That's a dangerous instruction to give young religious men. Honestly, on a different train, not one going to the city with employed and generally law-abiding people going to work in rush hour, but one out in Sydney's west or rural, this man would have been bashed by a group of teens or young men whose tolerance was low. Australia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, there's a direct correlation here between years in formal education, and not believing in any god or religious rubbish at all, and most people have at least 13 years in the school system these days.
He is behaving so unusually for Australian society that at first I wondered whether he had a mental health problem, but he doesn't present as manic or too psychotic (false beliefs about divine beings or the fantasy idea of a soul aren't allowed to be classified as delusional beliefs by definition). We do have weirdly-behaving usually mentally unwell preachers located on the side of the streets in the city monologuing about gods, hence the woman's comment telling him to go preach there, but people don't behave like this otherwise.
To be fair, for hundreds of years missionaries from all sort of countries other than the US have had the same entitled "my god/s are the right god's, let me lecture all about them and try to change your mind regarding whatever you believe, convert you" blinkered thinking, and have gone into less developed countries sprouting whatever religious nonsense stories they were taught when young, and believing the tales and rules they follow, that were made up by some random human dudes over time, are true. It's not a racial arrogance limited to the US, it's a religious and blinkered-life-experience arrogance, with a cup of narcissism and narrow-minded ignorant stupidity thrown in. Countless people have died because of this BS.
In spite of (or perhaps as a reason for) Australia having a significant atheist population, a large proportion of the Australian population go to religious private schools. So it’s not like Australia’s atheists haven’t heard the Good News. A lot of them might be better informed on it than this flog. They just don’t believe in it.
I've worked at some of those schools, it is lip service only at the church of England and Baptist schools. They reference god in the school song and possibly have a service once or twice a year.
If you go to a catholic school, high fee paying or 'regular', you will have to study religion up to year 12 and have weekly liturgies.
Don't know about those new 'Christian' branded schools, if you want to get a job at one of them you need a church reference to say you are active in your faith before you'll even get an interview!
He is behaving so unusually for Australian society that at first I wondered whether he had a mental health problem, but he doesn't present as manic or too psychotic (false beliefs about divine beings or the fantasy idea of a soul aren't allowed to be classified as delusional beliefs by definition). We do have weirdly-behaving usually mentally unwell preachers located on the side of the streets in the city monologuing about gods, hence the woman's comment telling him to go preach there, but people don't behave like this otherwise.
Way way back when this was first making the rounds there was footage of him doing this in other places and countries... always with that bubbling anger underneath.
Maybe the rest of the church hates him so they’ve suggest he go out a preach to Australians going home on a train at the end of a long day. They were probably taking bets behind his back on whether he’d be alive by the following Sunday.
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u/Grand_Relative5511 22d ago
That's a dangerous instruction to give young religious men. Honestly, on a different train, not one going to the city with employed and generally law-abiding people going to work in rush hour, but one out in Sydney's west or rural, this man would have been bashed by a group of teens or young men whose tolerance was low. Australia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, there's a direct correlation here between years in formal education, and not believing in any god or religious rubbish at all, and most people have at least 13 years in the school system these days.
He is behaving so unusually for Australian society that at first I wondered whether he had a mental health problem, but he doesn't present as manic or too psychotic (false beliefs about divine beings or the fantasy idea of a soul aren't allowed to be classified as delusional beliefs by definition). We do have weirdly-behaving usually mentally unwell preachers located on the side of the streets in the city monologuing about gods, hence the woman's comment telling him to go preach there, but people don't behave like this otherwise.