There's been a lot of Bible bashing in the Herald recently (Abbott and Costello i'm looking at you). As an atheist I'd like to have a crack at a response.
To the honorable Mr Abbott, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." is not an each way bet; not even close. It's closer to hoping someone mysterious gives the dud donkey you've backed a hit on the crack pipe just before the gates open. A sort of righteous Fine Cotton if you will. You can't put an each way bet on faith, isn't that whole point, you either believe or you don't - end of story. Surely a much better each way bet, if we presume that we are talking about a race between all the myriad religions and atheism ( a big starting gate I know), would be to put the house on atheism each-way. Atheism is either going to romp it in (and all probability says it will) or is guaranteed second place because the victory of any one of the religions knocks all the others out of the race. Backing Atheism turns it into a two horse race and any bookie worth his salt would make that un-backable for an each-way bet. I guess there are always a couple of mug punters that back the long shot.
And, just for the record, have a read of Richard Dawkin's "The God Delusion" for summary of research strongly suggesting many of the "founding fathers" were agnostic.
And since when does Christianity have the monopoly on grand structures. The Egyptians built the pyramids, how about Stone Henge. How could people have built those Ancient Wonders if they weren't believers in the one true god Yahweh. The argument that grand cathedrals prove the existence of god because it inspires their construction is false unless you accept the existence of the gods that inspired similar feats in ancient times. Otherwise it is purely human ingenuity and endeavor in every case.
And what about the back handed insult to "sophisticated thinkers" Is this another elite that should be railed against, along with chardonnay-sippers, latte-drinkers, tertiary-educators, greenhouse-effect-believers, peaceniks, anti-americans, Steve-Irwin-sceptics, germaine-greers. In short, un-Australians. Since when is "sophisticated thinking" a hindrance?
Surely sophisticated thinkers embrace mysteries in a attempt to solve them, a la astronomy, medical science etc. All frowned upon by the Church whilst building their grand cathedrals. What about the money and resources channelled into the projects that could have gone elsewhere far more usefully.
How about a swap Abbott, i'll live without the grand follies of blinkered ideologies and you can try and live without the benefits of the sophisticated thinkers. You know scientist and the like.
And this guy is the minister for health?