{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Ff0c63ae8-8362-405c-9d60-8b3da03cb63c","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 204 \u2013 Secularism, Coal Mines and Death by Capitalism","description":"Secularism, Coal Mines and Death by Capitalism.
\n2:45 Three Cheers for the NSL
\nNSL Ambassadors and executive met with the ABC Managing Director David Anderson, and Editorial Director\u00a0Craig McMurtrie, to discuss the need for a\u00a0\u201csecular voice.\u201d\u00a0
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\nJane Caro, who was part of the delegation to meet with the ABC MD, said discussions were “extremely productive\u201d and highly relevant, following the federal election on 18th May.
\nShe said that for too long \u201cthe religious viewpoint on social issues \u2013 like abortion, gay marriage and assisted dying \u2013 had been paramount,\u201d and the more popular non-religious view had been silenced.
\n\u201cThe media has not fully recognised the public majority are secular \u2013 with\u00a078% support for the separation of Church and State. Yet the loudest media voice comes from religious leaders and lobbyists.\u201d
\nNSL has quoted numerous examples of religious imbalance \u2013 the most obvious being a\u00a0Q&A TV program\u00a0on the\u00a0\u201cSeparation of Church and State\u201d\u00a0where all six panellists were Christian.\u00a0 Not one speaker was secular!
\nMeeting with David Anderson, the NSL delegation delivered a proposal to help balance the ABC\u2019s stable of\u00a0nine religious and spiritual programs, suggesting that\u00a0just one\u00a0should focus on the popular \u201csecular viewpoint.\u201d
\nMs Caro said, \u201cwe understand that religious programming is a part of the ABC\u2019s charter \u2013 and naturally, religious people want their programs \u2013 but there is an\u00a0equal need\u00a0for the\u00a0majority secular perspective.\u201d
\nBy \u201csecular\u201d, she explained, the focus is not simply on \u201cthe separation of Church and State\u201d, but also having\u00a0\u201cFreedom FROM Religion\u201d\u00a0\u2013 to publicly question the influence of religion on a raft of issues in politics, education, health and the law.
\n\u201cThe topics are endless. Religions either push to repeal laws like abortion and same-sex marriage; or they lobby for more exemptions to discriminate against others, or to increase privileges, grants, and tax breaks.\u201d
\nJane Caro said that NSL\u2019s proposal for a \u201c30-minute monthly program on Radio National\u201d was rejected, but Mr Anderson asked for a list of \u201csecular commentators\u201d who could be called on for any ABC program.
\n\u201cNSL has forwarded to the Managing Director an extensive list of\u00a0highly credentialed people, all with media experience, and with specific areas of secular expertise to balance the dominant religious position.\u201d
\n\u201cWe trust the ABC will circulate this NSL list to program managers and producers, to provide them with the details of qualified people who are able to speak for Australia\u2019s secular majority.\u201d
\n10:06\u00a0 Labor urged to include people of faith
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\nMany Australians of faith believe Labor does not care about them and the party must address the sentiment urgently, frontbencher Chris Bowen believes.
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\nMr Bowen has highlighted the perceptions of Labor among religious people while bowing out of the race for the party’s leadership, saying it had been part of his motivation for running.
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\n“I have noticed as I have been around during the election campaign and even in the days since … how often it has been raised with me that people of faith no longer feel that progressive politics cares about them,” he told reporters in Sydney.
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