Dealings With The AFA

[Irrev-Black]

Dealings With The AFA@two dogs - There's a rumour the AFA is playing possum till the Archbishop of Sydney comes to poke 'em with a stick to see if they're really dead.

Then, they'll pounce!

[two dogs]

Check out this PDF copy of an email sent to AFA members on the 16th of November.

It's riddled with typographical errors, and strange grammatical constructs, not to mention the unprofessional "naked URL" rather than a text/button hyperlink?

I'm on the road now, but when I get home tomorrow, I'll send a scathing criticism in reply!

[Irrev-Black]

Check out this PDF copy of an email sent to AFA members on the 16th of November.

It's riddled with typographical errors, and strange grammatical constructs, not to mention the unprofessional "naked URL" rather than a text/button hyperlink?

I'm on the road now, but when I get home tomorrow, I'll send a scathing criticism in reply!

Great Zarquon!

Proffredders of the wolrd, untie!

[two dogs]

Check out this PDF copy of an email sent to AFA members on the 16th of November.

It's riddled with typographical errors, and strange grammatical constructs, not to mention the unprofessional "naked URL" rather than a text/button hyperlink?

I'm on the road now, but when I get home tomorrow, I'll send a scathing criticism in reply!

Here is my reply, toned down somewhat from the one that was initially brewing in my mind!

[pipbarber]

Looking at that email with all the yellow highlights really demonstrates how half arsed their efforts are. Actually, it's quite something to compose a piece of writing containing that many mistakes, especially given how brief it is, maybe 100 words? As a significant email to multiple people it's laughable. Amateur hour.

[two dogs]

Looking at that email with all the yellow highlights really demonstrates how half arsed their efforts are. Actually, it's quite something to compose a piece of writing containing that many mistakes, especially given how brief it is, maybe 100 words? As a significant email to multiple people it's laughable. Amateur hour.

It reads like it may have been composed by someone for whom English is a second language (not that there's anything wrong with that ).

However, I don't think anyone on the current AFA Committee of Management fits that bill.

Two committee members do have "non-Anglo" names, Marino Juric and Josh Pomykala. However, having met Marino on a couple of occasions, I can be certain that English is his first language, and Josh Pomykala has apparently written a couple of books in English.

Hence, it's unfathomable to me as to how anyone schooled in English could write that shit, and bewildering that it was published apparently without review/proof-reading/approval.

Of course, I've not (yet) received a response to my constructive criticism (not that I was expecting one, but I have been surprised in the past!).

[joele]

You would think though, as it is going out to the membership base, it would have been proof read.

[Irrev-Black]

You would think though, as it is going out to the membership base, it would have been proof read.

Stealing from that quote about lawyers): Anyone who proofreads for themself has a ninny for a client.

[Irrev-Black]

For the first time in many moons, literally, I got an AFA email.

It was in English!

Press Release - Atheists disturbed over religious discrimination by NSW Government

Dear <MongrelGoatyBastard>,

The NSW government has rejected the nomination of Sydney Atheists President, Steve Marton, to sit on its newly devised Faith Affairs Council. According to the most recent Census, one third of the NSW population is non-religious. But the views of this large contingent will not be sought on future policy development for issues such as religious discrimination, zoning for places of worship, funding for chaplaincy, euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying.

Mr Marton said “This is a very disappointing start to what should have been a useful and insightful consultative body for the NSW Government. This body will now lack credibility as it is devoid of representation from the largest single faith group in Australia – non-religious citizens.”

The Minns Government sought to set up a 16 member Faith Affairs Council to provide cross-faith advice to improve understanding and competency in relation to policies, programs and services that affect religious communities and people of faith in New South Wales. The Government has indicated it wishes to have the new body reflect the religious diversity that exists within NSW today. To that end, it has announced that 12 of the 16 councillors will reflect the diversity found in the most recent 2021 Census data.

The Atheist Foundation of Australia points out that with 33% of the NSW population, the largest single “religious” group in NSW, is actually those nominating “no-religion”. This dwarfs the next largest groups, Catholics at 22%, Anglicans at 12%, and Eastern Orthodox at 3%. By deliberately excluding the largest single faith group - in this case “no-religion” - the government appears to be subverting its own criteria for reflecting religious diversity. In doing so, it has undermined the ability of the Council to be seen to include a secular perspective, which in turn would have provided a sense of balance and democratic representation on a whole raft of social and ethical issues.

If the diversity requirement on the Faith Affairs Council reflected the actual population, then around 4 of the seats should, in fact, be filled by persons of no-religion. Sydney Atheist President, Steve Marton, said “I didn’t expect to achieve that, but I thought it only reasonable that there should be some non-religious representation to provide a modicum of equity, transparency, and democracy. Instead, this is an inappropriate form of religious discrimination in its own right. It is an unhelpful start to the Council and is a setback to achieving a more balanced discourse with the government over key social issues.”

The Atheist Foundation of Australia is disturbed by this unexpected religious discrimination by the Minns Government and will continue to press for change to include a secular voice on the Council.



Thank you,

Kind regards,
Russell Hanna,

Committee Member,
Atheist Foundation of Australia
email: reasonandfairness@gmail.com

PO Box 3582
Parramatta, NSW 2124
Australia

[two dogs]

For the first time in many moons, literally, I got an AFA email.

It was in English!

Press Release - Atheists disturbed over religious discrimination by NSW Government

Dear <MongrelGoatyBastard>,

...

Thank you,

Kind regards,
Russell Hanna,

Committee Member,
Atheist Foundation of Australia
email: reasonandfairness@gmail.com

PO Box 3582
Parramatta, NSW 2124
Australia

Yes, I can find little in it to criticize, although I would have used an Oxford comma after euthanasia in the first paragraph and omitted the word actually in the fourth paragraph.

It seems that it was sent to expired members as well as current members!

And I'm not sure why Russell didn't use (or perhaps doesn't have) an email address on the atheistfoundation.org.au domain?