A recent story in the Australian publication The Register touches on the highly emotive issues of sex, sacrifice, witchcraft and exorcism. It appears that this report is based on the anecdotal evidence – supplied by ‘radical Minister’ Danny Nalliah – of a Pastor supervising a school trip. During this excursion to Mount Ainslie, near Canberra, a large blood-splattered concrete block was discovered. The only explanation offered in the article, for this unusual phenomenon was one of sacrifice, leading Nalliah to conclude that witches had been holding covens in an attempt to influence government policy. It should be pointed out, that to-date; the police have not been asked to investigate.
While this narrative may sound fantastic, it has to be seen in context. In August this year, Danny Nalliah had claimed that the bushfires ravaging Australia were ‘God’s vengeance for abortion laws.’ Other claims of God’s retribution relate to gay marriage and contraception. Although many may dismiss these claims as pure hyperbole, the Australian Sex Party does not agree. Instead, they insist that fundamentalist religious groups should not be able to threaten constitutional rights, and are prepared to counter proposed demonstrations upon Mount Ainslie. As a spokesperson for the Sex Party adamantly insisted: ‘[i]f a God-fearing member of Parliament is threatened with ‘eternal damnation’ for voting in favour of gay marriage, this is clearly as much of a contempt as any other threat to an MP’
Secrecy and New Religious Movements: Concealment, Surveillance, and Privacy in a New Age of Information
By Hugh B. Urban
(Vol. 2, November 2007)
Religion Compass
Understanding Contemporary Millenarian Violence
By John Walliss
(Vol. 2, June 2007)
Religion Compass
Sacrifice
From A New Dictionary of Religions
Tags: religion, religious studies, Politics, gay rights, Australia, God, worship, abortion, news, contraception, Radical, Christian, sex, gay marriage, spirituality, witchcraft, Satanism, abstinence, fasting, evangelists, Sex Party, Mount Ainslie, Canberra, sacrifice, Danny Nalliah, bush fires, Pastor, blood, born-again, witches, covens, evil spirits, spiritual warfare, demonic strongholds, repentance, Fiona Patten, Parliamentary Privileges Committee, exorcism, George Brandis, Parliament, eternal damnation, contempt, threat, religious influence, fundamentalists, sex education, constitutional rights, federal, Samhain (October 31)
