This coming Sunday has been declared a day of mourning for the Bali victims. At least they're keeping this secular around here; none of this "national day of prayer" mumbo-jumbo, and no snide implications that secularism is a moral deficiency and atheists are borderline sociopaths who do not belong in society.

Posted by: csmole | http://www.livejournal.com/users/csmole | Tue Oct 15 08:40:45 2002

I read a figure somewhere once (where, exactly, escapes me) that 60% of Americans go to church on what they considered a regular basis (at least once a month) as compared to 7% of Australians. (Whether or not either figure included mosques, synagogues, etc., i'm not sure.) It's just not in the culture....I would say by and large, secularism is much more predominant.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Tue Oct 15 08:55:50 2002

Apparently something like 30-40% of Americans believe in creationism. And a similarly large number believe that evolution was "guided by God". Which sort of defeats the purpose.

Now Australians just don't worry about it, crack open a stubby and throw a shrimp on the barbie.

Posted by: sam | http://www.humbug.net | Tue Oct 15 11:26:14 2002

evolution was "guided by god" -- hehehehe.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Tue Oct 15 17:00:49 2002

In America they also have "unitarian universalism", for people inclined against organised religion who don't want to come out as No-Good Shits.

And I suspect that, had meme-complexes like Discordianism and the Church of the SubGenius come from somewhere other than the US, they would not have been framed in terms of religion.

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com | Wed Oct 16 02:52:08 2002

Heh. Here, people just stay home to watch the footy rehashes.

Speaking of football and Xtianity, it's funny how everyone cringes when someone talks about tying playing footy to their love of Jesus Christ or some nonsense like that...

Posted by: Ali | http:// | Wed Oct 16 16:18:53 2002

Yes, a good time for an 'Aussie Barbeque' in memory of the Bali 'Aussie Barbecue'. Remember the bangers and meat sauce!

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Wed Oct 16 16:25:36 2002

Is that you, Lev?

Posted by: Graham | http://grudnuk.com | Thu Oct 17 02:16:35 2002

This reminds me of the jokes that were going around the time of Waco, relating Fatty Vautin's[1] World's Biggest Barbeque.

([1] - err, retired Rugby League type. Why the hell are all my comments related to sport, lately? I'll have to think about that one.)

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