Australia's 12th favourite book

Qsaint

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Thread starter #1
We really have to watch these guys:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opini...favourite-books/2004/12/07/1102182289396.html

But the real surprise of the poll is that someone by the name of Col Stringer appears to be one of Australia's most-loved authors. Col who? Like most people, until Sunday I had never heard of this Gold Coast-based evangelist whose 800 Horsemen about the role of the Australian Light Horse in Palestine came in at No. 12.

(Since then I've visited his website and discovered more than I might want to know about any author, popular or unpopular. Stringer's argument is that the Australian Light Horse succeeded where the crusaders failed: "Thousands of following Crusaders paid the ultimate price with their bones bleaching the barren rocky hills but Jerusalem was to remain firmly in the hands of the Turks right up until this century when 800 Aussie Light Horsemen rode into history and opened the gateway to Jerusalem . . . If 800 Anzac Light Horsemen can rewrite the history books, what can 18 million Anzacs do in the spiritual battle! Fasten your safety belt Aussie Christians . . .")

That means that after Tim Winton and Bert Facey, Stringer is Australia's most popular author. Don't worry about Bryce Courtenay, Emily Rodda or even Matthew Reilly; don't consider Patrick White, David Malouf or the much-neglected Christina Stead. Col Stringer, whose "Fighting" McKenzie: Anzac Chaplain was in the list at No.29 and who has self-published all his 19 books, has pipped them all. And no one I asked had ever heard of him.
 

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MightyFighting

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#2
I'd like to know whether a first-past-the-post voting system was used. Because, if so, then that guys fans voted for his book instead of the bible.
 

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MightyFighting said:
I'd like to know whether a first-past-the-post voting system was used. Because, if so, then that guys fans voted for his book instead of the bible.
You must of been able to vote multiple times, this guy got two books in the top 30. Zhaun Falun the falun gong mantra came in at 14 as well.
 

Bombers 2003

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#4
Qsaint said:
We really have to watch these guys:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Opini...favourite-books/2004/12/07/1102182289396.html

But the real surprise of the poll is that someone by the name of Col Stringer appears to be one of Australia's most-loved authors. Col who? Like most people, until Sunday I had never heard of this Gold Coast-based evangelist whose 800 Horsemen about the role of the Australian Light Horse in Palestine came in at No. 12.

(Since then I've visited his website and discovered more than I might want to know about any author, popular or unpopular. Stringer's argument is that the Australian Light Horse succeeded where the crusaders failed: "Thousands of following Crusaders paid the ultimate price with their bones bleaching the barren rocky hills but Jerusalem was to remain firmly in the hands of the Turks right up until this century when 800 Aussie Light Horsemen rode into history and opened the gateway to Jerusalem . . . If 800 Anzac Light Horsemen can rewrite the history books, what can 18 million Anzacs do in the spiritual battle! Fasten your safety belt Aussie Christians . . .")

That means that after Tim Winton and Bert Facey, Stringer is Australia's most popular author. Don't worry about Bryce Courtenay, Emily Rodda or even Matthew Reilly; don't consider Patrick White, David Malouf or the much-neglected Christina Stead. Col Stringer, whose "Fighting" McKenzie: Anzac Chaplain was in the list at No.29 and who has self-published all his 19 books, has pipped them all. And no one I asked had ever heard of him.
Is the author Col[in]Stringer or Col[onel]Stringer?.
 

dan warna

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#5
the born agains have discovered how to vote.

you'll find this cult everywhere now.

they'll get into defence, govt, public policy, etc.

before you know it, cuts will occur to govt schools, funding will increase to christian schools, evolution theory will be banned, the bible will be mandatory reading, jews will be ostracised, catholics and anglicans marginalised, creationism taught as fact, women assuming second class citizenship roles, homosexuals and lesbians further marginalised with their rights degraded, contraception banned and limited to prayer etc...

You can see similar things happening in parts of the USA now.

If it catches on here, in bigger numbers than currently, we are in trouble as a country.
 

Tim56

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Compulsory voting will restrict their ability to shape policy. See, in America, the appeal of lobbies such as the NRA or the evangelical Christians is their ability to deliver numbers to the ballot boxes - you win elections in America by getting voters to the ballot box, not necessarily having the majority of total support. Groups such as the NRA and the like are influential because they have an active, broad supporter base. In Australia, everyone votes, so the support of a particular group is helpful, but you have to be mindful of the opinion of the broader population, if you want to get elected in the reps. The Senate is obviously a different story.
 

dan warna

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#7
Tim56 said:
Compulsory voting will restrict their ability to shape policy. See, in America, the appeal of lobbies such as the NRA or the evangelical Christians is their ability to deliver numbers to the ballot boxes - you win elections in America by getting voters to the ballot box, not necessarily having the majority of total support. Groups such as the NRA and the like are influential because they have an active, broad supporter base. In Australia, everyone votes, so the support of a particular group is helpful, but you have to be mindful of the opinion of the broader population, if you want to get elected in the reps. The Senate is obviously a different story.
that may be true, but the AOGers by example are fairly cultish in design.
research conducted shows that the euphoria achieved by many can be replicated in similar circumstances without religious overtones.

Ie. the highly repetitive music, the standing, the design etc, can be similar to that used by cults, certain nightclubs etc.

basically its not god, but a good speaker, well designed process.

AOGers have not until recently participated in politics, so the spread of vote from the AOG would more than likely be similar to the general population, say 40% labor, 40% liberal/national and 15% undecided with the rest going to the minor parties.

the AOGers have been more successful in say urban areas which traditionally tend towards labour.

In the US, certain areas delivered an 80/20 split in favour of the republicans from revivalist envangelical churches.

We've seen the emergence of Family First, which whether you like it or not, is an AOG tool.

even if the split is 70/30, they can deliver a 4 to 5% block of the vote to a single party, they would be as powerful as the greens and as significant as the democrapts are now.

so to acquire their block vote, the labour and liberals will have to cosy up to them on the socially concervative policies.

so far the laborites have been unwilling to, but the nationals/Liberals have been.

It is only a matter of time before the labor liberal parties start getting infiltrated by the AOGers or buying their block vote in return for senate seats.

I would rather have a liberal or labor controlled senate than one where the AOGers have the balance of power.

while we sit here and sling arrows at each other claiming the moral high ground the fact is many of the australian population have become disengaged from politics.

they don't like/trust latham and they know howard is a liar and an american lickspittle, but they don't care any more. They have become imune to the lies and subterfuge of our political leaders, and expect more, they have fialed to become outraged as each crime by howards crew desensitises them further.

AOG will take advantage of this, this is not a passing fad like HONP. or the DLP (which had a long run), the FF AOGers are based on a strong and powerful social, infrastructered network, including their own schools, places of worship etc.

the evangelicals will, as a factor of their block voting, get a bigger say than their numbers because of their capacity to deliver such a block.
 

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#8
dan warna said:
the born agains have discovered how to vote.

you'll find this cult everywhere now.

they'll get into defence, govt, public policy, etc.

before you know it, cuts will occur to govt schools, funding will increase to christian schools, evolution theory will be banned, the bible will be mandatory reading, jews will be ostracised, catholics and anglicans marginalised, creationism taught as fact, women assuming second class citizenship roles, homosexuals and lesbians further marginalised with their rights degraded, contraception banned and limited to prayer etc...

You can see similar things happening in parts of the USA now.

If it catches on here, in bigger numbers than currently, we are in trouble as a country.
An exmaple of the deceptive and vicious attacks used by secularists to push their anti-Christian agenda. Aparently if we don't conform to their radical principles, we will fall into a state of religious totalitarianism. It's these double standards that are more of a concern for both the US and Australia.
 

GhostofJimJess

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#9
dan warna said:
the born agains have discovered how to vote.

you'll find this cult everywhere now.

they'll get into defence, govt, public policy, etc.

before you know it, cuts will occur to govt schools, funding will increase to christian schools, evolution theory will be banned, the bible will be mandatory reading, jews will be ostracised, catholics and anglicans marginalised, creationism taught as fact, women assuming second class citizenship roles, homosexuals and lesbians further marginalised with their rights degraded, contraception banned and limited to prayer etc...

You can see similar things happening in parts of the USA now.

If it catches on here, in bigger numbers than currently, we are in trouble as a country.
Didn't some pack of born again losers score a number one single a few months back, because all of the schneds at some conference bought a CD on the way out ?!

One of the many many reasons I had the Family First Party as the Family "Last" Party on my ballot paper.
 

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#10
we are in dangerous territory when the 'jesus freaks' get a say in the day to day running of the country, fundementalist christians or muslims are as bad as each other
 

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#11
demon_dave said:
we are in dangerous territory when the 'jesus freaks' get a say in the day to day running of the country, fundementalist christians or muslims are as bad as each other
Nah I'd be more worried about the 'godless freaks' getting a say. Fundamentalist atheism would basically destroy our freedom of religion.
 

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#12
Birdy said:
Nah I'd be more worried about the 'godless freaks' getting a say. Fundamentalist atheism would basically destroy our freedom of religion.
thats communism in real terms, I disagree, communism in theory is ideal but it will never work because human beings are involved
 

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#13
demon_dave said:
thats communism in real terms, I disagree, communism in theory is ideal but it will never work because human beings are involved
You as well as Bunsen!!

Communism in theory is completely fxcked, communism in practice is even worse.

You cant have a modern industrial economy based on collective ownership in theory nor in practice. Without a profit incentive the world would be decades if not centuries behind in terms of technological progress.

Luddites such as yourself may find this acceptable but the vast majority of people wouldnt.
 

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#14
Communism (as defined by Marx) relies on having a populus made up of people who care about the collective, but care little about themselves. It also relies on them being industrious and sensible.

The problem is if people were like that, just about any political system would work perfectly. So communism is redundant.


Anyway, back on topic... The problem with FF types is that they can't distinguish between individual choice and collective decisions. Most people realise that some decisions aren't theirs to make, even if they disapprove of the choice made.

An example of this is Tony Abbot claiming a few days ago that most journalists are against the recognising of the Sabbath. This is, of course, nonsense, but it shows the different definition of “against” these religious types use… I consider myself to be totally in favour of resting on the Sabbath. I wouldn’t do it, but if someone wants to do that, they should have every right to. I’m sure that almost every single Australian journalist would agree with me. But what Tony Abbot meant was that most journalists are against the government forcing all people to rest on Sundays by keeping shops, cinemas, stadiums, et cetera closed.

These religious types believe that they are morally superior to everyone else, and that that gives them the right to tell us all what to do.

If only they hadn’t left out, “Thou shalt mind thine own business.”


The only way to defeat them is for the public to realise what a threat they are to individual freedom, then neither major party will touch them with a 40 foot poll. Unfortunately, the Murdoch press seems intent on painting them as mainstream and moderate, because they see them as a way to get many second-preferences delivered to the Liberals for years to come. (It won't necessarily work out that way, seeing as they mainly preferenced to the Libs because Latham is an agnostic. And, there isn't any significant religious divide between Liberal and Labor, lets hope it stays that way.)
 

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#16
medusala said:
You as well as Bunsen!!

Communism in theory is completely fxcked, communism in practice is even worse.

You cant have a modern industrial economy based on collective ownership in theory nor in practice. Without a profit incentive the world would be decades if not centuries behind in terms of technological progress.

Luddites such as yourself may find this acceptable but the vast majority of people wouldnt.
And i suppose Fascism is MORE acceptable to you Medusala?.
 

dan warna

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#17
I'd rather an athiest in power than a religious freak.

that said if someone incapable of taking responsibility for their actions or actions of others, then thats there choice.

but when people act because it is the will of god/allah/yahweh/buddha/frank and impose that will on others, (ie OBL/BUSH/Prabakhan/etc) then they are wrong and need to be taken down.

by the way I'm off the church of frank, we frankians were given Sydney metro district and dwelt here for 20 minutes in 47bc and we want the UN to give it back to us, and we want 10 billion in military aid to blow the fork out of the folks who live their, bulldoze their homes and put them in refugee camps please, UN? GB? USA? we have our own bible you know!

the christians fundamentalists, islamic fundamentalists jewish, hindu, sikh, fundamentalists are just a bunch of freaks, unfortunately they are feading off each other, and the more the USA bombs the ME, the stronger Al Qaeda get the harder they hit israel/USA/Europe the stronger the fundamentalist christian view gets...

Forkwits.

IF JC were alive today, he'd denounce Bush, Blair, and their govt and if Mohammad were alive he'd do the same to OBL and his crew of nutters.

freak wits
 

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Well Dan Warna if God hating militant atheists ever get in power then we are in real trouble. Australia has no fundamentalist Christian parties, yet you would use FF as a scapegoat to spread your hate and intolerance towards people of faith, and then turn around accuse them of doing exactly that. FF are not even a Christian party, not that there would be anything wrong with that, in fact there should be more Christian representation in parliament. By your logic that would make the Greens a homosexual party wouldn't it since Bob Brown holds strong homosexual values? I think more people are starting to open their eyes to the hypocrisy and double standards of the left and realise the only fundamentalists are the Greens who are really communists acting under the guise of an environmentalist party.
 

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In ABC television's poll to find the nation's favourite book, Col Stringer came out of nowhere to emerge as a literary star. Jane Sullivan spoke to the man who left J. K. Rowling, John Steinbeck and Jane Austen in his wake.

Meet Australia’s three best-loved authors. They are Tim Winton (Cloudstreet); A.B. Facey (A Fortunate Life); and Col Stringer. Col who? Until this week, the nation’s literati had never heard of him. He wasn’t on any publisher’s radar, and Nielsen BookScan, the major company for tracking book sales, had recorded only seven sales of his books since December 2002.

Then, last Sunday night, ABC TV announced the results of its poll to find the nation’s favourite book. Tens of thousands of Australians had voted, by email or fax or SMS and there was Col Stringer’s 800 Horsemen at No. 12 in the top 100, well ahead of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Harry Potter and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

Move down the list to No. 29, and there was Col Stringer’s Fighting Mackenzie, Anzac Chaplain, well ahead of John Steinbeck, John Marsden and Bryce Courtenay. What is going on? Call it the hand of God: there is another world of Christian readers out there you don’t hear much about.

Our overnight literary star is a Pentecostal preacher known as “Pastor Crocodile Dundee” with a colourful past and a dramatic moment of conversion to the ministry. He has written 25 books and published them himself, and he reckons some of his thousands of avid readers must have voted for him - but without any direction from the author. He’s also dismissing allegations from another writer that 800 Horsemen was plagiarised from his own work.

From his offices in Robina on Queensland’s Gold Coast, the Reverend Col Stringer says he is touched and humbled to make it onto the Favourite Books list: “I’d be the first to admit I wouldn’t in my wildest dreams compare myself to some of these other authors, Tolkien or Jane Austen; my goodness, not for a minute.

“But there must be at least 30,000 people out there who have read 800 Horsemen, and we’ve had a lot of tremendous letters. I think I’ve tapped into a very popular theme of the moment.”

The gist of Stringer’s “popular theme” is that Australia is essentially a Christian country, but the influx of other religions and more secular creeds - “Buddhists and Muslims and tree huggers” - is leading us to forget our roots. It would be a disaster if we lost our religious heritage, he says. We should get back to our history and prepare for a future where Australia will play a proud and crucial role as a nation of Christians, the “South land of the Holy Spirit”.

800 Horsemen is about the Australian Light Horsemen who made the famous charge at Beersheba in Palestine during World War I. The book blurb says that many people are unaware that these Anzacs opened the doorway for the liberation of Jerusalem from centuries of Turkish rule. Aussies achieved what no other nation could do, paving the way for the founding of the modern nation of Israel.

“When Jesus returns to Jerusalem, He will descend to the spot overlooked by the graves of 'Aussie' Light Horsemen - our nation’s legacy paid in blood,” says the blurb on the book’s cover.

Another of Stringer’s books, Discovering Australia’s Christian Heritage, broadens the theme “to show the Christian heritage of this great nation, and to show how the Lord has had his hand upon Australia since time began”.

Stringer says an author emailed him about the ABC poll, and he let “about 200 people” know that they could vote for him if they wanted to.

“But my wife and I never voted, and I certainly never asked anyone to vote more than once. If we had done that, we would need to be exposed.

“Some reports have insinuated I manipulated my congregation. But I don’t have a congregation, for a start. I don’t even have a church.”







Other books in the Stringer repertoire include Mulga Bill’s Dinkum Aussie Guide to the Bible and the autobiographical High Adventure with Jesus: “Stories about an escape from sharks and an attack by wild pigs and buffalo will keep you in suspense,” says the blurb.

Stringer’s high adventure with Jesus started in Darwin, where he lived for 25 years and owned a fishing tackle and gun shop.





Some of the views Stringer expresses on his website are controversial. In an attack on the Victorian Government’s proposal to introduce a Racial Vilifications Bill, he says of Muslim immigrants: “While no one begrudges these people - we welcome them and guarantee their freedom of religion - they must realise that this is a Christian country that they have chosen to be a part of, and not demand changes for their culture and religion. These immigrants have left their home countries, with all of their restrictions, attracted by our open society and freedom. Now they want to impose those same restrictions here!”

But Stringer doesn’t say we should keep out immigrants of another faith. He urges his followers to play the politicians at their own game and deluge them with reports of those who “mock Christianity and our sense of decency”. And he encourages his followers to be good missionaries and convert the unbelievers.

800 Horsemen is not the only example of a critical mass of religious voters hijacking the ABC poll: Zhaun Falun, the revered book of the Falun Gong sect, is at No. 14 in the Favourite Books list. But when the Bible is at No. 3, why is it that dedicated Christians such as Stringer’s followers didn’t vote for the holy scriptures as their favourite book?

“I can’t explain it,” Stringer says. “Maybe they should have.”

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/12/09/1102182425584.html
 

dan warna

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#20
Birdy said:
Well Dan Warna if God hating militant atheists ever get in power then we are in real trouble. Australia has no fundamentalist Christian parties, yet you would use FF as a scapegoat to spread your hate and intolerance towards people of faith, and then turn around accuse them of doing exactly that. FF are not even a Christian party, not that there would be anything wrong with that, in fact there should be more Christian representation in parliament. By your logic that would make the Greens a homosexual party wouldn't it since Bob Brown holds strong homosexual values? I think more people are starting to open their eyes to the hypocrisy and double standards of the left and realise the only fundamentalists are the Greens who are really communists acting under the guise of an environmentalist party.

who hates god? I just think he/she/it doesn't exist and is an excuse for the weak to blame something/someone else for when things go wrong.

FF is a front for the AOG, anyone denying it just needs to talk to their clones at election day.

Greens do hold a far more tolerant policy towards homosexuality than the FFers.

the fundamentalists are those who want to teach rubbish like creationism at schools as fact.

why not teach the hindu mythos as fact or even the greek pantheonic mythos as fact, they are about as viable as the truth spouted by the weak minded.

there is a lot of good in christian value systems, as there are in buddhist, muslim etc value systems.

but the intollerence shown by the AOGers plus the promulgation of ignorance is a danger to society.
 

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#21
dan warna said:
who hates god? I just think he/she/it doesn't exist and is an excuse for the weak to blame something/someone else for when things go wrong.

FF is a front for the AOG, anyone denying it just needs to talk to their clones at election day.

Greens do hold a far more tolerant policy towards homosexuality than the FFers.

the fundamentalists are those who want to teach rubbish like creationism at schools as fact.

why not teach the hindu mythos as fact or even the greek pantheonic mythos as fact, they are about as viable as the truth spouted by the weak minded.

there is a lot of good in christian value systems, as there are in buddhist, muslim etc value systems.

but the intollerence shown by the AOGers plus the promulgation of ignorance is a danger to society.
what he said :cool:
 
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