‘LOCKDOWN SUICIDAL THOUGHTS JUMP found by study of people in lockdown in the State of Victoria (Australia) last year, according to ABC News 25 June 2021 and Journal of Psychiatric Research 4 June 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.05.080. The research team reported: “In September-2020, among 1157 Victorians, one-third reported anxiety or depressive disorder symptoms, one-fifth reported suicidal ideation (thoughts), and one-tenth reported having seriously considered suicide in the prior 30 days”. Ian Hickie, a psychiatrist at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Institute, commented that the proportion of people seriously considering suicide was “a high rate” and was consistent with other research. He also commented: “Most of the evidence we have, particularly for young people, is that these rates were increasing pre-COVID. They then went up markedly in the first COVID lockdown, and then subsequently in terms of emergency department presentations and really serious attempts at self-harm or suicide”.
ED. COM. How sadly predictable for a generation brought up to believe there is no God, and they are nothing but evolved collections of chemicals, and therefore there is nothing for them apart from this world. When it all goes wrong they want to give up, not realising there are serious eternal consequences to self murder if they succeed. This situation is not helped by materialistic authorities who have closed churches or put serious restrictions on them, such as no singing, while allowing sports venues to be filled with shouting spectators. This has even seriously impacted our Creation Research work, with churches, schools and organisations unable to have live meetings, or even make plans for them. But we haven’t thought of suicide for one reason: we have a personal Saviour Jesus Christ who is with you in good times and bad. So one real issue arising from this study is the need for churches and Christians to use whatever means are available to tell people the good news that there is a God who created the world, who is still in control, and is working His purposes out. This generation of young people, who were already increasing in suicidal thoughts before the coronavirus, need to know the God who created them, who will hold them accountable for their actions, and who sent the Lord Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for their wrongdoings so they can look forward to a glorious future with Him for eternity.’https://creationresearch.net/
This is an email I received this week speaking the truth concerning Government, Covid Vaccines, you and FREEDOM.
‘They fear death but not God and seek salvation by Jab not Jesus, and fear is their key to power!
Yet so many who do believe this is their Father’s World and their body is His holy temple have emailed or called our Creation Research head office asking ‘What should we do about the Jab?’
Many University Students are paining with “I’ve been told my Uni career is down the drain if I don’t get the Jab”; or Bosses are sharing “My company will get no further contracts unless my workers are Jabbed!” Add to that the Medical Drs sharing how they won’t have the Jab and don’t advise it, but add “Don’t say I said it!” And then there’s the Parents who are told “Your children can’t come to our school if you’re not Jabbers,” … “What should we do?”
So what advice is correct to give re the Jab? How do we decide? Yes, we do have access to highly qualified medical scientists and professors, plus pastors and as well as lay folk and of course our Lawyer, so that does make it much easier. For this editorial alone, feedback was sought from some 20 people. Here’s what we have found.
At almost every level we have been able to confirm reports of deaths after covid vax or blindness or pregnancy problems, but when we ask; “Will you put your name to this?” – from layman to Professor the answer is almost always – “It would cost me my job!” One dear senior citizen reporting real post vax sickness problems in her town, finished with “I won’t name names as I don’t know who’s listening.” The whole nature of our western society has evidently been changed from being one of strong independence and openness, to a place where many fear the phone is tapped, their emails are read, or even their neighbours will report them. Such action is being openly encouraged as ‘the way to go’ at most levels of officialdom – even in dinki-di, downunder Oz.
It is interesting that The Australian newspaper on Sunday August 1 2021 (web post), published an article on how Health Authorities don’t know what to do with the significant number of doctors who are counselling patients to not have the Jab. It seems that a Dr’s oath to protect their patients has no value in the eyes of government when Doctors disagree with the government’s political position. Which translates to ‘by law doctors are not entitled to have any opinion, except the official one – or be de-registered!’ The fear of professional castration dominates even those willing to spill the beans or think differently, and Doctors Against Covid run closed covert meetings that have a verbal hash tag … ‘You can’t quote us!’ Even the August 11 Courier Mail reports many Aussie Drs won’t give the vax to under 60’s because the Aussie PM has not come good with his promise to grant them immunity against legal liability for damage, disease and death.
It has become a global trend to treat the unvaccinated as ‘unclean’, as the enemy onto which the yellow star of Covid is slowly and surely being boldly stitched, no matter what their qualifications. Equally obvious is that at every level, fear is the chief weapon being used to control God’s chief creation …. mankind!
It is very evident to us that the innocent and ignorant may accept the illnesses and deny or ignore the death rate within a month of the Jab, simply regarding it as an acceptable price for community wellbeing as they excuse vax problems on the basis this is an urgent rush job by governments who are merely ‘Doing their best’, as they are constantly succoured by repeated putdowns from FACT-CHECKER or shouts of conspiracy, conspiracy, to deny any factual opposition.
Yet the majority they don’t even know that the death rate from the tetanus vaccine since the 1940’s has been a total of 2 people worldwide, and anyone can find out that many more have died after the Jab in just the last month! I remember when my friends suffered from polio and TB – it was a real issue. Seemed I was naturally immune and didn’t need any of those shots, but as someone who still remembers how long and hard I suffered from the common flu virus before flu shots, I am immensely grateful for those vaccines. But that was a world where Pfizer didn’t keep bumping its prices up, and fear was not public persuasion policy, and the drug companies weapon of choice.
Don’t be fooled by the emotional push of ‘doing your bit … we are in this together … remember your oldies! … get the jab now!’ But I am one of the oldies ones, and I fear loss of truth and freedom way more than the viral spreading of politicians self-centred control of populations.
Wherever you have politicians or medicos who have murdered millions who never had a chance to fight back through their policies on abortions, don’t trust their claims to care for your health. They are the ones beginning to now demand your children be free to make their own life decisions about Jab, or Gender, and even worse, they seek to bulk vaccinate schools without parental consult or consent. You are the Creator’s appointed protector and guardians of your own kids. Be that!
As one refugee from behind the Iron Curtain shared … ‘It reminds him of his darkest days under communism’ … a time when controlling minds and men through fear was the norm. But none of this is freedom! Neither is it democracy, and all of it betrays a devil in every detail, as political powers and company kings enforce the sad fear ridden reality of compulsory and total vaccination. But now our ex eastern bloc friend knows that only the ‘Perfect love of Jesus casts out fear’ (1John 4:18) and because he is currently high up in the Medical Industry, he is also able to provide us with the ‘rest of the story’. Yes – sadly even he has told us that leaking what he has could cost him his job. What a world? Pray for us as telling the truth about the Creator and creation comes at a high price, but the tarnished price of silence is 30 pieces of silver.’
‘Do you remember when we are all told that the government just wanted “two weeks to slow the spread” of the COVID-19 virus? That seems so long ago, though it wasn’t.
About 16 months ago the vast majority of Americans showed a willingness to do what we were asked to do: Close our businesses and shops, shut down our places of employment, and hunker down in our homes, only venturing out for vital supplies like food and acute medical care.
And still, the virus spread.
So, for the next year, we endured one COVID-related outrage after another — no church services, no public gatherings (unless you were taking part in a Black Lives Matter riot), no going to gyms, no restaurants, masks everywhere…until the vaccines came.
Well, long-time readers know how we feel about vaccines around here, especially experimental ones, but to play the game, the powers that be told us that the more of us who got the jab, the faster we could return to normal.
Except that was never the plan; once power-mad bureaucrats and Democrats siphoned power away from the people, they were never going to give it back, and now that’s becoming plainly obvious as wave after wave of new COVID variants “emerge” from out of the blue.
First, it was the Delta variant, and now, here comes the “Lambda” strain, and of course, it’s more potent and deadly than the first two strains.
After all, Dr. Anthony Fauci, that paragon of truth and virtue, says so.
“What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility, and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated — that you have a significant pool of vulnerable people,” Fauci said this week, adding that Delta variant cases are also rising in a “very steep fashion” and could rise to 200,000 cases per day.
“And so when you look at the curve of acceleration of 7-day averages of cases per day, it is going up in a very steep fashion,” Fauci claimed.
Of course, what Americans aren’t getting are statistics on just who’s getting sick, if they’re actually getting sick or merely testing positive, and if deaths and hospitalizations are rising.
Fauci said that data shows people infected with the delta variant have viral levels “about 1,000 times higher in quantity” than were recorded in people who were infected with the alpha variant, also known as the U.K. variant, which earlier this year became predominant in the United States.
Studies have emerged in recent weeks indicating that vaccinated individuals are at risk of “long COVID” — a series of conditions associated with infection such as fatigue, shortness of breath and loss of smell that can last for weeks or months — even if they are largely protected from severe illness and death, Fauci said.
And of course, there are fears of even more strains, like Lambda. How they know this, we’re not sure.
“Like the Delta variant, Lambda is highly transmissible but Japanese researchers believe that three mutations in the variant’s spike proteins make it more resistant to antibodies induced by vaccination,” Newsweek reported. “Lambda, which is also known as the C.37 variant, is responsible for 1,037 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., according to data from the GISAID Initiative.”
Below is common sense and truth which our governing elites do not seem to want to hear.
‘As Covid cases, hospitalizations, and now deaths soar in Israel even though over 90 percent of older adults are fully vaccinated, the country is aggressively pushing a third shot.
Hundreds of thousands of older Israelis have already received it.
And other countries are preparing to follow.
Now the inevitable is happening. The third shot is beginning to fail.
The desperate move for a third shot is the latest and maybe most desperate manifestation of the panic around the vaccine failure that health authorities still will not openly admit is happening.
And it is profoundly anti-science.
These mRNA vaccines are not Pepto-Bismol. They have profound biological effects. They are encapsulated in fat particles whose long-term effects are unknown. They spread throughout the body (despite the early promise they would not). They hijack cellular machinery in exactly the same way an actual virus does.
They are no joke.
And – as rushed and flawed as their development was last year – at least regulators forced Pfizer and Moderna to test them in large clinical trials, with a total of more than 70,000 people.
The trials had two main goals: to make sure they didn’t have massive, immediate side effects (safety) and that they actually worked against the virus (efficacy).
In fact, the trials showed the vaccines did have a nasty short-term side effect profile – and that it worsened after the second dose. And despite their size, the trials failed to catch severe side effects for both the mRNA vaccines (which – at the least – cause heart inflammation in some young people) and the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, which cause a rare but particularly nasty form of blood clotting.
Still, most side effects appeared to fade after a few days. The trials also showed that at peak protection after the second dose, the mRNA vaccines reduced infections by 95 percent.
Thus their almost immediate authorization.
But now we know better.
The real-world data – from Israel, the United States, and everywhere else – are clear. Protection from infection fades within months even against the original coronavirus. It shrinks essentially to zero against the Delta variant (we can argue about time vs. variant effects, but the answer doesn’t matter in this context, either way the vaccines have stopped working).
For now, vaccine advocates are clinging to the hope that even if the vaccines do not protect against infection, they still provide some protection against more serious illness and death. I think the jury is still out on that question, but again it is largely irrelevant for this conversation – the Covid wards are filling in Israel, and most people in them are older and vaccinated. If the vaccines do offer any help after a few months against serious illness, it is far less than the 95-99 percent protection that advocates have claimed.
Thus the move for a third shot. And possibly more shots to come.
But please – please! – understand how radical a move this is.
At this point, these shots are basically being pushed forward on the basis of VERY early data from VERY small trials – a few dozen volunteers, at most – showing that people had significantly more antibodies a month after receiving a third dose.
I don’t doubt these slides are accurate.
THE VACCINES MAKE YOUR CELLS PRODUCE THE SPIKE PROTEIN. YOUR BODY THEN MAKES ANTIBODIES TO THOSE PROTEINS.
That’s what they do, and they’re very good at it. More vaccine makes your body do it more.
But that’s only the beginning of what we should know before encouraging a third dose. Here’s a PARTIAL list of questions we haven’t answered:
Does a third dose of the vaccine ACTUALLY REDUCE INFECTIONS IN THOSE PEOPLE WHO RECEIVE IT?
Does it reduce deaths (remember, even the original, huge Covid trials didn’t answer that question)?
Will the third dose produce a transient spike in infections, as the first dose appears to?
Will the antibodies last longer this time because we have more of them after the second dose, or will they decline more quickly?
Does the vaccine confer ANY long-term protection through T-cell immunity?
Will people who have received a third dose be vulnerable to future variants? Will they be more or less vulnerable than people who have been infected and recovered and are are naturally immune?
Will the side effects – which are generally much worse after the second dose than the first – be still worse after the third?
Will some people die from those side effects?
What is the overall safety profile of the third or more doses in a large population?
Does it differ by age?
I could go on, but I hope this is enough to show you how little we know.
Offering a third dose essentially means offering an entirely new vaccine regimen. If the FDA or other regulators had any guts they would insist on a new, full-size clinical trial (a BETTER trial, one powered to detect reductions in death) before allowing it.
Instead governments are rushing ahead based on what are basically early Phase 2 clinical trials – tiny and providing evidence of efficacy based on lab benchmarks rather than clinical data.
Yet, based on the stock action in Moderna and BioNTech in the last few days, investors are VERY confident these boosters are going to be part of our lives going forward.
Australia along with the UK is becoming more and more anti-God and antagonistic toward God’s Word!
‘After facing arrest and detention for preaching that homosexuality is a sin, an American evangelist is warning that “things are getting very bad” in the United Kingdom and other Western countries, suggesting that the situation has deteriorated to the point where they are “becoming communist.”
Ryan Schiavo, who describes himself as an “evangelist and missionary,” was arrested in London on July 22 for preaching that homosexuality is a sin. While Schiavo is an American, he spends a considerable amount of time in London and frequently ministers to British youth and others gathered in the public square.
In an interview with The Christian Post, Schiavo recounted the events leading up to his arrest and warned about its implications for free speech and freedom of religion in the U.K. and Western civilization as a whole.
“I was preaching the Gospel on the streets as I frequently do, but it was about a 30-minute message, and in the course of a long message I can touch on many topics that I believe are pertinent,” he said. “At one point, I talked about the issue of homosexuality and transgenderism. I said that homosexuality is a sin; I talk about how it’s destructive, and the damage the transgender agenda is doing to children right now in the schools because it’s being pushed on children at a very young age here.”
Schiavo told CP that one of the things he said while preaching was that “the churches that have rainbow flags on them” were “not real churches.” His message drew the ire of one young woman, whom he believed was a lesbian. According to Schiavo, she was “very upset at what I had said, and so she called the police and the police came.”
Ryan Schiavo, an American street preacher, is arrested by Metropolitan Police for asserting that homosexuality is a sin, July 22, 2021. | Courtesy of Ryan Schiavo
As documented in a video of his arrest, Schiavo was detained for purportedly violating Section 4A of the Public Order Act, which bans people from causing “intentional harassment, alarm, or distress.”
The law declares that “a person is guilty of an offense if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm, or distress, he — (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or disorderly behavior, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting.”
As Metropolitan Police officers moved in to arrest him, Schiavo declared, “It is an honor to suffer for Jesus Christ.” He predicted that “God is going to judge this country so severely” because of its embrace of LGBT ideology.
“This is because I am a Christian!” he exclaimed. “That’s why this is happening.”
Schiavo told CP that when he was taken to jail, he was “put in a cell for 10 hours and given a mental health evaluation by the National Health Service before being released in the middle of the night.” He lamented that situations like his “egregious” detention were becoming “all too common.”
Describing the mental health evaluation to CP, Schiavo maintained that he was asked “personal questions about my family and about my work and how I was doing physically.” Schiavo cited the fact that he had to undergo a mental health evaluation as evidence that “things are getting very bad” in the U.K. regarding freedom of speech and religious expression.
“All these institutions are working together with each other; they’re anti-Christ,” he added. “It’s time for the church to wake up and to be prepared for persecution. Freedom of speech and expression are very much under attack in the Western world, and I’m concerned that many of these Western countries are becoming communist.”
Elaborating on his mental health evaluation, Schiavo recounted that he “did talk about the issue of homosexuality and transgenderism” with the man who was questioning him. “I said to him, ‘Would you call a banana a carrot?’ And the point I was making was this is what we do with people now. We call men women and women men.”
“I didn’t say that to him. I just said, ‘Would you call a banana a carrot?’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘If somebody was offended, I would.’ And I looked at him and I said, ‘I should be the one asking you the questions.’”
Schiavo contended that his mental health evaluation, which lasted for 30 minutes, was an effort to “convince me not to talk about homosexuality in public anymore.” He told CP that “he (the mental health evaluator) wanted me to affirm him and just say, ‘OK,’ and agree, and I never did.”
The evangelist attributed his hostile treatment by the police to the fact that British law enforcement officials are “so trained to hear ‘homosexuality’ or ‘Islam’ because those are the two most protected demographics in Britain right now.” He stressed that in the U.K., “you cannot speak against homosexuality or transgenderism and you can’t speak against Islam.”
“So if they hear those words, their antennas are up because they go through all of this pro-LGBT training … in their schooling, … at every other level of society people do here, it’s being pushed on them,” he continued. “And so when they hear that word, they’re immediately thinking ‘hate crime,’ ‘hate crime.’”
Although he wasn’t formally charged with a crime, Schiavo’s arrest puts him “in the national police records for three years.” He’s now working with the U.K.-based Christian Legal Centre to “get this overturned.”
“I did not commit a crime,” Schiavo insisted. “It is not a crime in the U.K. to say homosexuality is a sin in public or to say that churches with rainbow flags on them are not churches. This is protected speech.”
In a separate interview with CP, Linda Thacker, who attends church with Schiavo when he’s in the U.K. and videotaped the arrest, explained why she decided to document his interaction with law enforcement officials on camera: “I didn’t like the security guard’s attitude toward Ryan. He seemed very hostile.”
“We wanted to make sure that there was no kind of false accusation,” she said.
Thacker characterized Schiavo’s arrest as “a bit of a wake-up call for me,” expressing concern that “the right to have free speech and to express how we feel personally about … anyone else’s lifestyle … will put you in the position of being called a domestic terrorist or some kind of hater.” Like Schiavo, Thacker fears that the U.K. is “heading toward a communist state.”
Before his arrest, Thacker said there had been confrontations between Schiavo, his supporters and LGBT individuals that weren’t captured on camera.
“The lesbian was very threatening and kicked his drink down the road. [She] also tried to tear my husband’s Bible out of his hands, which she didn’t manage to do, but she got a leaflet out of his Bible … and flung it into the street.”
While Schiavo did face hostility following his comments about homosexuality, he also received support, including from an atheist, who was featured in Thacker’s video. Schiavo told CP that while the man “said that he disagreed with 99% of what I said,” he nonetheless argued to the police that ‘This man has not done anything warranting … an arrest, he’s just exercising his freedom of speech.’”
In spite of the man’s impassioned defense of Schiavo, the street evangelist lamented that the police “never even took a statement from him.” Instead, Schiavo said, “the police only took one formal statement on the street … and it was from this young girl … [who] was upset with what I said.”
“From the beginning, they weren’t interested in getting to the truth. … It was just this one girl’s testimony that they listened to.”
Thacker seconded Schiavo’s accusation that police had conducted a one-sided investigation: “All they were interested in doing was arresting him on the grounds of this lesbian that said that she had been distressed by what was said.”
Schiavo is not the only street evangelist to face legal consequences for sharing Christian teachings about marriage and homosexuality with the British public. As CP previously reported, British Pastor John Sherwood was arrested by police in April for emphasizing the biblical definition of marriage as he preached from a step ladder in the Northwest London town of Uxbridge.’https://www.christianpost.com/news/american-evangelist-jailed-in-uk-its-getting-very-bad-here.html
The following is an email I received from Service NSW. This is the freedom or lack thereof allowed here in the Australian state of New South Wales.
Greater Sydney’s lockdown has been extended until 12:01am Saturday 28 August.
Invite a friend or family member into your singles bubbleA singles bubble will be introduced from Saturday 31 July for people who live alone, or with no other adults, in Greater Sydney.
You will be able to choose a family member or friend, colleague, or partner to visit you at home. The person you choose needs to be the same person till lockdown ends.
If you live in one of the 8 areas of concern your chosen friend or family member must also live within 5kms of your home.
If you live anywhere else in the Greater Sydney area, your chosen visitor cannot be from one of the 8 areas of concern.
Authorised workers and latest update for Western SydneyPeople who live in one of the 8 areas of concern must:Travel no further than 5kms from home for exercise and outdoor recreationWear a mask at all times when outside of home, regardless of how far they are physical distancing from others.People living in one of the 8 areas of concern cannot leave their local area for work unless they are an authorised worker.
Changes to mandatory surveillance testing requirements from Saturday 31 July:Fairfield and Cumberland health or aged care workers (including support workers for health or aged care – such as cleaners, cooks and security) must get tested every 3 days to be allowed to leave their local government area for workCanterbury-Bankstown authorised workers must get tested every 3 days, to be allowed to leave their local government area for work.
Construction and trade work to resume Saturday 31 JulyConstruction sites in Greater Sydney can resume work on Saturday 31 July. Construction work cannot resume in the 8 areas of concern except in certain necessary circumstances.
All construction workers must keep a physical distance from other workers on site and follow the 4 square metre rule. There must be no contact between construction workers and residents. Up to 2 workers allowed to work indoors, up to 5 workers outside.
Trades people (including cleaners) will be allowed to restart work in residential homes as long as there is no contact with residents. Up to 2 workers allowed to work indoors, up to 5 workers outside.
Shopping rules update You can only go shopping within your local government area or within 10km of your home (unless the goods or services are not available in your local area or within 10kms).
If you live in one of the 8 areas of concern, you can only go shopping within 5km of your home (unless the goods or services are not available in your local area).
Only one member of the household should leave home to shop for essentials such as food, personal needs for your household (including pets) or if you’re shopping for vulnerable people.
COVID-19 Disaster Payment now up to $750Due to the significant impact of NSW lockdown on workers, financial support has increased to support you if you’ve lost your job or had your hours reduced.
Eligibility depends on where you live and work. Payments of $325–$450 if you lost 8 to 20 hours of work per week, and $500–$750 if you lost more than 20 hours per week.
New policing operation to tackle the spread of COVID-19A new high-visibility policing operation has launched across Greater Sydney to enforce the new rules.Police have the power to: Shut down businesses, construction sites and public premises where there is a risk to public healthFine people for not wearing a mask when required. Fine has increased from $200 to $500.
Restrictions for regional and rural NSW remain in placeIf you usually travel to Greater Sydney for work or to study at university/TAFE, the stay at home rules apply.
You should not enter Greater Sydney unless you have a reasonable excuse. Coming to Greater Sydney to be vaccinated is considered a reasonable excuse.
The stay at home rules also apply to anyone who visited Greater Sydney on or after Monday 21 June 2021.
Home schooling continues except for year 12 studentsStudents from kindy to year 11 need to keep home schooling. Schools will remain open for any child that needs it.
Students who live in one of the 8 areas of concern are strongly encouraged to stay at home.
Year 12 students returning to school
From Monday 16 August, face to face learning will restart for Year 12 students under strict COVID-19 protocols.
If you have visited any of the case locations you must follow NSW Health advice for that area about whether you need to get tested and self-isolate.
Getting yourself vaccinated will help end COVID-19 restrictionsTwo doses of either vaccine will provide around 90% protection from hospitalisation and death from COVID-19.
Latest health advice recommends everyone 18+ in Greater Sydney should book a vaccination – especially if you live in one of the 8 areas of concern. NSW Health clinics in Greater Sydney now offer AstraZeneca to people aged 18+.
With newly opened mass vaccination centres in Lake Macquarie, Sydney CBD, Macquarie Fields and Wollongong to open mid-August, plus vaccinations available across the GP network, it’s easier than ever to get vaccinated.
This is the year when we in Australia fill out the Census. The following is an email from the Australian Family Coalition.
‘There’s nothing new about a census. Even in the Gospels we read:
“And it came to pass, that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole world should be enrolled” (Luke 2:1).
What has changed over the years, though, are some of the questions asked.
The last census (2016) saw a controversial change to the question on religion, re-ordering the available options to place “no religion” as the first possible answer.
Leading though this change was (i.e. it probably encouraged more people to tick “no religion”), it’s unlikely to account for the total increase in “no religion”, which grew from 22.3% in 2011 to 30.1% in 2016.
It’s a fact that many Australians have lost affinity with their faith.
However, this current census has been accompanied by a slick online campaign to deliberately reduce the number of Aussies who tick a faith box.
Now, that’s a different matter from arguing for more accurate data – and one that begs a question:
Why would anyone spend their time and finances on a campaign other than to further sideline and remove the influence of faith – especially Christianity – from our society?
We know that not all AFC supporters are Christians or believers of any other faith.
We believe, however, that the role of faith in Australia is something that should concern everyone.
Removing the foundations of this nation – and the moral compass that has guided it – cannot be done without severe social consequences.
Even prominent atheist Richard Dawkins has made this point, once writing:
“Before we rejoice at the death throes of the relatively benign Christian religion, let’s not forget Hilaire Belloc’s menacing rhyme: ‘Always keep a-hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse’.”
On another occasion, Dawkins stated: “I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse”.
Unfortunately, this point is wasted on many of our elected representatives.
Only last week, Victorian MP Fiona Patten (of the poorly named ‘Reason Party’ and, formerly, of the ‘Sex Party’) attempted to remove the Lord’s Prayer from Parliament.
Her attempt was not defeated, but rather deferred, following a pledge from the Andrews Labor Government to remove the prayer from both houses of the Parliament should it win the next election.
Such a move would do little to remind politicians that they serve a purpose far larger than themselves – and that they are ultimately meant to BE servants.
It would also undermine Australia’s cultural heritage in much the same way as removing references to God from the Constitutional preamble would.
Conversely, retaining prayers acknowledges that Christian belief (regardless of any individual’s personal faith) has forged this country and should serve as a moral guide for decision-making.
So, with hostility to faith at palpable levels, what can we do practically?
The first thing involves the census.
If you feel any faith affiliation at all – even if you don’t regularly practice that faith – please tick the appropriate box on the census.
It’s also important to encourage your family and friends to do likewise.
If anyone needs further convincing as to why, Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney has written a helpful opinion piece HERE.
The second thing is to keep campaigning for freedom of religion & belief.
Our recently re-launched Freedom Declaration is now approaching 25,000 signatures.
This is a massive effort – but we’re not done yet!
We presented a similar document to the then Attorney-General Christian Porter in 2018, prior to draft legislation being circulated for comment.
We want the Freedom Declaration to make a similar impact, reminding federal MPs that the promise to safeguard freedom of religion and belief remains unfulfilled.
With a federal election approaching, the months ahead are crucial to making our case – and making ourselves heard.’https://www.austfamily.com.au/
ABC
Shopping rules update You can only go shopping within your local government area or within 10km of your home (unless the goods or services are not available in your local area or within 10kms).
New policing operation to tackle the spread of COVID-19A new high-visibility policing operation has launched across Greater Sydney to enforce the new rules. 
whatyareckon 