A letter was published in The Age 26 February 2013 regarding Heinz Karl Klinkermann being convicted of the attempted murder of his long suffering wife.

The letter read in part: “WHEN next we vote as Victorians perhaps we should consider the religious association of those putting themselves forward for election.”

The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) applauds those sentiments and goes further with the suggestion that this similarly applies to every voter in every state and territory.

David Nicholls, president of the AFA said, “This is not a single issue problem. Parliamentarians are making decisions guided by their religious leanings and disregarding the electorate’s informed wishes on many social issues. If a politician can’t get simple ethics correct, how can we expect them to draw the right conclusions on other serious matters?”

Issues that are ignored include the case in point, legal voluntary euthanasia, as well as same-sex marriage, stem cell research, religious chaplains in state schools, financially pandering to religion in the many billions of dollars, allowing bigoted religious discrimination, disregarding people of other faiths and no faith with Christian prayers before parliamentary sessions, etc.

Nicholls added, “Women are regarded by some of our leaders as second-class citizens on the abortion issue and most of those leaders because of religion. If politicians can’t keep their faith-based concepts out of the halls of power, people should really consider whether they are worth voting for. Religion in politics is no longer just a preference as many people in society are suffering and are disadvantaged by a particular brand of magical thinking.”

The Atheist Foundation of Australia calls on the media to better expose how religion is deleteriously affecting democracy.

David Nicholls
President
Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
Private Mail Bag 6
MAITLAND SA 5573

Phone: (08) 8835 2269
Email: [email protected]

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