Religious Tolerance Bill Defeated
On the first of March the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Tolerance) Bill was soundly defeated in the NSW Legislative Council 23 votes to 5.
As many of you would know, the Bill proposed by the Hon Peter Breen MLC, would have made a crime of any speech that causes religious offence. It was perhaps one of the greatest threats to religious freedom and freedom of speech we have seen in this state in recent memory.
Christians who have engaged in inter-faith dialogue would all know how difficult it is to not offend those of other religions while continuing to stay faithful to the truths of the Christian faith. The reality is that while others remain in spiritual darkness, many of the so-called ‘hard truths’ about our faith will indeed cause offence. Not many of the claims of Christianity fill the non-Christian with much reason for hope and joy, as long as they refuse to accept the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Evangelical, Orthodox and Catholic Christianity all teach that living without the salvation of Christ leads to eternal damnation. Not a nice thought, of course, and one that you could not possibly wish on anyone, but a real consequence of one’s decisions all the same.
How can one escape the offence of such a claim without removing the religious truths that we hold as readily evident?
Every day of the week Christians offer their prayers of thanks to God that we live in Australia, a country that has freedom of religious expression. They see how the Church overseas is persecuted beyond belief because many foreign Governments do not accept this liberty.
The legal case against the two Dannys in Victoria showed how religious tolerance legislation can have terrible consequences. Pastors Scott and Naliah we put on trial for holding a forum on Islam. Indeed they were put on trial for reading and interpreting the Koran. Members of the Islamic Council of Victoria were stationed in the congregation to ensure they could gather enough information to prosecute.
The plight of the two Dannys has readily shown how the vagueness of religious tolerance legislation is an open invitation to over-zealous judicial activism in prosecuting people of faith.
The greatest irony of religious tolerance legislation is that its main objective, to increase religious tolerance between religions, is actually defeated because the legislation creates religious disharmony in its application. The reality in Victoria is that many churches have been locking their doors out of fear of being taken to court by Muslims.
Can I take this opportunity to thank the thousands of Christians from across the entire state who petitioned the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council not to enact this legislation. It was certainly a victory for commonsense and ordinary people of faith.
Now that we have won this resounding victory in NSW, we need to do all we can to get this legislation rescinded in Victoria and Queensland, where it lays in waiting to be used as an inter-faith attack on an innocent pastor or priest who dares to speak out the truths of Christianity.
