What many always miss about Bill English is that he is a fanatical Catholic. For English, the greatest sin is state welfare which allows the poor to gravitate towards secular institutions as providers instead of fearing God.
He is viciously anti-gay and aggressively anti-abortion…
ENGLISH IS VERY SOCIALLY CONSERVATIVE
English has spent the last eight years deep in the budget books, where he is clearly a fiscal conservative, but nowhere near as ideologically driven as say, Ruth Richardson. On social issues however, this Catholic man is very solidly to the right.
He voted against the legalisation of same sex marriage. He voted against civil unions. He voted against prostitution law reform. He voted for a 2005 bill that sought to clarify that marriage should only be between men and women.
English is perhaps most vocal on abortions. In 1997 he said Parliament had “fallen short in our duty to protect the unborn child”.
Anti-abortion groups list him as a supporter.
As Health Minister, he actively attempted to reduce the number of abortions, introducing a booklet about “other options” and foetal development.
His wife Mary, who is a Wellington GP, is on a list of doctors who have reportedly refused to provide abortion services or contraception. She told NZME that the pair were “both conservatives on anti-abortion issues”.
…he is driven by a far Right God to redesign the neoliberal welfare state so that even less State money continues to support the valueless and sinful existence of solo mothers.
English is far more dangerous than Key ever was. Key was a self serving populist who looked after Key first, English is a religious zealot whose Southern drawl and dryness masks a hard right fanatic.
English’s pretence to care about the poor has been swallowed hook line and sinker by Blue Green columnist Simon Wilson’s disgraceful praise on ‘The Spin’ blog this week.
The horrific failure of State House privatisation is now apparent, the horrific manner in which English has duped the mainstream narrative that he’s dumping tens of thousands off welfare under the guise of focusing on the truly needy few has been uncovered and his use of mass surveillance to demand big data from social agencies so he can spy on the children of the poor under the claim he’s helping them is Big Brother madness.
English is ramming through hard right doctrine to appease his angry right wing God. He is killing off secular Government obligations which he sees are sinful by pretending to resource only the truly needy. It’s a clever way to fool people, but it’s simply making the neoliberal welfare state even more punishing and more draconian.
English is a religious fanatic who if allowed to finish his goal of welfare privatisation will cause far more damage than Key ever did.
Agree completely Martyn, Blinglish is as dry as a Jesuit from the teaching arm of the Catholic Church. They are frightening to behold, back in the 60’s I witnessed a Jesuit preaching hell and brimstone from the pulpit about contraception – being a mouthy upstart of a kid I was not at all amused by his audacity. Blinglish I have no doubt flagellates at night with a whip to make himself feel in control like the Knight Templars did. He also has brains upstairs which Key may have had but it never came across that he did. It doesn’t bode well for the vulnerable this year being pushed out to work. Watch the suicide stats, they are about to rise considerably.
And God said man would have dominion over the Earth and should overpopulate it, and loot it and pollute it in an orgy of unrestrained consumption, and said that selfishness and greed were good. And anyone who disagreed should be stoned to death.
“And anyone who disagreed should be stoned to death.”
Ladies first…
I was driven from the Catholic church as a teenager by this sort of right wing “Catholicism” . I could never handle to conflict between what I saw to be the central message of ‘ love your neighbour” and ” sell all your wealth and give the proceeds to the poor” and what I now realise is Calvinism. I am eternally grateful for Catholics such as English for starting me on the road away from a childish believe in a fictional god and towards a socialism based on a belief that everyone deserves a decent go.
I don’t know that English is more dangerous than Key, he is likely to be more transparently awful.
So you think he’s more of an Old Testament guy than a New one? The New one’s are supposed to constantly ask themselves WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) in their decision making, but that doesn’t sound like it would compatible with right-wing ideology English is going for. Perhaps Judaism would be a better fit for him.
You are right in a lot of things about English , Martyn , but Id go easy on the Catholic bashing if I were you … I know you don’t mean it as it sounds but lets remind themselves the Catholic church IS a broad church … from the bible in one hand and machine gun in the other to nuns working in poor regions in orphanages , … the Catholic church does a lot of social good around the globe…
And it was the Catholic church that among others opposed Hitler…
Its not a perfect organisation / church but I think it is often a persons individual interpretation of their beliefs that determine a persons actions… in English’s case,.. he is a neo liberal ideologue.. lets focus on that rather than his faith…
I’m no Catholic,.. but there are indeed a majority who are really nice, lovely folk…
It is a shame that English adheres so much to that right wing ideology neo liberalism.. it really is an insidious and pervasive perversion that so easily works its way into the Biblical church system … with its whole emphasis on humility and acceptance of authority , in finding solace in ones lowly position… it is fertile ground for this disgusting right wing ideology to attach itself like a leech and manipulate and pervert the true meaning and intent behind the Gospel message of redemption…
It has in fact nothing at all to do with that message at all – simply the worship of self and self aggrandizement – with its accompanying lust for power and avarice.
Nothing at all to do with the original message of Jesus Christ whatsoever.
Jesus was.. the original hippy social reformer… ( Id happily hang out with Jesus ) … and he had nothing but the sternest warnings for the manipulative and blasphemous money lenders in the Temple if we recall our Sunday school messages – yet everything to do with healing the sick and the poor…
The exact opposite of the neo liberal ideology.
So true Katipo Jesus would hate Neoliberalism. Deep down it is evil based on evolution and survival of the fittest. Totally opposite to what the bible teachs. The Neo liberals in the church are hypocrits if u ask me…
First off, ‘fearing God’ means to take God seriously.
Secondly, Catholicism is not Christianity.
Thirdly Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.” The God of the Bible has no problem with Governments passing laws. In-fact Christians are told to follow the laws of the land except when they’re in conflict with God’s laws.
In-fact, for example, the Bible has no problem with same sex marriage legislation being passed by a secular society, but God would have a problem with people being forced to engage in homosexuality.
According to Jesus we live in the times of the gentiles (secularism) and the wheat (Christians) and tears (non-Christians) will live in the same society. In my opinion the only perfect government is God’s government.
Catholics believe the Pope speaks for God and is God on earth. If Bill English is Catholic he believes this. Personally I think worshiping any man on earth is blasphemy, especially if you believe (like Catholics do) that the Pope is God on Earth.
Let’s no forget, Andrew Little is Catholic too.
“tears”=tares; weeds among the cereal crop.
For those of us not Christian, or any of the other ‘Book’ religions – ‘tears’ and oppressions usually come with ‘Book’ people.
It doesn’t take too many chapters in before we run aground on the begets and the smitings.
About the only useful bit is Leviticus – with the health warnings.
The thing that makes me skeptical of an analysis of Bill as a conscietious religious nutbar is that this failed freak far-right agenda is not his work.
Much as Bestiality Bill may aspire to be the arch-bishop of a special kind of hell, his vicious and dysfunctional reforms are carbon copies of David Cameron’s so-called compassionate conservatism, a program designed to ‘make poverty history’ by a process of covert euthanasia.
Cameron claimed to be a Jewish Anglican – which is a pretty whited sepulchre -Bill has no points of policy difference from Cameron, so I think we can clear Pope Francis in this instance.
I thought that was Iain Duncan Smith, in cahoots with Gideon Osborne. Not that nice Mr Cameron, the reformed Bullingdon lad.
Jewish-Anglican. Well, I never! He never seemed smart enough for either.
People to need to read up more at the daily blog
History tells us, English as a leader, is poor and far from “dangerous”.
As a finance minister he probably is, yet even those on the right are having doubts…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11781839
And on the subject of leadership, English may like to take the advice of UK’s P.M. Teresa May…
“But it is also important here in the United Kingdom that we do ensure we have that control. We want to see net migration coming down because of the impact we feel it has on people here in the UK.”
More big boxes of crazy with this ultra right wing fanatic new P.M.
” Man has dominion over nature ” – the bible giving idiots permission to rape and pillage. Go Go Billy boy as you continue an ugly and unhealthy legacy already in full swing. Thanks Martyn for this info and continuing to shine the light on politicians bound at the hip to their corporate masters and law writing lobbyists.
Run for cover all of those in need and those who are disabled and those who are homeless and suicidal. Run for cover away from this govt. who will offer no new healthy solutions and only make lives worse off.
The — ” Bill and Paula puppet show ” — garnishing more wealth for themselves and their buddies and leaving the rest of NZ and our seas and environment and polluted rivers etc. much worse off.
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