t one of them.

F.F rallied against teens being vaccinated for cervical cancer - because it could be unsafe for the woman’s ‘moral character’. A comforting thought to cling to for the victims & their families struck down by this killer.

Effectively if Family First can’t get you to accept the word of Jesus - they’ll pressure politicians legislate accordingly.

One can only hope (praying is naturally a waste of time) Family First will go the way of The Christian Heritage Party.

Oblivion or behind bars.

Footnote; More evidence of the ineptitude of ecclesiastical politicians came with parliamentary vote to make the smacking an offence. Let’s not forget Gordon Copeland gave his reason for leaving United Future, as a difference of opinion on the yet to be passed smacking bill. But where was the freshly independent MP Copeland, when the bill was being passed and the vote was being taken? He wasn’t even in the house! That’s right he missed the final vote.

Brain Theft Auto – Christian Politician wants GTA4 Banned!

2008-05-08T14:03:00.000+12:00

God’s watchdog, serial political party hopper, Gordon Copeland, wants to curb the rising tide of violence in New Zealand.

Copeland is quoted "Simply stated, it is time to reverse the tide of violence in New Zealand”. We have to have the courage somewhere, sometime, to say ‘no’ and I agree with Kiwi parents and the police, that this is not a bad place to start.".

And exactly where is Copeland’s starting point in reducing violent crime in New Zealand?

Fathers, becoming involved with their kids, perhaps?

Zero tolerance?

Nope, none of these tried and true methods, instead the panacea to reducing violence is (wait for it): ban video games!

Mind you we are not talking just any video games, specifically it happens to be the world’s most popular one.

The just released ‘Grand Theft Auto 4’ (GTA 4 to the cooler & younger amongst us)

For the record, my eldest lad has this game which he been playing every single spare moment over the last week (in between nihilistic acts, education, texting and sport)

So far he hasn’t joined The Russian Mafia, although after thinking about Copeland’s concerns, I felt it appropriate to confiscate the households Russian Dictionary and taken the ammunition clip off the children’s Kalashnikov’s (you can’t be too sure about these things you see) I also haven’t noticed any discernable change in his driving habits. He’s still far too a nervous driver to even contemplate stealing a car, and the Police could pursue and apprehend him comfortably, by bike.

All in all, he seems fairly balanced for a teen of his age and able to distinguish between the virtual world and the real world.

If Copeland is in the mood to ban & censor things (which his ‘lot’ always are) a great starting point would be say a book, that has resulted through-out history in it’s followers killing millions, slavery and persecution of Jews and Homosexuals on a mass scale.

Oh that’s right, this happens to be the very same book Copeland bases his life on. Silly ol' secular me.

Copeland is strangely silent on the soon to be released video game ‘Kingdom of the Heavens’. That game has a similar degree of violence to GTA 4 except the story line goes something like this: you are a Christian warrior sent to reclaim Jerusalem from the pagan hordes by butchering infidels by the ox cart load.

Funny, I can picture the whole Copeland family getting hours of enjoyment playing ‘Kingdom of the Heavens’.

Honour Thy Children: Christchurch Church helps convicted Child Killers attempts to keep her new born

2008-05-04T11:35:00.000+12:00

A Christchurch woman who was found guilty of helping to torture her two-year-old daughter to death in 1992 has had another baby.

Tania Witika was sentenced to 16 years in prison after her baby, Delcelia, was found lying dead in a pool of blood, faeces and urine, while she and the baby's stepfather, Eddie Smith, were out partying at a friend's place in South Auckland.

The toddler had been badly burned after being put in a bath of hot water. Hit so hard that her appendix burst. Had her jaw broken. Her blood was splattered on walls and carpets.

What sort of sick individual could do this to a two year old toddler?

Facing a long jail sentence, Witika claimed she was not responsible for her actions due to 'battered-woman's-syndrome', claiming that Smith would beat her whenever she tried to help Delcelia. But her defence was ignored by the jury when evidence was shown at her trial she had kept notes about her sexual gratification and role in the physical abuse of Delcelia.

“With him I can reach a fantastic orgasm that I could never, or even thought of reaching."

Her own perverted pleasures were paramount over the torment of her own young child.

A home video taken on the day Delcelia died was shown to the jury. The video showed Witika happy, smiling and enjoying herself with Smith. Witika claimed she had gone partying with Smith while Delcelia was dying because Smith had threatened to 'waste her' with a steel bar.

Medical evidence showed gouges in Delcelia's chin were made by a woman.

Witika clearly has psychological issues.

It is therefore hardly surprising Child, Youth and Family (CYF) recognised the threat she posed to children & obtained custody of the unborn baby when it heard Witika, now using the surname Hopping, was pregnant.

On the 29th April, Witika gave birth to that child, another girl.

Literally at the birthing bedside were her new support group: The Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

Yes, praise the lord, Tania Gaye Witika has found god!

And whilst the majority of New Zealanders applauded CYF initiative to take custody of the child (I say they should have taken the opportunity to tie her tubes at the same time) supporters from The Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship argued instead for Witika to remain the guardian.

When The Christchurch Press Newspaper (03/05/2008) asked her supporters about the position they were taking in this custody issue, they remained tight-lipped, some what embarrassed no doubt, their stand on behalf of a convicted child killer was out in the public domain.

If the The Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship took their ‘god goggles’ off for just five minutes, they would see that ‘finding Jesus’ is not a prerequisite to ensuring the new child’s safety.

The Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship can never be around Witika or her baby 24 hours of the day, or when say she get’s home drunk after hard night partying.

Would members of The Grace Vineyard Christian Fellowship be happy to leave their own children in Witika’s care if they went away on holiday?

Witika (a.k.a Hopping ) still poses a major threat to children irrespective of her new found support group and their superstitious beliefs.

I leave you with some strangely ironic quotes (below) from The Grace Vineyard Christian Centres web site.

Think about the life poor Delcelia endured as you read them.

"It is important for us to speak the truth, deal honestly and live uprightly"

"We want to enable and support mature relationships and family growth"

"Our job is not to succeed but to be obedient to God's calling and principles and allow Him to produce the outcomes according to His perfect will."

Out of Friar Pan and into the fire

2008-05-03T13:23:00.000+12:00

Is that camouflage green he's wearing?

New Zealand First has highlighted the alleged involvement of Dominican Friar Peter Murnane (left) in the Waihopai spy base attack and suggested “this should send shivers up the spine of every security conscious New Zealander”.

As New Zealand First point out, it was Father Murnane, one of the three accused terrorists (oops activists), that sheltered Algerian man Ahmed Zaoui after he was released from custody.

Ahmed Zaoui was clearly a risk to the security of New Zealand when he arrived in 2002 under a false passport, and was rightfully imprisoned till his status was clarified. Courts in both a France & Belgium convicted him in absenteeism on charges of taking part in a criminal group with a view to preparing terrorist acts.

In 2004 Zaoui was bailed and left into the care of Catholic community's Dominican Priory in Auckland.

This time-frame is important, as in 2003 it was Murnane who split his blood at the feet of the U.S consulate-general in an anti-American protest against the Iraq war.

This was the very same guy entrusted to check Zaoui kept to his bail conditions after being released from prison in 2004.

Here’s the statement Murnane and his fellow protester issued at the time.

http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0980.htm

In other words no lesser state functionary than The New Zealand Supreme Court, gives a known anti-American protester, the responsibility to be public’s guardian over a suspected Islamic terrorist!

If only Gilbert and Sullivan were about today, they would have enough material here to script something into a fine comic opera.

Murnane reclines in a camouflage green smoking jacket in front of the large priory fire, and passionately discusses the down-fall of ‘the great Satan’ with his grinning refugee guest, fresh from his game of celebrity football with Dave Dobbyn.

MP Ron Mark got it dead right again when he says “there appears to be a fifth column of local activists and they should take a long hard look at themselves and their strange set of values”.

“We were always opposed to Ahmed Zaoui being allowed to remain in New Zealand and being placed in the care of a religious sect,”

Ron Mark’s is clearly a politician who sees this for what it is, and is brave enough to say so.

Mark’s says “it will be interesting to see if the justice system makes the three who have been charged over the attack, pay for the damage that was done”.

Sorry Ron, it’ll be the muggin’s tax-payer who’ll pick up the bill in Waihopai.

The same way they paid for Zaoui’s legal aid (last total in excess of 2.5 million)

It may be an opportune time to remind Marks that even with the down turn in the market, The Dominican Priory still sit’s on lovely piece of real-estate.