Raise A Glass To Secularism And Humanism (Not Church Plus State), Politicians

The recent news that Coopers beer will be celebrating Bible Society Australia’s 200th birthday with 10,000 cases of beer printed with Bible verses as part of the deal seems a bitter dram – considering that their advertising comes with Federal Liberal MPs Tim Wilson and Andrew Hastie making light about marriage equality.

The “Keeping it Light” video, part of a joint advertising campaign between the Adelaide brewer Coopers and Bible Society Australia “to reach even more Australians with God’s word”, could be seen as just a promotional arrangement.

But why feature these politicians discussing marriage equality in particular, with the slogan “…both a Bible and good beer on the table”?

President of the Atheist Foundation of Australia Kylie Sturgess has responded with:

"While Greg Clarke, chief executive of the Bible Society said the campaign is about promoting the value of the Bible, the group does oppose marriage equality, and their choice of politicians to represent their message hardly reflects Australia’s secular status.

There could have been a range of topics and representatives that the advertisement could have used instead, or at the very least consulted some of the many LGBTIQ groups that exist in this country, so their voices could be heard.

Considering that the results from the last census has the potential to show a rise in “no religion” respondents in Australia, their effort to “reach more Australians with God’s word” in this fashion has backfired for both Coopers and the Bible Society."

Australia is a country which endorses separation of church and state, and is built on secular, not christian values. Coopers should get some constructive feedback on what this could do for their sales – not just from atheists, humanists and secularists who are concerned about the casual regard in advertising towards issues involving the rights of LBGTIQ citizens in this country – but from everyone who thinks that using politicians to push bible-quotes on beer is just too hard to swallow.



Kylie Sturgess

President
Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc
PO Box 3582
Parramatta NSW 2124

Phone: (02) 8007 4503
Email: president@atheistfoundation.org.au

  • if a beer company wants to support a society that has different opinions to you, so be it. they’re not calling for violence against anybody, their not pushing their ideas on children with state money etc.

    this comes off as “you’re free to express yourself, as long as you agree with me” mentality that is too prevalent these days. perhaps you should concentrate on criticising the governments’ capitulation to intersectional feminist dogma that is being pushed into our EDUCATION systems, concepts that have NO academic founding, before going for a private company that is expressing it’s ideas in the free market? no?

    • MindInAMan

      Okay – here’s a free expression: all women should be paid less than men as their biological imperative is to raise children, to tend the home and their aging parents – and they should be discouraged from attending school, achieving grants or working abroad or interstate as all of that leads them away from their natural born work as home-makers. Then have politicians do a national ad promoting this with a laugh.
      Then a follow up ad! Black people are a minority in this country, minorities are less represented, so they should have less voting rights and say in public discourse. Politicians again debate this with a giggle in a beer ad.
      Sure, go right ahead and say nothing, do nothing, vatinabrain, because when it comes to free speech, it’s better to be politically neutral and culturally relative than have a spine.

      • you’re free to spew bullshit like that (and that is what that is), i will protest on your behalf if you were to be prevented to say those things… that is the very point.

        and yet, ironically we have a government that spends millions of dollars demonising boys and men, deliberately misrepresenting reality in the form of national advertisement campaigns to support feminist claims… no one bats an eye. interestingly your exaggerated ‘expression’ comes off as one huge projection exercise… as it is boys who are suffering in our education system, they are dropping out at increasing numbers, they are killing themselves at extremely high numbers, those who do make it to university are also dropping out before graduating and those who graduate are being paid less and employed less than their female counterparts… across. the. board. the very idea of being a male is under attack from prep onwards and this is being perpetrated BY OUR GOVERNMENT.

        we have a government that spends hundreds of millions of dollars propping up a thoroughly debunked ‘duluth model’ that, by design, ignores male victims of domestic violence and again, lies about reality (good to see this narrative is being challenged of late). the same government uses this debunked model to train police when addressing domestic violence… if a male victim of domestic violence calls a government funded support line they are forwarded to an ‘anger management’ program. if anybody brings this up they are vilified by the media.

        our universities are actively, systemically discriminating against people based on sex and ethnicity, we have a freedom of speech legislation that restricts speech based on subjective ‘feelings’ this shit has to stop. complaining about a beer company and its affiliation with a christian group is not the issue, they’re free to express their opinions as are you free to virtue-signal about it and call others who think you’re an idiot as ‘spineless’. change the world one beer promotion at time, right? wow.

    • Robin Bristow

      In return I am free to spend my beer money with whatever alcohol company I choose – and it will not be Coopers.