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Farrah Agustin-Bunch #crackpot #quack #psycho theage.com.au

When Dr Adam Smith decided to accuse a doctor turned naturopath of promoting fresh potato and “Pixie Dust” magnesium as cancer treatments, he never imagined he would be slapped with a million-dollar defamation lawsuit.

He thought he was doing a community service.

… Smith, who has a YouTube channel called Doc Adam with more than 2 million subscribers, alleges patients died after Agustin-Bunch encouraged them to follow her supplement-based health protocols.

Smith, who has a YouTube channel called Doc Adam with more than 2 million subscribers, alleges patients died after Agustin-Bunch encouraged them to follow her supplement-based health protocols.

Among a suite of allegations submitted to the court by Smith’s Australian commercial law firm, Mills Oakley, are claims Agustin-Bunch prescribed one patient various natural remedies she sells online and a carbohydrate-free diet, and discouraged her from using “modern medicine”.

Court documents allege Agustin-Bunch reviewed medical records of the woman – who had early-stage colon cancer when she visited the naturopath’s clinic – diagnosing the woman with stage 4 breast cancer by touching a lump on her chest and without undertaking further tests.

It is alleged she then recommended the woman “blend a fresh potato with a clear liquid product, fashion it into a patch” and place the patch on lumps in her breast and armpit.

The patient later died, according to Smith’s defence, lodged with the Supreme Court.

In another document submitted to the court, Smith claims an ovarian cancer patient followed Agustin-Bunch’s medical advice and used her natural remedies, such as vitamin C and cabbage, to treat her pain while refusing chemotherapy.

When the woman told Agustin-Bunch she was feeling pressure to have chemotherapy, documents submitted to the court detail that the naturopath allegedly told her: “Don’t believe them. They told that to one of my patients, but she is still alive after three years.”

Documents submitted to the court said the woman, who lived in Dubai, later died.

Plenty Kingdom Hall #fundie theage.com.au

A former Jehovah's Witness elder recently convicted of child sex offences is back working with children from a Melbourne parish run by his father-in-law.

Richard Hill was found guilty last year of the offences against his six-year-old female cousin, who was also in the religion. He was put on the sex offenders' list and fined. The offences happened in 1981 when he was 20.

Hill, a roofing plumber of Doreen with an office in Brunswick, this week maintained his innocence and confirmed he was working with children while doorknocking as part of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious practice called 'proselytizing.'

His wife's father, Ken Hall, is the senior elder at the Plenty Kingdom Hall in outer Melbourne, where Hill now worships. "I am allowed to attend under strict conditions," Hill said. "The police know about that."

Hill appealed his conviction but then dropped the appeal.

"I pleaded not guilty to all charges but we decided not to keep going because of mental stress on my family and the costs – I spent over $100,000 defending myself in the courts. You get to a point where you turn the other cheek and walk away. I am definitely not guilty. It comes down to one man's opinion over another person's opinion."

However he apologised to his victim, Melissa Buchanan, on social media, as she was preparing to tell police what had happened to her as a little girl. "I'm truly sorry Melissa," he told her in a Facebook message. "I know you must be hurt and I'm so sorry for that. Trust is very hard to earn but easy to destroy."

Ms Buchanan, 41, who is no longer in the sect, told police Hill was living in her family home in the northern suburbs in the 1980's and one night after a shower he came into her bedroom dressed only in a small yellow towel and after making her sit on his lap sexually abused her while telling her to be quiet.

Her family, she says, all staunch Jehovah's Witnesses, hushed it up to save face and the church's reputation, and Hill later became an elder.

"He could very easily do to others what he did to me," she says. "I don't know how they can have a convicted paedophile knocking on doors speaking about religion. I just want him to know that I will never forget."

David G. Westaway #fundie theage.com.au

CONGRATULATIONS to the scientists who have been awarded more than $500,000 for their discovery of an expanding universe (The Age, 18/7).
It is a shame that Isaiah can't share in the reward, as more than 2500 years ago he wrote: "It is God who sits above the circle of the earth — who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in (Isaiah 40:22).

Stretches and spreads the heavens certainly sounds like an ever-expanding universe to me. And the earth certainly looks like a circle when viewed from space.

Or, as Job wrote 1000 years before Isaiah: "He spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and hangs the earth on nothing (Job 26:7) and "He described a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness (Job 26:10). This is exactly what happens on the earth's spherical surface. Maybe we are just relearning what was already known way back in the past.

Matt Whelan #fundie theage.com.au

WHAT we all seem to be forgetting amid Richard Dawkins' new book and his claims is that he is just a man with an opinion.
He is a world-renowned atheist who chooses to forget one of the biggest questions of all: where did we all come from? If we choose to believe his claim of there being no such thing as God, this question remains unanswered. However, if you look at the option of a divine creator God, this question is answered and also makes perfect sense.

Dawkins' theory defies the governing rules of science, especially, "From nothing, nothing comes." He therefore implies that something can come from nothing, which we all know is ridiculous. If you look at the option of an ETERNAL creator God, then our existence makes sense, as we were created by someone who has always been there.

Various religious kooks #fundie theage.com.au

A toddler whose remains were found inside a suitcase in Philadelphia was starved to death by members of a religious cult, including his mother, in part because he refused to say "amen" after meals.

Ria Ramkissoon, the mother of Javon Thompson, was charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the boy's death, and Baltimore police said today that three other members of a group called 1 Mind Ministries have also been charged with first-degree murder.

Martin Bell of Balgowlah, NSW #fundie theage.com.au

(on a suggestion that The Lord's Prayer should not be read at the opening of Parliament.)

HOW ironic that Senator Bob Brown wants to scrap the Lord's Prayer, for the reasons it should be kept. Its profundity and truthfulness transcends religion and belief. Atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and agnostics can all equally delight in its universal relevance.

Vatican Newspaper L'Osservatore Romano #fundie theage.com.au

THE contraceptive pill is polluting the environment and is in part responsible for male infertility, a report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said on Saturday.

The pill "has for some years had devastating effects on the environment by releasing tonnes of hormones into nature" through female urine, said Pedro Jose Maria Simon Castellvi, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, in the report.

"We have sufficient evidence to state that a non-negligible cause of male infertility in the West is the environmental pollution caused by the pill," he said.

Terry Lane #fundie theage.com.au

The rise of the Democrats in the US opinion polls before this week's congressional elections has boosted the Rapture Index a few points. Triumphant liberalism is one sign that we are living in the last days.

Raptureready is adamant that no true believer could even think of voting Democrat. "There is one thing certain we can state, based upon the integrity of Bible truth. Jesus would never endorse or be a member of any party whose platform supports abortion, gay rights, and a general hostility to Bible-believing Christians."

David Bernard #fundie theage.com.au

(Responding to a Muslim cleric's call for prayer to alleviate Australian drought)

While some sheikh may suggest that Australia's record dry spell is because we haven't all surrendered to Allah, let the truth be told: Jesus Christ is Lord! Only Jesus' sacrifice for sins pays for us to enjoy life here and in eternity.
No manmade religion, philosophy or idea will earn man peace with God. No prayers or religious observances could ever hope to bring us into right relationship with such a holy, loving God. Only by saying sorry for our blunders, and turning from them to faith in Jesus Christ, creates the God type of righteousness inside. Other good deeds may follow but no good deeds could ever earn us heaven or a tick from "the bloke upstairs". They will certainly not bring us rain!

Christians should continue to pray for rain and for a harvest of souls. Only then will Australians be able to say they are truly happy because they are the people whose God is the Lord!

Various #fundie theage.com.au

[on a proposal to teach voluntary religious education-equivalent classes in humanism in Victorian (Australia) primary schools.]

Where's the benefit in saying someone doesn't exist? Surely the next step is to attack those who say He does? This appears set to foster hatred of Christian churches and encourage bigotry and schoolyard bullying against other students, especially those participating in RE classes.

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THE humanist/atheist brigade will soon have the right to present its anti-God/anti-Christian doctrine in the religious education time slot in state schools.

I thought it already had its allotted sessions in the school science curriculum, where its evolutionist dogma is so forcefully entrenched that it prevents any other viewpoint from even being considered, let alone discussed.