Religion…it really isn’t that hard. At best it should simply be a reminder to be a good person to other people. Ie, help those less fortunate and believe in reciprocity – “do not do unto others as you would expect they should do unto you”.
What religion should not be, is a business. Be wary of religions with an ABN (ie, an Australian Business Number). Be wary of religions that were conceived in the last thousand years. Be wary of religions that are just record labels in disguise. Be wary of religions that encourage its followers to lead their lives to the letter of the law established thousands of years ago.
Religion is about reminding you about what it is all about. If you want spirituality, help someone out – offer assistance when you see an accident, help someone with a pram up the stairs, buy a Big Issue (and then recycle it), do some volunteer work, stop and chat to a homeless person, offer to share your cab with someone else in the queue who is going in the same direction, buy toys for a children’s hospital – that’s spirituality. And best of all, you don’t need to buy a CD, wear isolating apparel or give up a percent of your salary.
Caught up with one of the chief ministers of Australia’s recently elected Labor government. In scenes straight out of Yes Minister, it was an education to hear a politician distancing himself from election promises within a fortnight of winning the Federal election. ‘We’ll try our best but the reality is that we made promises based on inadequate information base that is usually experienced when in opposition’. The next three years shuold be fun then. Labor was after all in the Opposition wilderness for almost 12 years! That’s a long time to be out of the loop.
To see that democracy is alive and well, go no further than proposed privatisation of the New South Wales’ power assets. Two previous state governments had already tried to privatise these assets without success. The unions blocked the deal on each occasion. So what has the Iemma government done differently to get this deal through? Surely the concerns of the unions could not have changed! In short, it is remarkable what effect a $40,000 cheque to each of the 3,000 or so energy workers to be privatised can have in smoothing the debate…And that, is democracy! And what’s more, who gets to pay for such efficiency? We do.