Voting

This weekend just past, I had to vote in the local government elections in New South Wales, Australia. Voting is compulsory here or you cop a small fine. I think it is currently $50-55.00 AU for local government elections. Many chose to pay the fine, while others cast a ‘donkey’ vote, or one that was useless deliberately. Some put down the US president as a choice, while other doodled on the ballot paper. Some others probably tried to vote correctly but did the wrong thing. Many votes were passed in as invalid.

In the local government area where I live, I can’t say that I knew much about the various candidates – with the exception of one whom I regard as a waste of space in local government. Needless to say I didn’t vote for him. I found myself simply voting along traditional lines because I knew no better.

Most candidates are viewed as clowns or worse in elections here, which is quite a shame. Serving one’s country in government should be seen as an honourable profession. However, it is not and those who actually have something useful to offer turn away from the process because of the joke that government is often perceived to be. Those who really can make a difference are choosing to avoid serving in government and that is a real shame.

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Newcastle Cathedral

Being a Protestant and a Particular Baptist, I don’t go much for the building as far as it being essential for worship. Don’t get me wrong, having a dedicated building to meet in is very helpful and useful, but if you are to have a building it needs to lend itself for the purpose, being completely functional as such and efficient in terms of the funding for it (it is far more profitable to use what money you have in carrying out the mission, than building a facade of religion).

Having said all that, the building in this picture is certainly an impressive one. It is a grand old building (as far as ‘old’ goes in relatively young Australia), rich in history, as it contains many historical items of interest.

The building pictured is that of the Newcastle Cathedral (Church of England). As grand as it looks, it is hardly the bastion of Evangelical Protestantism that one would have hoped for. Any true semblance of Evangelical Christianity that it may have borne witness to has long gone from its walls.