losing my religion

That later. But on the Sheikh, a couple of points.

I'm no conservative, but as the Australian Conservative points out, the sheikh has been preaching a form of hatred against all Australians, that is well beyond the pale and possibly actionable? Not sure how, but...

Rudd would like the A-G to find out. Quite right. And as an aside, when was the last time the ABC led with a statement by the Opposition? Lefty bias!

I wonder what the sheikh's reaction to women protesting against him in public was? Even if they were covered up, surely that sort of display of empowerment must very upsetting to him. Good. His supposed apology had all the sincerity of my responses when Mum used to say, "But are you really sorry?

And I have no religion to lose, so any of the self-appointed intermediaries in any religion who want to threaten me with loss of some afterlife or being condemned to spending eternity at the Gold Coast (which is surely torture as much as waterboarding is) can go right ahead and make my day. Interestingly, in several conversations over the last few days with friends who do 'have' religion, they don't - publicly - disagree with my views on the 'evils' of religious intermediaries. Then again, maybe they are living their religion through being tolerant of opposing views, no matter how repulsive (although I am careful not to insult their religious beliefs themselves). In which case, more power to them as individuals.

Quick afterthought: maybe I am more conservative than I would like to think I am.