"Today's announcement by Minister Kim Carr of the first national science communication report paints a relatively poor picture of science education in Australia... In an attempt to wean Australia off its exclusive diet of taking national heroes from the sporting arena, Senator Carr noted that 'This report correctly calls for a national, coordinated strategy to catapult science into the classrooms, boardrooms and lounge rooms of Australia.' "

It's about time someone in politics pushed for this.

When I was thirteen years of age, my family migrated to Australia. I liked the fact that Australia was secular. Religion seemed to play little role in politics and in people's lives in general. In the years that followed, Australia continued to remain secular and as far as I was aware, religion did not play a major part in politics. I was always confident that other people's beliefs would never affect me, confident that religion will continue to remain separate from the laws of the land that ruled me and so many Australians. Now, I am no longer sure.

Overseas, there has been a worrying trend of religious institutions attempting to hijack governments and have laws changed to ones that suit their beliefs. This is made possible by providing simple-minded, outdated arguments to complex issues faced by societies. Unfortunately, these theocratic ideologies have arrived here in Australia.

"Nigeria?s interim leader ordered the Army to restore order today in the central town of Jos where nearly 200 people have been killed in three days of clashes between Christians and Muslims. Sectarian clashes have erupted with deadly regularity. Hundreds were killed in separate incidents in 2008, 2004 and 2001 as Christians and Muslims battled one another on the streets, shooting and hacking each other to death and setting fire to homes and religious buildings." (Source)

COMMENT: When there is little to divide people, they have religion. Religion is divisive.

1. Regarding humans as the central element of the universe.

2. Interpreting reality exclusively in terms of human values and experience.

"Anthropocentrism." The American Heritage? Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 18 Jan. 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Anthropocentrism>.

This concept is sometimes known as humanocentrism or human supremacy. It is especially strong in certain religious cultures, such as the common Protestant Christian translation of Genesis 1:26, which is taken to state that God gave man dominion over all other earthly creatures. The current Latin Vulgate, the official Bible of the Catholic Christian church, as well as St. Jerome's original, lack this anthropocentric nature, instead saying that God holds man responsible for the care and fate of all earthly creatures. (Wikipedia)