Tag: ABC radio

Dead set legend?

I mentioned the ABC radio’s unique take on the stats released by the Centre for Public Christianity yesterday. Dan has helpfully shared a link to the ABC Radio transcript of the story I was listening to on the world today.

The reaction to the statistics has been somewhat amusing. On the one hand 55% of the “non born again” community don’t believe in the resurrection. Which should be comforting to atheists, Muslims and the liberal church.

The Uniting Church in New South Wales was one of the first organisations to put its own spin on the findings – claiming most of the 45% of (non “born again”) people who believe in the resurrection only believe it in a metaphorical sense.

Many Australians, although certainly not a majority, would see Jesus as metaphorically real, or his resurrection as metaphorically real, but would expect that the bones of Jesus would be found in Palestine.

And that’s my own position.

But I think that the resurrection of Jesus is principally about the continuing reality of Jesus of Nazareth in this world. – Ian Pearson from the Pitt Street Uniting Church…

Hmm, interesting take on things. You’ve got to wonder why this guy is still a “Christian” minister if this is what he thinks. If they found the bones of Jesus in Palestine I’d throw in the Christian towel. Immediately. If it’s all just a metaphor you’ve got to ask “why bother at all?” – Exactly the point Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen raised…

If he just rose metaphorically, well, it’s Alice in Wonderland sort of stuff, and is not worth worrying about.

I wouldn’t be a Christian if I thought that. Just wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

But that’s not what the New Testament says; that’s not what the evidence says.

The evidence is really talking about a real resurrection from the dead.

The atheists on the other hand. Well. They still kind of miss the point of serving God if you believe in him – which many clearly still do… talk about imposing your value judgments on others…

The world needs to get away from this dependence on an imaginary super person in the sky, and start looking at the problems that we’re encountering in real terms – David Nichols, the president of the Atheist Foundation of Australia

April 8, 2009

Egg citing statistics

Research released by John Dickson’s Centre for Public Christianity has been given widespread media attention today.

The ABC radio’s idea of “objective” coverage was to give the Atheists a chance to use this as a platform to call for a secular society.

But it’s a pretty interesting statistic when it comes to reaching the “unwashed masses” – it seems almost half of the country’s non-Christians could be considered “low hanging fruit” – believing that Jesus rose from the dead.

This survey did not include those who define themselves as “born again” which possibly means it did include church going liberals, Catholics and others who tick the “Christian” box on the census.

Here’s the SMH story on the stats.

April 7, 2009

AM/PM

I hate when people make a reference to AM or PM when talking about time and then throw in a reference to either morning, evening or night. It’s a redundancy. And a particularly annoying one.

This morning on the ABC it was used over and over again. Like nails on a chalkboard. Warren Boland was giving a teaser to an upcoming segment about businesses opening their doors at 6.30am during winter – convenience stores I think. And in the space of 2 minutes must have referred to “6.30AM in the morning” about 12 times. It drove me to distraction. And now, I’m sharing my rant with you.

If you are going to refer to the time, and add the AM/PM suffix – do not tell me what part of the day that is in. It insults my intelligence. And yours.

That is all.

April 5, 2009

Confickeration

If you haven’t heard of the Conficker Worm you must have been living under a bush or something. Even the ABC Morning Show in Townsville is talking about it.

To be honest I haven’t done anything about Conficker. I haven’t even checked my various computers for the nasty little monster. And now its fury is meant to be being unleashed upon us tomorrow I am feeling like I should.

The US Government has come to the rescue with a nice, easy test from a reputable(?) source…

I’ll be running it at home tonight. I think we’ll be right – but it’s probably worth checking.

March 31, 2009

Now I know my ABC

blacklist

I listen to the ABC a lot. In the car. At work (sometimes). And at home when the cricket is on. I like the ABC. One thing that strikes me over and over again is the type of language government types use when answering questions – even about the weather. It’s obfuscation at its best.

There really is no excuse for not using normal everyday language when talking to normal everyday people. You don’t need to master this new government speak lingo in order to communicate effectively.

Unless you’re trying not to communicate at all – but to hide and spin.

So it pleases me greatly to see that the Local Government Association of the United Kingdom has released a list of 200 words that councils and their employees should not use in order to make their communication more effective. The list is at the bottom of that media release. Here’s the SMH story.

March 19, 2009

Election Scorecard: Springborg’s radio address

Queensland politicians are on the hustings. The election is 17 days away. Media outlets are beaming at the economic stimulus provided by campaign ads. Except the ABC. They don’t get revenue – they do get content though. Each party gets the occassional spot where they can address the electorate. 

Today was Springborg’s turn. I like Springborg. He seems like a typically laconic country bloke. I met him at a function last week. He shook my hand. 

His address today was poor. It sounded like he was reading an essay. And it contained a couple of logical fallacies. 

Particularly when talking about education. After going on about how Labor had borrowed money and lumped future generations with debt he proceeded to say:

“The LNP will spend money on schools. On reducing class sizes – giving your child the opportunity to be top of the class.”

This statement patently ignores that the only way some children are going to be top of the class is if it’s a class of one. And I’m not sure home schooling is an LNP policy. 

Grade: C-

March 4, 2009