A book on same sex parenting is banned. The ban only applies to a few libraries in NSW, in a local council area where the faith-based decision was made, the debate led by a man who admits to not having read the book and claiming a two-year-old saw the book and was asking questions and stating that children should not be sexualised.
There are a couple of problems here, firstly, a two-year-old asking questions about a book in a library… really? Imagine, “Mummy, Daddy, why has that kid on the book cover got two dads?” and secondly, how are children sexualised in this?
So objections are raised, and a book banned because a councillor finds offence, and garners enough support in a council meeting for the motion banning the books in libraries within the council district to pass.
The steady growth of faith-based issues in all levels of government is concerning but in line with the objectives of faith leaders to gain greater influence in what is seen as a rejection of religion in the wider community.
Within the Liberal Party we see candidates being put forward who will rail against declining moral standards, openly anti LBGTIQA+, espousing ‘traditional values’, effectively trying to wind the clock back to times when Christian values were the accepted norm. A return to times when we could be comforted knowing that basically we all agreed to standards and were all basically the same. (And throw homosexual men into prison. Strangely, lesbians were OK, no law threatening them, but I guess in earlier times we could call them witches and burn them at the stake.)
It’s not just the Liberal Party pushing the sameness barrow, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party were founded on such a philosophy and projects it with a ‘go back to where you came from’ mantra for any who are different.
But what are the seven pillars, or mountains referred to in the headline, and how are they manifest in politics and in the broader community?
The seven pillars mandate comes out of Dominion Theology which is a group of Christian political ideologies based on an understanding of biblical laws which is then applied through law and by-law making at the various levels of government: local, state and federal.
The seven pillars are Society, Family, Education, Government, Media, Entertainment and Commerce.
It’s really interesting to look at the various things that are happening through the lens of those seven pillars, to understand that society works best when it follows prescribed creeds and standards, that on the beach for example, there is adequate coverage of a body with the swimsuit or that books available in the local library do nor promote a lifestyle which falls outside of the interpretation of those laws.
But that goes even deeper when we look at other forms of ‘difference’, like acceptance of cultural values that are not mainstream Judeo-Christian, like actually listening to the most marginalised Australians, giving the First Nations people a guaranteed voice to Parliament, or scorning women who wear a burka rather than ‘normal’ clothing (whatever ‘normal’ means). Or blatantly racist labelling when there are outbreaks of rowdiness or violence where some of the participants do not look ‘Australian’. (In the most culturally diverse nation on Earth, what does ‘Australian’ even look like?)
And coming back to that banned book for just a moment, what does an ‘Australian’ family look like? Certainly not two blokes bringing up a kid... or does it? Families take on so many ‘looks’, with so many marriages breaking up and parents remarrying or living in de-facto relationships, we have blended families, we have a fluidity of partnerships, we have mixed race families and so the ‘looks’ go on and on. There is no longer a stereotypical family. It is no longer a Mum and Dad and two kids, all white with blond hair and blue eyes. And thinking that through, has there ever been a stereotypical family?
Going through the list of pillars we come to that most controversial of topics: Education, and here we have some real struggles to contend with. What should we teach our children, what should be sanctioned by the education departments when it comes to teaching, what are the boundaries within friendships and dealing with class mates, teaching of respect for difference, gender difference, girl, boy, and those who find difficulty defining as either, racial or ethnic difference are probably an important ones, and as teenage hormones kick in, sex education, safe sex and an understanding of what consent looks and sounds like is just possibly something that needs some time spent on?
Or the teaching of history, should it include the history of colonialism and the treatment of Indigenous peoples? How slavery was used to produce the wealth of Empires, how lands were stolen, and Indigenous peoples corralled onto the least valued lands or otherwise just slaughtered? Of do we extoll the virtues of missionaries who ‘Christianised’ Indigenous populations as they were driven from their lands and stripped of their languages and pagan cultures?
And should the right to discriminate be written into law so that teachers in private schools are compelled to conform to prescribed standards, no LBGTIQ+ teachers and no pre-marriage cohabiting with prospective marriage candidates. And preferably be committed to the faith the school represents. Quality of teaching standards becomes of secondary importance and the prejudices and biases of the religion are reinforced through the school’s teaching. The self-righteousness, the sense of being of god’s people (which ever god is their god of choice) is reinforced allowing a long look down noses at anyone who is not ‘one of us’.
Ah, Government is next and ‘preselection season’ is in full swing as suitable candidates are chosen to contest the upcoming elections. There has been an ongoing form of, no, I dare not call it ‘Branch Stacking’, but having people of faith joining as branch members of political parties, particularly so on the right of the political spectrum. We saw it in Tasmania with a former Liberal Senator gaining a seat at the recent election, and we have witnessed the unruly infighting of the trans issue in Victoria. Some preselections in WA for next year’s state election have seen some interesting endorsements including one man who links homosexuality with pedophilia, another endorsed candidate who is a right-wing radio shock jock and as Lord Mayor of Perth has worked actively to close a women’s refuge centre and at unguarded moments lets slip the odd blokey joke, of calling the women’s Australian Open Final as being quite insignificant compared to the real one; the men’s final.
South Australia too has had people of faith dropped in as candidates, also using the same fear of difference tactic to win some but lose most of the seats they have contested. Similarly in NSW, candidates are chosen in part because of their faith-based affiliations.
The intent is clear. Things have happened in recent years which are not good. Abortion laws have been liberalised, Voluntary Assisted Dying laws have been passed, and same-sex marriage has become legal. We need not look far to see what the results could be if these candidates get up, and win government, we have seen the overturning of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision which legalised abortion in America allowing states to effectively ban all abortions. One change the Whitlam Government brought was no fault divorce. (In the USA some noise on the right is being made to see that overturned.)
The next pillar is Media, and as we have seen the Murdoch Press have continued the King Maker ethos which Rupert Murdoch claimed as early as 1972 when then News Ltd backed the It’s Time campaign which saw Gough Whitlam become Prime Minister after 23 years of conservative government, and three years later back Malcolm Fraser’s Liberal coalition to regain power. The biased mainstream media – ownership which is concentrated in such few hands – has a powerful influence in generating fear and inciting the sense of government incompetence when the right is not in power.
The government owned media networks, ABC and SBS, which as a condition of their existence need to present an even-handed approach to political reporting, have been starved of funding through successive ‘fiscally responsible’ conservative governments, and have stacked their boards with political cronies, effectively muting any sense of independence. (Strange how fiscally responsible governments have failed to produce a balanced budget.)
Entertainment is an interesting pillar, but if we consider that under a broader topic, The Arts, we see that again, where there is a cohort of free-thinking artists, whether in theatre, art, music, even sport, screws are tightened, funding reduced so that the viability of the arts is limited to already successful acts. Here in WA, we had for a number of years an exhibition at the Art Gallery of WA from the Museum of Modern Art in New York displaying some incredibly beautiful and some incredibly controversial works, but funding for that was removed by the Barnett Liberal Government.
Lastly, we have Commerce, and there we see that so much is done to ensure that commerce is profitable and that those with their hands on the wheel are well-rewarded with incentives for business to grow but for wages to be left as close as possible to subsistence levels. Stifling unions is important because we cannot allow the workers to have too much power… preferably no power.
Of the seven pillars, the ones which are really ‘battle ground’ issues are Society, Family, Education and Government. The freedoms we have gained in my lifetime are under threat, women’s rights, no fault divorce, multiculturalism, gender diversity and ethnic diversity, each of which add so much to us as a nation are under threat because of the fear of difference.
At election time, I ring candidates and ask them about political and religious affiliation and how that will affect their roles in the positions they seek. Included are questions about the issues such as views on various contentious issues such as gender diversity, health issues, including abortion, and so forth. That does not become a debate, it is for the candidate to address my concerns. If they will not give me the time, they are advised that I cannot vote for them since they do not value my interest. You may not be surprised that the current mayor in my local area, a Liberal who loved to be seen with Scott Morrison, did not respond and did not get my vote. Unfortunately, all her church mates voted. (Local election candidates in WA do not campaign under a party banner, yet most candidates are politically aligned.)
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
The filthy pox of religious superstition should go the way of dinosaurs, dodos, fairies, Piltdown Man and pterodactyls.., they “got” some ancestral people through the dim mysteries that impelled them to invent solace giving solutions, but have been the agent of death, agony, misery, theft, delusion and despair ever since for too many people, too many times. In Politics, it is a severe plague. Religion impels dunces to believe they are right and everyone else is wrong. More have died from this type of superstition than from viruses, (probably, but who would know?) Anyway enjoy your eternal flames and damnation, or perhaps a harp in the clouds…
WTaF!
“The government today announced there will be a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee into the impact and influence of social media.”
This ban is actually illegal. Someone needs to get the twonk behind it charged.
Don’t tell these zealous Councillors that there are naughty bits in the works of Shakespeare and that young women were frequently played by boys which elicited a certain amount of homoeroticism in some plays – and don’t tell them about the Merchant of Venice and the antisemitism, that will really get them going.
Best methinks that our local councillors stick to roads rates and rubbish rather than spend their time combing through the shelves of the local library.
“…….garners enough support in a council meeting for the motion banning the books in libraries within the council district to pass.”
This is no actually correct because 4 people did not vote for some reason or other, and the vote was 6:5 – hardly a stunning majority.
I wouldn’t mind betting the vote was taken knowing that these four were ‘missing”
Guarantee that in the US any related Christian dominionist group is linked to the fossil fuel & faux free market Koch Network e.g. from the time of Paul Weyrich at Heritage two generations ago co-opting the religious right.
Also more recently the CNP Council for National Policy etc. (and Netanyahu helping same on Jerusalem becoming capital), like their Federalist Society has its Christian paw prints all over SCOTUS appointments…. long game.
For example the CNP was apparently linked to the JBS John Birch Society generations ago, which had Fred Koch as a founder….. also channeled by related CPAC.
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/05/17/council-national-policy-behind-curtain
Terrence:
They need to start with with bible. The amount of sex and violence in that is staggering.
The Christian church’s along with the Zionist Jew enclave have been destroying the books that do not suit their philosophies for some centuries now.
It seems in this current case it’s “kill the messenger” who merely proposed what many parents support but his voice will be drowned in the political scam that claims homosexuality is normal. In other words that a turd has a clean end.
This partakes in the hypocrisy of these mentioned ideologies that must be eliminated for the continued natural evolution of the human species.
Is this not a violation of the NSW and Commonwealth anti-discrimination acts … and does not both those acts override any council by-laws … and as the council has violated these acts are they even still valid to sit as a council … should they not be suspended as a valid council with all elected positions vacated and new elections called so that real humans instead of fundamentalist nut jobs be put in their place??
Reply to Gus: Homosexuality exists in most species on earth … Homophobia exists in only one species … what appears in nature is natural … it’s the one only humans display (homophobia) that is not natural!!
My God! What bloody century do we live in again? Are governments and/or authoritative hypocrites STILL managing to restrict free speech by banning books? REALLY? This is the 21st century NOT the 18th century! Its time we moved on from such medieval restrictions. There is no room in our current world for such autocratic domination over what we see and hear by judgemental power-obsessed politicians or bible-thumping hypocrites with a warped religious agenda.
Yes Uncletimrob, It looks very much like the opportunity ti vote was taken when they barely had quorum.
What a great read, Bert, The family does exist dad looks like, jesus, father xmas, the phantom and superman the kids look like lucy, charlie and linus the mother is wiping her hands on her apron. all WASPS who know god’s image is fixed, and not different, so poofs are self made and ergo can be self unmade. Lesbians are different from god, in that they provide the uplift older men need. African men know some anatomy and their women use the knife for the oposite reason men use their kinofe. The Aboriginal men are not as misogynistic as the Africans nor as reproductively ignorant as the jews but need to limit breeding so they whistle-cock
ps
One shouldn’t laugh but my xstian friends believe the afterlife has a bonking facility. Looks like god dispenses pricks and vaginas(perhaps re-attaching hymens overnight??)
But from what I read the only penis is the one belonging to jesus who went to keaven as an entire???
The greatest danger to Australia from the Seven Pillars lunatic fringe was the creepy Scott Morrison PM. He made his Christianist evangelism central to his public persona and even admitted that when he was hugging or shaking hands with somebody he was actually performing the “laying on of hands” ritual. He was and still is a total nutter.
If governments and councils want to ban books then they should start with the ones that have caused the most grief and suffering throughout our species’ history, namely the books of the brain-washing zealot religions: the bible, the tanakh and the quran.
If we were able to accurately count how many have been tortured, maimed and massacred in the name of the fictional being all these books ‘worship’ I’m sure it would be higher than any other causes of death of our species, including pandemics like the ‘black plague’ that (according to these books only effected “sinners”) managed to wipe out a third of the population of Europe and Britain. Our species will never reach our potential while we look backwards and continue to hurt and kill each other over our petty differences.
Such ignorant, anti-intellectual, anti-social, oppressors, out of fear and self-righteousness, seem to be the ones that scramble for supremacy. Once they believe they have achieved even an iota of power, they revert to othering by any means at their disposal.
Its become a plague across a world that is struggling to renew itself from the stuff-ups of the past, say, 200 years; the greatest wars, mass murders and genocides ever, the ecological, economic and cultural devastation, and the post WWII insanity of quadrupling of world population driven by the self-servingness of corporatization in a corrupt political partnership.
These self-righteous oppressors peddling small-beer puritanical diversions, are not only devoid of love and understanding of sexuality, sensuality and psyche, but their pettiness acts to conceal and prolong inaction on the real and substantive issues that need reform. In that, they are the path to ruination.
Always thought our constitution mandated separation of church and state??? Why don’t the State or Federal governments jump on this and smack them down???
Rhonda:
I don’t know about the anti-discrimination laws, but the council has no jurisdiction over which books are stocked by those libraries.
Pete,
Separation of church and state is a myth, parliament sitting days open with the lord’s prayer as well as acknowledgement of country. Members do nor have to be present for that formality, but it still looks like, walks like and sounds like the parliament being under the authority of the biblical god.
This is further reflected when we consider that religious institutions are exempt from taxes and their schools are favoured with a disproportionate share of federal funding.
Reminds me of a pathetic episode during the Port Adelaide ‘Wonderwalls Festival’ in 2020. Liberal Senator Antic poked his nose into it by claiming a mural depicting LNP politicians apparently addicted to coal was offensive because they were smoking pipes, and there are several child minding centres nearby!!!
There is only one – at the TAFE college about 1km away.
Anyway, he pressured the local Council to have it removed or altered. Cost the council an extra $1500 for the alteration.
I have tried to attach the before and after photos below.
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/0fa4812b364c9fe561ea828323a747ca?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=811&cropW=1439&xPos=0&yPos=102&width=862&height=485
https://live-production.wcms.abc-cdn.net.au/16f769f26cf5e6e9bd5a2baf2e374b6e?impolicy=wcms_crop_resize&cropH=853&cropW=1280&xPos=0&yPos=43&width=862&height=575
Or you can checkout the ABC news report from the time: Search ABC for (mural of ministers smoking coal altered after complaints) Antic, another god botherer. Antic by name, antics by nature.