Arrrggghhh... Never delete a blog - just "archive" the posts. Pretty soon Super Simmo dot blogspot dot com will be another porn site 
If he adopts your idea, he could be raking it in in royalties from all the spammers.
I'll keep this short because right now I don't want to go into to many details - my contract of employment at the school I was teaching at was terminated yesterday. Why? Because it was found out that I had a blog where views that conflicted with the teachings of the catholic church existed. It was also stated in my letter of termination that there was an amount of foul language that was unbefitting of a teacher.
I never stated my name or professional affiliation on my blog, what I'd like to know is how it was linked to myself. I guess that' irrelevent now but it pisses me off to no end.
All I can say is that I thought that by deleting it I could save my job, yet this wasn't the case and it was a matter of me inevitably losing my job anyway. Now I don't have my blog or my job.
However I have started my new blog which will be in full swing very soon:
http://web.mac.com/simmoc/Site/W...te/
Welcome.html
The fact that it's being created on a mac means that I have endless creative possibilities and it should be looking pretty good.
Anyway on a side note, I contacted that department of education today and things are looking very good to get a position back in the public system.
Ahhh public education, why did I ever leave it in the first place?
Seeya
I'm really sorry to hear that, Simmo. Your situation clearly demonstrates that . . .
(a) Discrimination against non-believers is a civil rights issue. (Your employer would not have been allowed to discriminate on the grounds of race or ethnicity, but for some reason we make a special exception for religious belief.)
(b) Anonymity on the internet is always a good idea. If unscrupulous individuals are able to dob us in and have us fired or punished for heretical beliefs, things clearly haven't progressed very far from Galileo's time.
I will update my blog accordingly.
Ouch...
Guess that's why I didn't get the job up north either.
I'm not against the funding of private schools per se, but I think this is one of those things that the state can't endorse. If a private school breeches public standards like this, they should forgo their funding.
Simmo:
Because it was found out that I had a blog where views that conflicted with the teachings of the catholic church existed.
I've been thinking about this one. I can't recall you ever making much reference to your views on religion on your blog, much less Catholicism. You were quite strident in your left politics and in your opposition to the Howard government, but I'm sure the same could be said for many a Catholic, even among the priesthood.
Or is it now a requirement under Pell and Hickey that if you wish to teach in a Catholic school, you must be pro-Howard and right wing?
Bruce:
I'm not against the funding of private schools per se, but I think this is one of those things that the state can't endorse. If a private school breeches public standards like this, they should forgo their funding.
Absolutely. It brings to mind the Bush administration giving taxpayers' money to so-called "faith-based" organisations and charities, such as the Boy Scouts, that are permitted to discriminate against non-heterosexuals and non-theists. And that goes on in a country in which the separation of church and state does exist, whereas there is no such separation in Australia.
So I don't know if there is any scope for legal redress for Simmo, but I hope he takes this further. (Maybe the union can help?)
Gee I've just had what I think is a version of Simmo's experience written small.
A friend nagged me to join facebook, and I eventually relented. I looked for and added some friends who were for the most part people that I knew before facebook even existed.
One of them is Catholic and she studied a scripture education elective in order to teach it (presumably to JP/P kids in Catholic schools). She's also a member of a number of Catholic groups on Facebook. Supposedly, we were reasonably good friends back in the day.
After all of this, I updated my page somewhat and added that I was an Atheist. Not too soon afterward, BAM! I'm off her friends list.
I'm being shunned! :P
Yeah--I removed all references to atheism from my Facebook as soon as Simmo's story broke.
After all of this, I updated my page somewhat and added that I was an Atheist. Not too soon afterward, BAM! I'm off her friends list.
But . . . but . . . isn't religion supposed to be a force for unity and peace, not hatred, bigotry and division?
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