Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   “The curriculum had already drawn tensions among the county’s religious parents, with some worrying about appropriateness and arguing the material…

2. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

3. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

4. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

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   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

IVY Tan, above, a spokesperson for Kaitaia Abundant Life School in New Zealand described as “horrendous” a law that prevents it from offering conversion therapy to pupils who identify as gay.

At the beginning of 2023 NZ became the latest country to outlaw cruel and discredited interventions aimed at turning gays “straight”, but rather than comply with the law the school has decided to shut down.

According to 1 News the school, which offers “quality God-honouring education” to around 200 primary and secondary students, says the new law means they can no longer operate under Christian values.

“Poison” Ivy Tan added the “horrendous” law means that it can no longer offer “prayers, support or guidance” to students that may be experiencing “unwanted feelings towards the same sex.”

Image via YouTube

On hearing of the impending closure, the Minister of Education, Jan Tinetti, above, was less than sympathetic.

She said that if schools such as Kaitaia Abundant Life choose to close because they are unable to fully care for all students, regardless of sexuality “then they’re making the best decision.”

There is an expectation, and has been from the word go with all governments, that all schools will do their best to support all their students from all backgrounds

Now that means all of our rainbow kids as well, and I make no apology.

While the school has announced its plans to close down at the end of Term 2, the ministry is yet to sign off on that.

Image via YouTube

UN expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz above, told NZ’s Human Rights Commissioner in 2020:

LGBT persons endure severe pain and long-lasting psychological and physical damage because of so-called ‘conversion therapies

Practices of conversion therapy are rooted in the belief that persons of diverse sexual orientation and gender identity are somehow inferior, either morally, spiritually or physically because of their orientation or identity, and that they must modify that orientation or identity to remedy that inferiority.

Parallels between being homosexuality and left-handedness

Image via leftyfretz.com

Madrigal-Borloz words reminded me of the attempts made by a devout Christian teacher at my primaty school in South Africa to “cure” pupils of the “sin” of left-handedness. She did so by viciously beating the hands of “lefties” with a heavy metal ruler, screaming that it was a sign of “deviancy” and “satanic”.

Her behaviour was rooted in the Catholic belief that left-handed people were servants of the Devil. This belief, on occasions, led to the execution of “lefties” in medieval Europe.

Persecution persisted in 15th and 16th century and if Leonardo Da Vinci had been punished for being a mancino—Italian slang for “lefties“—and probably gay, the ceiling of the Sistine might well have been painted avocado green.

According to this blog:

For generations, left-handers who attended Catholic schools were forced to become right-handed. They justified this belief on the basis of several Bible quotations that stigmatised left-handedness.

Even as recently as the 20th century, certain psychologists would see being left handed as a sign of deviancy, which was necessary to be “fixed” through behavioural treatments.

The blogger added:

It was fairly common until even the late 20th century for children to be forced to write with their right hand. Some teachers would go so far as to tie a lefty pupil’s left hand behind their back so that it could not be used.

And they pointed out:

In total the Bible makes 100 references alluding to the right hand, all of them positive. Whereas only 25 references to the left hand are made, and no surprises, every single one is negative!

Crazy, huh? But no less loony than attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation.

Unfortunately, Abundant Life will continue to operate as a church and “help families that are looking at home-schooling.”

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If you spot any typos in this post please alert me via email: freethinkered@aol.com