From Hollywood to the academy, nonbelievers are convinced that a decline in traditional religious belief would lead to a smarter, more scientifically literate and even more civilized populace.
The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won't create a new group of intelligent, skeptical, enlightened beings. Far from it: It might actually encourage new levels of mass superstition. And that's not a conclusion to take on faith -- it's what the empirical data tell us.

This here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. I post this not to start a heated debate, because I know that this doesn't hold true for some... or even the majority (as the data in the article says)! But I post for opinions. Atheist or not, what are your beliefs on the supernatural?

The philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell, certainly no friend of conventional sexual morality, was only repeating the obvious a few decades earlier when he concluded that "it is through children alone that sexual relations become important to society, and worthy to be taken cognizance of by a legal institution."

I reject homophobia and believe in the equal dignity of gay and lesbian love. Because I also believe with all my heart in the right of the child to the mother and father who made her, I believe that we as a society should seek to maintain and to strengthen the only human institution -- marriage -- that is specifically intended to safeguard that right and make it real for our children.

This here is also a very interesting article on marriage, homosexual marriage and children from the LA Times. Again, opinions?

It's been a few days since I blogged. I really enjoy teaching! I sent an email to WACOT enquiring about getting a number so I can relief teach while I'm completing my studies, but they said I need to have the qualifications first. :P I have a friend who works at WACOT though, so I might give him a call and see what he says.

So I was at school Mon-Fri and then on Thurs I received a reminder email to tell me I was helping out with the kid's program at a CMS conference today. *groan* But it turned out to be not too bad. In fact, I just kinda slid into the teaching role again. I used all my class management skills to get them to behave and it happened pretty naturally.

They had to write a letter to some missionaries in the afternoon and the woman in charge of the program intended to just let them at it. But I asked her if I could get them started instead. So I got the white board and my trusty marker and got to it! I asked them what they knew about letters, how to start them, what kind of questions we could ask the missionaries and wrote up some sentence frames (My name is _______ and I like ________. &c) to help the less able kids. There were a couple of kids in pre-primary and yrs 1 &2 who did fantastic letters all on their own. They sounded out the words and wrote them down (they spelt them wrong (favourite = fafrit), but I was so proud of them for trying really hard and giving their best effort!!) and wrote some questions and signed their name at the end. It worked really well! I accidentally brought my sticker box and ended up giving out a bunch of stickers to kids who'd worked hard and once they knew I was giving them out, they all worked hard. It was a pretty good day, but now I'm pooped!

I do love teaching and today was good, but maybe I won't volunteer to do whole day Saturday kids activities when next in the middle of prac. :P

Also, when driving home I was delayed by a crash at an intersection. A truck had ploughed into two traffic light posts and was completely blocking the road in one direction. As I was driving towards the intersection, some police, ambulance and fire cars/trucks came whizzing past me to help. My fellow drivers and I had to take this detour through a parking lot in order to continue on our way. Rather exciting. It looked like no one was seriously injured (there were no stretchers) so that's a blessing!

Sometimes I think that society doesn't know what to do with gender distinctions. There's a lot of people who campaign for complete equality between the sexes; I think that there should be completely equal rights, but that men and women are created differently and perhaps more segregation between gender distinctions needs to be clarified. What does it mean to be male or female?

Anyway, these are some quotes from some of the very first women's right activists on what they thought of abortion:

"Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"
-Susan B. Anthony

"When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"The custom of procuring abortions has reached such appalling proportions in America as to be beyond belief...So great is the misery of the working classes that seventeen abortions are committed in every one hundred pregnancies."
-Emma Goldman

"When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society - so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."
-Mattie Brinkerhoff

"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women."
-Alice Paul

I don't like the word "rights", I much prefer the word "responsibility." A women may claim that she has the right to do to her body what she wants, while ignoring the responsibility she has towards her unborn child. We become upset when kittens are run over by cars, and yet breathe a sigh of relief at the death of a burden; a child that God knits in the mother's womb (Psalm 139:13)

I know that many people are going to add their 2c to this topic (and I already know that so many people disagree with me). But before you do, please consider that I see abortion as murder. The only reason why an fetus should be aborted is when it is risking the life of the mother. People say that having this belief isn't fair on women. But when I consider all the children that have died as the result of selfishness and thoughtlessness, that isn't fair.

We think that child molesting is so horrible, but turn a blind eye to the atrocities that are being committed every day on children that haven't been born yet, just because they aren't yet born. Therefore, somehow, not making them human yet. Where is the line between human and not? I say there isn't a line. Right before the sperm and egg meet, to the actual conception; that is the line. Right then is contained everything that needed for that little zygote to transform into a human adult.

Work went pretty well yesterday. I actually managed to have 8hrs sleep Friday night, so waking up 5am on Saturday wasn't so bad! Work went well, but my feet were killing me by the end of my shift. From there I went straight to Kid's club with Jonathan. We made sock puppets. *squee* I named mine Trudy and she has lots of lovely hair! From there I went to Heather's place, with a bypass to Subway to pick up some salad for my dinner. Salad with lemon juice dressing is awesome! Had a shower at Heather's, dropped Jonathan back home and went to Sarah's 21st.

Was lots of fun. Church hall was decked out with fairy lights and there was a dance floor! Loads of food too. Steph was there too, which was great. We managed to catch up and we pretty much spent the evening talking. Which I really enjoyed. It was nice having someone there to talk to that wasn't a church friend. As many times, church can be really overwhelming for me because there's just too many people I should know, but don't. Also, my other church friends were hanging around with each other. And I would have been all clingy around them and that makes me feel awkward. So it was great that Steph was there, and I really enjoyed our conversation.

Today is much quieter than my usual Sunday. I don't have kid's church, so I have most of the day free for me! Yay! So I'm intending to do a bit of study and chill out! I do have a church plant meeting where Kid's church would usually be, which is why I'm not there.

I went to a wedding today. It was Intan's sister's wedding. Her name is Maya. It was at a catholic church and really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. That is to say, I put aside all the catholic issues I have, and decided to be really happy for Maya and Emmanuel and pray my own prayers when it came to that. Maya was so beautiful and her dress was amazing and it was a touching wedding. Makes me want to get married. Cept I'm kinda still undecided on that issue, and will probably just be happy with me now. The minute I start wanting to be married, I'll be all discontent and have extra issues and stuff. Not cool.

It was good to see Intan and Matt. Matt looked good! He really cleans up nicely when put in a suit and I think all the exercise of trekking around Europe took it's toll nicely. Told some funny stories too. Intan looked beautiful too, all the dresses were amazing. I felt a bit sorry for all of them though, as it was a cold, wet and windy day. Matt galliantly gave her his jacket though, which I thought was lovely and thoughtful.

Japanese continues to be very enjoyable. I have this new "look, cover, write, check" thing to help me learn all the vocabularly and kanji each week. So much to keep on top off. I also need to clean my room and study. Study isn't looking so good. But I'm so not in a cleaning mood! *slaps self*

I've been in a itchy-to-read mood recently. Having read three books in a row last week and nothing this week. It really is rather sad. All of them were fantastic books. Bad books makes Kat want to never read again. Re: Da Vinci Code. What a crap book! Jodi Picoult = awesome books.

Anyway, I have work tomorrow morning, then kids club straight afterwards, then a couple of hours to myself before a 21st. eugh. big day. Wish I didn't have to work. But I needs money. *sigh* Looking forward to the party though. It'll be good to see people

I should update you all on the happenings in my life.

On Thursday night I did a night shift at subway, then I got home bout 11ish, went to bed and then didn't actually get to sleep until 1ish, because Dad decided that would be a good time to watch TV loudly until. Then I woke up at 5 on Friday morning, so Dad could drive me to the train station to get to work by 6. BLEH!

I don't like back to back shifts. But I had good time on the train to read my Bible and pray. So I was very blessed in that regard. Also, continual blessings in that I stayed rather cheerful for most of the day. I left at 2, called a taxi to pick me up, and I made my way to kid-sit for the weekend. Looked after those kids I'd sitted for two weeks and then one week with leshara previously. Because they already knew me, the weekend was pretty smooth.

The only complaints from me, was Andrews continual grumpy attitude towards EVERYTHING and the exhaustion of only getting 4hrs sleep in between two shifts and going straight to kid-sitting. But I went to bed at 8:30 after the two youngest were in bed, so I was happy. The oldest two are very responsible, and so got themselves off to bed well enough.

Saturday I worked from 6-2 again. I had a LOT of bread to bake as rugby was on that night, so work was very busy. And then when I got home, I had a nap, and potted about a bit. We watched a movie that night and Andrew and Simon stayed up a bit longer than I would have liked. But that was due to me not having dessert ready on time (I promised them, so I couldn't renege).

Sunday we went to church. That was pretty cool. Then we came home and pottered about until Wendy and Ian arrived home from Sydney at about 3:15. Wendy then drove me to Ian's (different Ian) so I could grab a lift to kid's church with him, because this whole time, my car had been out of action thanks to a bad battery and alternator. Ian had been stupid by not getting sleep. And he didn't have Malcolm's car to use, so his Mum let me drive her car. And that was a bit weird, as I'm so used to driving a manual. I kept wanting to put in the clutch, but there wasn't one to put in. :P

Kids church was a piece of cake. I was looking after the little fish, and they are so cute. Then unichurch afterwards was really good. greygnome had rocked up, so he was thankfully able to give me a lift home! yay! Then home I went, checked updates, went to bed. Then went to work this morning from 10am, until 4pm. And now I'm updating you on my week. :D

Experimental food
I tried a couple of different things over the weekend.
-Friday: Lamb and Banana curry.
A bit too spicy for Andrew, but with a hint of banana, very nice. Had it with spiced hot chocolate that the kids didn't like, but I did, so more for me! =D
-Saturday: Crumbed Chicken.
Done with bread crumbs, coconut, oats and ginger. The kids all really liked this one. But the chicken took forever to defrost, so dinner was a little late. :P
-Sunday: Apple Pancakes.
Nicolas didn't like them, and Andrew apparently wasn't hungry, but Rachel, Andrew and I had our fill. Easy peasy, sliced apple mixed in with a thinner pancake mix and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the top as they're cooking!
-Monday: Crusted Lamb Chops
I volunteered dinner cooking tonight at home. So I did herb crusted lamb chops. Didn't turn out as I had in mind, but the family really enjoyed them anyway! Also, it was hard to get them all cooked uniformly as the heat was being weird and others were really thick cuts. But all good in the end.

I finished the book of Nahum on Friday. It was interesting. A reminder of how separate sin and God are and how offensive it is to him. But with that, also comes his grace and forgiveness. God had given the Ninevites many opportunities to turn back to him, but his judgment wont be held off forever. So I was encouraged to take evangelism a bit more seriously. Also, for those who have repented, the judgment that we would have faced, has already been faced in fullness, by Jesus on the cross. And just as the Ninevites faced God's wrath, so will the world. Jesus came bringing a message of peace to those who would be reconciled to God. But also a message of warning to those who ignored him or rejected him.

ALSO! Chesca, Emily and Chan, you're invited to ma berfday par-tay. Along with your significant others of course. 30th of June. Put it in your diaries!

OMG!
So, I'm now at home *sleeps*
I'm going to get food and then continue to update. Lol. Nope, can't be bothered. And also, there's nothing in the fidge... cept for some old old grapes. :P

SO! Last weekend was the youth group camp. Very intense. I went to work until 4, drove around like a mad chook buying some paint, drove to the Law's (name changed) to pick up Rachel and Nic for camp. Drove to church hall. Also, made subs for Me, Rach and Nic for dinner. Spent an hour or so faffing around getting ready, then drove to Moore River for the camp. It was stressfull and VERY busy, but oh-so-worth it. I think the kids got a lot out of it. And it was a lot of fun. We went rafting and did a bunch of games. We had a talk on Saturday morning and then another one in the evening. Ali and I had a group of three girls, and on Friday and Saturday nights, we prayed with them. Ali and I shared a room, and it was really really nice spending time with Ali. Because Ali is just the niceset sweetest person (right up there with Anna... don't ask me to choose. They're both so very lovely). A couple of people I didn't expect to be there were there too. Like Chelsea and Shiloh. But I'm glad they came, and hope they got a lot out of it.

We drove down on Sunday after cleaning the place. My team totally pwned the floors (sweeping and mopping)!! :D The got back to the church, unpacked and got Rach, Nic and myself back to their house, where I lived with the kids and Lise for a week while their parents were in Mauritius. I love the Law kids to pieces. They are awesome. Andrew is in yr 2, Simon yr 5, Nic yr 7 and Rach in yr 10. So big age range, but it means Lise and I only really had to worry about Andrew and Simon. It was very exhausting though. Straight from youth group camp to babysitting the kids. And when I wasn't looking after the kids, I was at subway. GAH! But Lise had it no better with work (two shifts I think, as opposed to my 5) and also uni assignments to get through. And she had to miss out on a couple of lectures too. :(

But we had lots of fun (exhausting fun) and we both dearly love those kids. Makes me want to have a family one day.

On that note. I have no idea what I want out of life anymore. I know that I want to be a teacher, and I know that wherever I am and whatever I'm doing, I want to be praying and reading my Bible and continuing in my relationship with God, because He's the awesomest and I love Him SO much. But, anything else, I don't know what I want.

I'm going to be housesitting a house from Monday for 5 weeks and I'm looking forward to it. It's a really nice house in Nedlands. The backyard looks like a cottage. They're kind in the middle of renevations. So there are some light fixtures that don't work and there's only some planks of wood on stands to serve as the kitchen bench, but I think it's very quaint and I love it!

So today is my recoup day after my extrodinary week of insane business.

Oh, Down With Love is a very charming movie and I recommend it for a fluffy romantic comedy with a fun twist. It's very stylised and overacted - but on purpose and the end effect it great.

Relient K new cd is very good. I'm listening to a couple of songs over the interwebs. They're good. I hae their last two cds, so I might have to get this one too.

Why is there a new interface for updating my eljay? I liked it the way it was before. hmmm.

Subway, continues to swallow my life whole. But, I actually got out on time, hurrah! I was doing the night shift, and typically, I get out late, because I'm all "have to do everything perfectly." But the addition of the shifts starting at 10 in the morning, has opened my eyes to the fact that the morning staff member can handle the morning just fine if a few things aren't done (but most is). So yeah, is going good, and I made cookies tonight, because everyone bought subway cookies. Man, those cookies are so freakin unhealthy. But so tasty.

I want a Wii!! I've been playing on javelinface's Wii, and it's really fun. I did some car racing today, and I actually did pretty well. I'm typically quite bad, and although I only won 1 race out of 3, that's still awesome for me! Instead of using a little joystick to steer the car, you tilt the Wii remote. I found it way more comfortable to use (head comfortable, it sits better with my brain). We also played a multi-player shoot-'em-up game, much in the same vein as 007 games. Except to move, you use the joystick on the nun-chunk, and you look around using the remote. Takes getting used to, but once I was used to it, I enjoyed it much better. I guess I just like pointing at stuff, and being more hands on, than using a joystick. Joysticks bugs me, I don't get the hang of them easily.

I can't believe it's 10 days till Christmas.

I saw Eragon yesterday. It isn't that great. It looked really good in the previews, but the whole movie was rushed, and badly acted, and had bad dialogue, and no characterisation. But the special effects were pretty nifty, and if they'd taken more time on developing the whole movie, it would have been pretty awesome. As it was, it fell short of the glory of awesomeness. But it was still fun. I give it 2 stars out of 5. It came just so close to being great, and it's just disappointing because I can see how it isn't great, and... yeah.

I am whack, and should go to sleep.

( People who can't stand children in public piss me off. )