Chosing My Religion

It is safe to say the Woogs are not religious.  Although I probably should be. I should be thankful I am here at all!  My dad was training to be a priest when my Mum stole him from Jesus. Go Mum.....

When it was time for Harry to start school,  we had to decide which scripture he should do.  Mr Woog (who has an extreme aversion to organised religion) was insistent that he do "non-scripture" but I was of the opinion that if there were lessons in anything on offer,  we should take it.  So I decided that my kids would study a year of every faith.  Starting with Judaism.

This year,  Jack started school and he and Harry are one of 6 kids who study Baha'i.  Jack does not really like it as the teacher has a scary face.

Me?  I worship weekly at the Church of Chatswood Chase where the congregation are expected to wear tight jeans, long black boots, a white long sleeved t-shirt under a puffer vest and finished with a Bugaboo. There may also be a Pandora bracelet involved,

Anyway,  our school has been trialling Ethics classes in the upper years which I thought was terrific.  The aims of the ethics classes are to;

Provide a secular complement for the discussion of the ethical dimension of students' lives
Offer a secure, non-judgemental space to explore the question, "What ought one to do?"
Introduce the language of ethics and in doing so, to provide the tools to survey the values and principles we live by
Inspire an appreciation of virtues and ideals
Develop the intellectual capacity and the personal attitudes needed for participating in ethical reflection and action
Encourage an openness towards important personal and public issues
Introduce dialogue as a means of resolving ethical issues
Develop students' ability to identify the relevant stakeholders and thoroughly explore, among other things, the consequences of proposed resolutions to the ethical dilemmas which they are considering
In short, to deepen the ethical sense of future generations

In short, these lessons are designed to teach you to be a more thoughtful person. And in my opinion, everyone could do with a dose of that.

Enter a fuckwit.

Fred Nile is the leader of the Christian Democratic Party, a political group that promotes Christian values in Parliament and evaluates all legislation on Biblical principles. He also hates, HATES the thought that our kids can learn ethics at school. HATES. And he currently has the power to pull Ethics classes out of schools.

Fred Nile,  the world has changed. Take a look around you. Families are not mainly a mum, dad and two kids anymore. Men want to marry men.  Single women want to have babies and parent solo. And I want my kids to be taught Ethics at school instead of scripture.  And I do not want a deal with the Liberal Party to stand in the way of what I believe is right for my kids.  And I would hate to think how pissed off I will be if this happens. I would be really niled riled up.

Do you think ethics should be taught in schools?

Lederhosen

Barry ponders what to have on his sandwich

Unless he gets hit by a bus between now and Saturday, Barry O'Farrell will be the next Premier of NSW. And in a state which 6.5 million people calls home, I just cannot shake the nagging notion that this is the best that we can do. Of course the alternative is just as disturbing.

Yeah (insert giggle) Sorry NSW, I had not fucking idea what I was doing from the start. Cannot wait till Sunday to start my Tupperware distribution business. Our Winter catalogue is coming out and there are exciting new colours. Call me!

None of this was my fault. PS Who farted? Pong!

Of course it has been years of shit-slanging and blame games, but let's face it. NSW is in a dire mess. And I cannot see how it can rebuild itself when I look at the candidates. Dire I tell you.

Politics? I have heard of that. Call my agent and let's see if we can work something out.

So dire, I would probably vote for her if she was running.

I went to vote earlier today and as I parked the car, I prayed to God to send me a sign as to who should be worthy of my selection. Because I just cannot vote for Barry and I just cannot vote for Kristina. And I love voting and I hate people who donkey vote.

Just as screwed as the NSW Political Landscape

But I had to vote for someone. I felt like I do when I go to a restaurant with a big group of people. You know how you get the menu and not look at it because you are too busy talking to everyone and then you panic when the waiter comes to take your order and everyone else orders quickly and you have not even read the menu so you hastily select something and then regret it and go over the waiter and tell him you have changed your mind so the waiter goes into the kitchen and lets the chef know and then you change your mind back and make your friend go and tell the waiter because you do not want to appear like you are an idiot, when indeed you clearly are?

I felt just like that.

But then I saw a Candidate Representative wearing lederhosen and I took that as my sign. So I kind of donkey voted in the end. What else can you do when all you can select from is a pack of asses?