It has always amazed me that the atheist world is so enthralled with Bertrand Russell’s Celestial Teapot as a supposed logical argument against the credibility of belief in God.
This argument is routinely deployed by atheists in debates with theists, and so it was on a discussion I am having on face book about Science and belief in the after life.
I was going to simply make a direct reply but then it occurred to me that I ought to blog my answer because of the important place Russell’s teapot (and it’s mate… the flying spaghetti monster) play in the Great controversy between Faith and skepticism.
I don’t know why Russell’s argument is so revered by atheists when it only takes a small amount of contemplation to realize that His argument is actually a refutation of blind faith in Atheistic Evolution, not belief in God.
Let me explain.
The reason we ought to doubt the existence of a teapot orbiting between Earth and Mars is simply because we know that Teapots are the product of mind over matter… ie that unless Mankind, or some other intelligence formed a teapot out of china and placed it in that orbit that there is no way Nature could produce such an Object via it’s blind/ unguided forces!
The Theory of Evolution. The Illusion of Design.
This is an argument from design, and it makes a mockery of evolutionary theory because atheist evolutionists believe that something far far more complex than a china teapot can and has been made by the pure blind and unguided forces of Nature… I refer to the spectacle of Life on Earth!
For Atheists to believe life could possibly be the result of blind chance, and yet balk at the idea of a Celestial teapot being formed by pure chance exposes their credulous Absurdity!
According to their theory their ought to be all sorts of objects in space which have a quirky resemblance to Designed artifacts… teapots… not a problem!
(I am reminded of ‘The Hitch hikers guide to the Galaxy’ when it mentions the existance of “Casinos, all of which have been formed by the natural erosion of wind and rain…”)
Hilarious!
Well we all know there very much is a problem!
Nature does not work like that!
Russell’s argument is actually a very poor argument given the nature of what he was attempting to disprove… ie religious belief. It is also a great testament to the duplicity of atheists whom Balk at the idea of a Celestial teapots yet will look at you square in the face and tell you they believe life started by accident! That is to strain at a gnat while swallowing a camel!
He has in fact furnished theists with a great argument against atheism… for it would be much easier to believe in a celestial Teapot than in the spontaneous generation and evolution of life…
Not to appreciate this is to be Pig headed indeed.
Russell’s teapot arguement from RationalWiki…
In an unpublished article entitled “Is There a God?”, commissioned in 1952 by Illustrated magazine,[1] Russell suggested the following thought experiment to illustrate the burden of proof and falsifiability:
“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes.
But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense.
If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”
“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” (NIV)
In my opinion Ellie Goulding typifies the BZP experience.
Sight, sound, and stamina are enhanced.
Everything is shiney.
Alcohol consumption is minimised.
Many friends have raved on about how great an experience they had going to concerts, etc when I brought along my plastic jar of ‘The Good stuff’.
Back in those happy times this was completely legal.
Of course the Wowzers could not tollerate that!
**************
The following is a pamphlet I wrote back in 2007-2008 hoping to rally public support to keep BZP legal in New Zealand, It is preceeded by a letter I also wrote at the time.
Libertarians were unsuccessful in halting the Ban…no surprise, considering the question was being ‘investigated’by the Draconian Nanny Statist and Cold war socialist Jim Anderton.
This was at the height of Nanny State Power… under the Labour Clark/ Wilson/ Yates Regime.
I put this up on our blog today because I have just recently made contact with a person whom was a major player in the new industry of legal highs in New Zealand. He was a very impressive personality in that he was able to argue the merrits of his business, and counter many of the prohibitionists claims that his products were unsafe.
I am keen to discuss this subject with such a knowledgable insider.
I also post it for posterity’s sake, as a testimony to some more of my exploits as a libertarian activist.
It represents an ongoing battle against the Drug war which is not only tyrannical, but serves Criminal interests, and works against healthier legal alternatives to alcohol and many illicit substances.
Many of the claims I make in this pamphlet have proven to be true.
It’s rationale is applicable to exposing the evils of the War on drugs in general, thus it is still very relevant, and the Re-legalisation of BZP and Cannabis are still matters of unsettled and ongoing injustice.
I think my piece suited the Pamphlet format better than this Blogpost… Oh well.
*************************************************************************************************
Letter to the Waikato Times (Published at a later date.)
Party Pills
Monday, 30 January, 2006 5:15 PM
How happy it is to be able to purchase party pills over the counter, knowing the profit is not going to criminal organisations but helping honest businessmen and there families to prosper.
No need to call the police!
No problem!
This is what it would be like if cannabis was legalised as well!
Since adding party pills to my shopping list I have noticed a reduction in my consumption of alcohol.
It is easy to regulate the level of enjoyment, one for a nice cruise, two for a stag night, etc
The buzz can be as good as any joint, which makes a mockery of the prohibition of Cannabis!
The Anti-Fun brigade fears that New Zealanders will see the benefits of having a legal recreational drug trade and so urgently seek to raise a big enough stink to make criminals of those peacefully engaged in such activities.
Little wonder why young people show no regard for accepted social norms or the Political Correct rules and regulations of Nanny State!
They are phoney! They are oppressive! They suck!
They are the obsessive delusions of twisted little busy bodies!
Get Off My Cloud and stop perverting the law!
Tim Wikiriwhi
Hamilton
******************************************************************************************************
My Pamphlet…and some momentos (sadly empty) from the Libertarian struggle aganst prohibiton
Self Control and Freedom vs the Police State.
Party Pills and the Law
By Tim Wikiriwhi
(LIBZ LOGO HERE)
www.libertarianz.org.nz
“We’ve got to fight for the right to party!” …Party pills and the Law.
by Tim Wikiriwhi, Libertarianz party spokesman..
The Spin-doctors already have their speeches ready …of wheels flying off their axels and drug crazed terror at our door, ZERO TOLERANCE, Send in Red Squad!
Waiting for an enquiry report on the issue was merely a formality.
Why waste time with the truth when pushing one’s own barrow is much more fun and politically acceptable to the sheeple?
The availability of legal Party pills (BZP) has made a very interesting challenge against drug prohibition in general, and it is for this reason alone not because of any great evil caused by BZP that the Prohibitionists are hell bent on banning them irrespective of right reason and justice.
They are relying on their old tactics of playing on the fears and ignorance of conservative New Zealanders.
To call New Zealand a liberal nation in the light of such thing’s as the Smoking ban is to deny the fact we Kiwi’s are but hen pecked children tied fast to the apron strings of Nanny State. It’s time we all grew up and said good bye to that old hag!
Enough is enough!
Al Capone and Mr Asia will love to see Party pills banned.
That will mean more profits coming their way in sales of their illicit products like P, E, or H. Likewise many Breweries and Distilleries (A dealers) would be expecting a boon as young people are forced to drink alcohol as their only legal recreational drug. Our state is directly responsible for this monopoly!
The ban will increase the potential for huffing solvents, LPG etc.
BZP will become another potentially exploitable product for criminal organisations and another motive for armed robbery, and murder as prices soar.
Because BZP is pleasurable, demand will always be there.
Banning it will not change this, just as drug tests don’t stop drug problems in prisons or worksites.
(Only a personal work ethic can stop drug use at work, and only a growing personal preference to be drug free will reduce demand for alcohol and drugs in general)
Use of BZP will continue via the black market, yet product safety and quality will be reduced as a consequence of not being able to manufacture it in a legitimate fashion.
Children will become exposed to both the Underworld and to a Draconian police force.
Victims of State oppression have their sense of justice seriously undermined creating a mindset for a life of anti-social behaviour.
These are the very real adverse affects to be expected to result from the ban… an increase in injustice, a perversion of police duties, and a reduction of social order and further entrenchment of our nations alcoholism.
The cotton wool of Nanny state becomes more suffocating and the ethics of self responsibility takes another hit!
It is time NZ society had a rethink about how recreational drugs are controlled and managed. It is time they stopped bigots like Jim Anderton’s use of perverse law to persecute and criminalize our young adults and put them on the wrong side of the law. This is to strip our children of their rights and expose them to tyranny.
Jim’s draconian ‘cures’ only worsens the diseases!
Police must be retrained to distinguish and police real crimes whilst protecting the liberty of individuals peacefully pursuing their own happiness, what ever, however they choose to spend their time.
Jim Anderton’s Ban will further stretch police resources.
Education needs to be severed from political interference that currently promotes dictatorship instead of self reliance.
It is not the job of the Government or the Police force to make up for the deficiencies in Self-moral responsibility that flow from generations of ignorance and lack of parental responsibility.
Such lesions not imbibed at home means a painful learning curve out in the big wide world…yet these lessons must be learned. They cannot be faked. The level of freedom and civilisation in any society is proportional to the collective sum of the moral codes of it’s individual members including their level of political enlightenment.
This is fundamental of Human Co-existence. As individuals we are sovereign over our own bodies and must function via our own inner compass as individuals, not as a herd via pontifications from a bully with a big stick.
Jim Anderton’s proposals to ban BZP destroys these vital ethics by making the state into a tyranny and a mockery of law and order.
In Jim Anderton’s political philosophy we are merely sheep to be herded at his command…and of course we are expected to adore him as ‘the good shepherd”(sic)
Personally I hold nothing but contempt for such a simpleton tyrant!
No apparent gain resultant from unjust powers can ever justify their wickedness even if it is only a small fringe minority who suffer!
Forget Jim’s Ban!
How ought we deal with the current levels of social disorder in regards to alcohol?
How ought we deal with BZP and recreational drugs in general?
What we do with our own bodies is up to us by right!
Helen Clark does not own your body, you do and because the health of your body is your concern, you ought to take good care of it and understand that your choices may have either good or evil effects upon one of your most precious possessions…your own body!
Thus it is that whether we are contemplating skydiving or cigarette smoking, the same ethic of free choice and self-responsibility apply.
Libertarian philosophy is capable of correcting the social mindset of this generation, literally reforming criminals and inspiring self-esteem founded upon self responsibility.
It is this philosophy of rights that must underpin the ethics of adults who use recreational drugs, weather Alcohol…BZP….or Rota power.
People with these ethics clearly established in their heart so as to be a part of their self esteem, while they may swear and become bad mannered, they don’t become violent, even when they have had too much to drink because such behaviour has become abhorrent, and appears barbarous to their inner being. (Respect thy neighbour)
It is this kind of inner being that is vital to civil society i.e. moral awareness.
Libertarianism compliments and embodies universally accepted ethical concepts and creates the liberty for individual personal beliefs to function as the real guides to life and Higher Laws rather than mere human convention backed up by brute force e.g. I am a Christian Libertarian …you may be a Hindu or Islamic one, etc.
We must also learn that all Citizen’s have the very real right to self defence and to bare the means of self defence and so if a drunken hoon is shot while trying to rob a Gas station, Liquor store or Dairy, that is a lesion in justice for everyone especially any would-be bandits.
The Libertaian party is a strong advocate of personal, home, business defence and are fighting for these rights to be Constitutionally protected ending the current denial and criminalisations of the status quo.
The Libertarianz party say the state stranglehold over our health system must be abolished. Thousands on waiting lists are being dropped.
State Healthcare is a giant scam and a complete failure!
The health system overload is constantly used as vindication for suppression of our rights and liberties, re smoking, drinking, fatty foods etc.
By removing the state from health we remove this source of tyranny and lay our healthcare to the proper door…our own!
Smokers will probably have to pay higher heath insurance (yet Smoke Taxes would be abolished so they probably will be able to afford the extra costs!)
It’s their life…It’s their choice.
Jim BANderton.
The travesty of his ‘due process and the facade of ‘Justice being seen to be done’… like a Nazi’s trial against ‘enemies of the state’… the ban of BZP was a forgone conclusion from the moment he was appointed to lead the public inquiry.
Jim Anderton’s ban is corrupt, anti freedom, anti private property, anti free trade, and must be defeated.
Just as the Farmers have successfully protested against dog tagging, so must shop keepers and party patrons alike become activists in the Libertarian attempt to chop Jim Anderton and his ‘fun police’ down to size!
Let’s stop his meddling!
And in the long term, lets fight for Constitutional chains to bind government from attempting such violations of our right and liberties in the future!
Important Note: Any youth reading this pamphlet needs to understand that their behaviour and that of their friends has a lot to do with the outcome of this issue and others such as the drinking age.
Because we live under a government that wields unrestricted powers young people are in constant danger of being stripped of their rights under the pretext that they are not adult enough to govern themselves. Breaking bottles, Graffiti, etc is for losers and I have no problem with the Police busting such crimes!
Youth need to snap out of their self defeating childishness, and become politically aware, and self responsible. Stop mimicking Idiots of the last generation and start becoming adults of real character in your own right.
You can still have fun and be treated as Adults!
Join the Libertarianz party!
We need both moral and financial support!
The Libertarianz party has a constitution ready for public scrutiny that may be found at our website www.libertarianz.org.nz.
Help us win this fight!
Help us get this information in the press.
Buy copies of this pamphlet to distribute.
Please copy and distribute this pamphlet.
Please contact me and find out when and where the Libertarianz party public meetings will be held in your areas.
07-8498323ah
twikiriwhi.yahoo.co.nz
Tim Wikiriwhi has represented the Libertarianz party in both local body and national politics.
He is a Christian, the father of two teenage children, and an engineer by trade.
Update: Tim Wikiriwhi Today also is the father of a beautiful 2.5 year old son.
The evils of Prohibition are ongoing… Read more here:
I tried Boundary Road Brewery’s Sticky Wicket manuka honey lager … it tastes like fizzy manuka honey.
I tried Boundary Road Brewery’s Chocolate Moose chocolate porter … it tastes like fizzy chocolate syrup.
These are not craft beers for the discerning adult palate, they’re alcoholic soft drinks for children. Notwithstanding that Boundary Road Brewery does make some half-decent beers—I already rated the Bouncing Czech pilsener, and the Mumbo Jumbo IPA is currently my preferred beer in its price range—I’m disappointed.
I suppose that if beer-flavoured lemonade is your thing, you can’t go past the Lawn Ranger lemon and lime infused lager, but otherwise I wish BRB would stick to making actual beer.
Note the juxtaposition of Christian and Satanic imagery in the video.
And you stare at me
In your Jesus Christ pose
Arms held out
Like you’ve been carrying a load
And you swear to me
You don’t want to be my slave
But you’re staring at me
Like I need to be saved
In your Jesus Christ pose
Arms held out
In your Jesus Christ pose
Thorns and shroud
Like it’s the coming of the Lord
And I swear to you
That I would never feed you pain
But your staring at me
Like I’m driving the nails
In your Jesus Christ pose
And you stare at me
In your Jesus Christ pose
Arms held out like it’s
The coming of the Lord
And would it pay you more to walk on water
Then to wear a crown of thorns
It wouldn’t pain me more to bury you rich
Then to bury you poor
In your Jesus Christ pose
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
St Paul Colossians 2vs8.
*Everything* is energy you say Albert? Why should I believe that *I* am merely energy?
This is an unproven materialistic assumption… not a scientific fact.
Does anyone appreciate the truth of what I am saying?
Albert himself said something to the effect that “Blind submission to Authority is the enemy of truth”.
Does anyone here have the courage to challange the authority of The great Albert Einstein?
It is because of the Prevalent acceptance of this sort of unscientific atheist fundamentalism in the Academic communities of the world that brings into question the existance of Free will and the human soul.
Because Modern infidelity and Rationalism has succeeded in portraying belief in supernaturalism/ spiritual reality as being a hallmark of scientific ignorance, many Christians have been duped into thinking this Materialistic world veiw is a scientific fact rather than an unproven atheist assumption.
These rationalist Christians also tend to follow their atheist brethern and also abandon the Classic Judeo-Christian Morality as being valid… and faith in the reliablity of the scriptures.
They have stepped away from being true theists and have become Deists.
Those Christians whom pride themselves as being the most ‘Educated’ and Ruggedly consistent rationalists will then go further…as a matter of course… and deny the existance of Eternal Damnation, because to their rationale, it would be grossly unfair to Damn someone to eternal torment if they had no freewill choice in the evils they committed or had no freewill in their decision to reject Christ.
I wonder how they can reconcile all this with their voluntarily accepted moral obligation to preach the gospel of God’s grace in Christ to the lost?
Do they believe they have the freewill to actually bother?
Can they justify their own inaction as being materialistically determined and that therefore they are not morally responcible for not bothering to preach?
“O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:”
St Paul 1 Tim 6:20
Thus a little leven leveneth the whole lump.
The mind boggles at just how utterly corrosive the Materialist world veiw is.
How effective it is in absolutely destroying faith in the Bible, in particular the classic moraity of a Holy and judging God and Mankind as a fallen yet Free willed and morraly culpible beings.
It is Sad yet interesting to witness the responce of Humanity to testimonies which dare to suggest that the Bible is the preserved word of God!
Such calls to true theistic faith are met with venimous cursings and accusations of maddness and folly… from all quarters!
The unadulterated arrogance of the skeptics!
They speak with the highest authority!
Human Rationalism!
Kneel Petty theist they command!
How dare you challenge the consensus of High academia?!
Humble thyself before the edifice of Modern scholarship ye unlearned fellow!
We will not yield to that ghastly Bible!
A harmony of outrage, and a choris of ‘rational proofs’ batter the Bible believer From both Atheists and so-called Christians alike.
The Bible believer finds himself alone.
The Rationalist Christians assure the atheists that these Bible believers are deluded fools… Throwbacks from a bygone age….not at all representative of the modern Christian position.
Mankind simply cannot bear the Idea that God’s Pure revelation Exists.
They know that to admit such a thing places them and all their Rationalisms under condemnation… under Judgment.
They don’t want to admit there is a light shining a path in the darkness!
They want to carry on the delusion that ‘nobody knows’…nobody can tell me what I should do, what I should believe, how I should live, why I should change…etc.
And they certainly don’t want to admit that the Great Moral light is that accursed and judgmental Bible!
To the Proud Sinner that is the most unacceptable proposition of all!
The Rationalist Christian doe’s not even want to believe that!
It’s too filled with things which they find repugnant… like Hell!
It is relatively easy to understand why the average sinner does not want to believe in moral culpability and a judgment day.
There is pleasure in sin.
The low road is an easier path to travel than the high steep path, and many Christians prefer to deny the reliability of the scriptures than having the burden of preaching an unpopular message to the lost.
What is truly sad to grasp is that these rationalists Christians have completely smoked themselves!
They have chosen to follow the delusions of the children of Darkness rather than the Light of the word of God.
Professing themselves to be wise they became fools.
I would like to point out that though there may be a cozy bit of kinship between atheists and Modern Rationalist ‘educated’ ‘Christians’ in their mutual hatred of ‘Fanatical Bible believers’, that in reality the Atheists are laughing at the so-called Rationalist Christians whom have abandoned faith in the scriptures, and share the atheist views that the Bible is unreliable.
Atheist laugh when Christians claim to also accept the theory of evolution instead of believing the book of Genesis.
They Laugh because they know they have won!
They have managed to get the Christians to abandon the Bible and instead accept atheist Materialism as the truth!
It is my solemn belief that is is impossible to convert the lost to faith in the truth of the gospel of Christ without preaching and teaching faith in the trustworthiness of the scriptures themselves in which the gospel is found.
News Flash Ye Christians!
Materialism is not a scientific fact!
Belief in the supernatural is not definitive of Ignorance!
Ye of Little Faith!
“ O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
Jesus Christ. Luke 24:25
Tim Wikiriwhi
Christian Libertarian
Dispensationalist.
King James Bible believer.
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
St Paul 1 Thes2:13
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
St Paul 2 Tim 2vs 15
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
St Paul 2 Tim 3:15
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
Jesus Christ John17:17
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Jesus Christ Matt 24:35
“…So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
St Paul Rom 10:17
UPDATE: Did Albert Really say that?
Thanks to Eternal Vigilance commenter and Libertarian ‘Terry’ I have been made aware that there is a dispute as to whether this Meme has a genuine Einsten quote or whether it is an evil deception. It is a testament to the sickness of Humanity that unfortunately there are millions of unscrupulous liars out there whom manufacture Frauds either to push their own agendas or simply to cause chaos and destruction. I must Therefore warn readers that there is doubt as to this quotes reliability. I will leave the blogpost up because even if the quote is a fraud, my argument against Materialism still holds good, and it may be discovered that Albert did in fact say this. Thus the controversy! Check out this discussion here… http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=583449
Keep Vigilant!
Update 2: Pondering further upon the problem about the verasity of this Meme raises a very interesting dilemma, very similar to the basic premise behind the Face book page ‘Did Abraham Lincoln really exist?’ https://www.facebook.com/alincolnism.
Ie that is is impossible to say with certainty that Einstein did not say this quotation…even if no reference to it can be found in the common places one looks (eg Google)
All that skeptics can claim is that *they cannot find sufficient evidence to convince them in their own minds that Einstein did say this.
The reality is that this could very well be a genuine quote from an obscure source… ie It may be a record of a conversation, or a lecture he gave which does not enjoy fame.
And this is a very common reality!
Not everything famous people say becomes common knowledge.
The majority of their sayings actually get quicky forgotten.
I find this dilemma very interesting because it also relates to arguments used by textual critics in their attacks against the trustworthyness of the King James bible because according to them it includes portions of scripture the authenticity of which they dispute.
What is of grave concern is that all valid and truthful historic records can be undermined via such devious rationalisms which only need to caste doubt to destroy faith… and what sort of Malevolent spirit loves to caste doubt against the truth?
The Thinking person must navigate this Dominion of Devils filled with snares and stumbling blocks deliberately engineered to keep people in the dark.
When people give insults or compliments they are giving an insight into what they consider to be important.
If someone compliments your looks it’s because they value looks. If someone compliments your honesty it’s because they value honesty. If someone compliments your intelligence it’s because they value intelligence.
If someone calls you ugly it’s because their own looks are important to them. If someone calls you an amateur it’s because their own importance is important to them. If someone says you have a nasaly voice it’s because how they sound is important to them. Insults like these come from vanity.
With insults – the more harm the insulter is trying to do the higher the value of insult they will give. That is, the higher value is to the insult giver not necessarily the insult receiver.
So… next time you get insulted don’t just ignore it – consider what it tells you about the giver.
And, more importantly, if you happen to give an insult or a compliment consider what it tells you about yourself.
No person … is prohibited from entering marriage on the grounds of their sexual orientation. Given the definition of marriage that the Act presupposed, however, few if any homosexual people would actually want to enter marriage, since marriage is the union of a man and a woman – and people who are attracted to members of their own sex are not likely to wish to enter such a union.
If you say that a change to the Marriage Act has nothing to say about opposite-sex couples who get married, then you are simply mistaken. You’ve got the facts wrong. These changes would not change the status of people who are homosexuals. These changes are to change marriage into something else – something that some homosexuals want instead of what it is now. The marriage of everyone is being changed so that marriage becomes a desirable thing to people who don’t currently want it.
… the current version of the marriage Act applies to all individuals equally and does not exclude people from marriage on the grounds of sexual orientation. The real issue is that people of homosexual orientation do not want marriage, for marriage, according to the definition presupposed by the Act, is between people of opposite sexes.
… this is not a genuine attempt to change the status of homosexual people. Instead it is the attempt to change marriage – something that homosexual people currently do not want – into something that they find desirable.
I have a faint suspicion that there’s something slightly not quite right with this line of argument … but I can’t actually see any holes in it. Can you?
Waitemata & Gulf candidate for Auckland City Council, Stephen Berry, says today that he welcomes plans by Mayor Len Brown and Housing Minister Nick Smith to form a working group to look at the issue. “With an opportunity to vote out the current leftist council still being several months away, this is probably the best step toward more affordable housing that Aucklanders have to look forward to.”
“Normally, I’m not a big fan of Government working groups. They’re usually a horrendously expensive chinwag for bureaucrats which achieve little. However in this case I’m cautiously optimistic. Len Brown and his allies are so hopelessly clueless about the devastating effect their policies are having on housing affordability, that I think collaboration with a National government can only be positive!”
Mr. Berry is buoyed by indications from the National government that they are willing to reform the Resource Management Act in order to bring about a reduction in housing prices. “The power that the Resource Management Act grants to city councils and neighbourhood busybodies alike to intervene in property owners business and drag out the consents process is a major cause of housing unaffordability in Auckland and the rest of the country.
“It is also my hope that Nick Smith follows through on his threat to force through changes to local body processes, if necessary, to bring reduced housing costs. Auckland property owners should not have to continue suffering the economic illiteracy of the majority of Auckland City councillors.”
Stephen Berry says that electoral relief for long suffering property owners will be coming soon, in the form of a nation-wide local body political party that promotes small-government ways to improve housing affordability. “A real alternative to Len Brown’s policies is not far away. Let’s just hope he doesn’t bankrupt us in the meantime.”
Stephen Berry
Candidate, Waitemata & Gulf
Auckland City Council
0211653464 stephenberry@xtra.co.nz
![talibanderton_thumb[3]](http://blog.eternalvigilance.me/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/talibanderton_thumb3.jpg)
