Australia: Victoria’s ‘Anti-Conversion’ Law Passes in Upper House

-- Royal assent secured; law will come into effect on 16 Feb 2022.

The Victorian state government’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill passed in the Legislative Council on the evening of 4 February 2021.  

Despite a lengthy debate, the world’s most repressive LGBTQ+ anti-conversion bill passed without amendments, 27 votes in favour and 9 against. The nine opposing votes came from 7 of 12 crossbenchers, and 2 of 11 opposition members. 

While the Bill’s focus is sexual orientation and gender identity, its similarity to religious anti-conversion laws in Hindu nationalist India and throughout the Muslim world is remarkable. In much the same way, Victoria’s anti-conversion law will ensure that LGBTQ+ identity is essentially a one-way street and procuring conversions is banned. 

If Victoria continues along this trajectory then the next step may well be a law against “blasphemy” (to criminalise criticism of LGBTQ+ ideology) and/or the mandatory registration of state-approved, ideologically compliant churches and clergy.

Text of Bill (pdf)
Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021 

Excerpt: (from pages 7-8)

Meaning of change or suppression practice 

(1) In this Act, a change or suppression practice means a practice or conduct directed towards a person, whether with or without the person's consent— 

     (a) on the basis of the person's sexual orientation or gender identity; and 

     (b) for the purpose of— 

          (i) changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of the person; or 

          (ii) inducing the person to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a practice or conduct is not a change or suppression practice if it— (a) is supportive of or affirms a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation . . .

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), a practice includes, but is not limited to the following— 

     (a) providing a psychiatry or psychotherapy consultation, treatment or therapy, or any other similar consultation, treatment or therapy; 

     (b) carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism; 

     (c) giving a person a referral for the purposes of a change or suppression practice being directed towards the person. 

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1), a practice or conduct may be directed towards a person remotely (including online) or in person.

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For further background and analysis see:
Victoria, Australia: the church of LGBTIQ+’s war against ‘apostasy’
By Elizabeth Kendal, Religious Liberty Monitoring, 26 January 2021.
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That the Bill would be approved was all but certain. Holding 18 seats in the 40 seat Upper House, the ruling Labor government only needed the votes of three crossbenchers to secure passage of the Bill. This was all but guaranteed, with the Bill receiving strong support from crossbenchers Samantha Ratnam of the Greens, Fiona Patton of the Reason Party (formerly known as the Sex Party), and the Animal Justice Party’s Andy Meddick, the proud father of two transgender children (a son who is now a daughter and a daughter who is now a son). 

On 16 February, the Victorian governor the Honourable Linda Dessau AC, gave the Bill her royal assent. The Bill will come into effect on 16 February 2022. 

Once the law is enacted, anyone found trying to suppress or change another person’s sexuality or gender identity will face a fine of up to $10,000 and/or a prison term of up to 10 years if it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that their actions caused serious “serious injury” as defined by section 15 of the Crimes Act 1958: i.e. “an injury [to physical or mental health] (including the cumulative effect of more than one injury) that endangers life; or is substantial or protracted.”   

The Family Violence Protection Act will now be amended to make “conversion therapy” a form of domestic violence. 

BEFORE THE VOTE

In December 2020, former deputy Prime Minister of Australia, John Anderson took to twitter to express his concerns about the Bill. “A law before the Victorian parliament seeking to outlaw parental, therapeutic or religious discussions on issues of sexuality and gender is the biggest threat to our democratic freedoms in Australia’s entire legislative history.”  

A long list of organisations also criticised the Bill, including the Law Institute of Victoria, Australian Medical Association, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists,  Victorian Women’s Guild, Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese, Islamic Council of Victoria, and the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. 

Law Institute president Tania Wolff said their members were concerned that the bill “may impose limitations on conversations between children and their parents or other family or caregivers on the issue of gender identity or sexual orientation”. (The Australian, 4 Feb) 

Medical professionals expressed concern that the Bill's vague wording, broad scope and harsh penalties could see health professionals fined and/or jailed for giving professional advice that led to a patient choosing not to undergo permanent medical procedures to transition gender. However, Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley dismissed these concerns, describing them as “misplaced” (The Australian, 3 Feb).

In an open letter to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, Victoria’s Catholic bishops and the President of the Islamic Council of Victoria noted that the bill risks criminalising conversations between children and parents, interfering with sound professional advice, and silencing ministers of religion from assisting some individuals who freely seek pastoral care.

“Unfortunately, this bill doesn’t just ban out-dated and insidious practices of coercion and harm, which we firmly reject,” the letter states. “It includes ill-conceived concepts of faith and conversation, vague definitions, and scientifically and medically flawed approaches. It places arbitrary limitations on parents, families and people of faith.”

The Presbyterian Church of Victoria’s “Church and Nation” committee described the legislation as “a solution in search of a problem”. 

From the Amnesty International Australia graphic:
"Conversion Practices in Australia".
(see RLM 26 Jan 2021)

We might also describe it as a “weapon”, purpose built for “lawfare” against “informal religious practices” that promote notions of “sexual sin” that are “harmful to LGBTQA+ people”, along with the “false ideology that their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender and sexual expression can be changed or suppressed.” 

See: What are Conversion Practices? 
Amnesty International Australia
22 Dec 2020 

As noted by Church and Nation: “The research used for the ‘whole of government LGBTIQ+ strategy’ was heavily skewed. The data was based almost entirely on personal surveys which measure each LGBTIQ+ respondent’s feelings or perceptions that other people treated them with hate or discriminated against them, and their subjective opinion that the perceived hate or discrimination was based on LGBTIQ+ prejudice. There was no indication of any analysis to ensure that their perceptions of “hate or discrimination” were correct, nor was there any indication of any analysis that any discriminatory behaviour was based on LGBTIQ+ prejudice as opposed to any other prejudice.

“There is no evidence that harmful ‘aversion therapy’ has existed in Australia for decades.” 

See: Conversion Therapy Ban, Victoria
URGENT CALL TO ACTION
from the Presbyterian Church of Victoria's Church and Nation committee.
-- includes links to the Victorian Government’s own publications: Whole of Government LGBTQI+ Strategy and Discussion paper on Conversion Therapy Ban legislation.

Only two opposition members – MPs Bev McArthur and Bernie Finn – defied their leader to vote against the Bill. Mr Finn told parliament that while he supported the general principle of banning gay conversion therapy, he could not abide the “bad parts of the bill”. (The Australian, 4 Feb) 

“This bill is an attack on basic freedoms,’ he said, ‘on freedoms of choice, free speech, freedom of assembly and an attack on freedom of religion . . .  If this bill was just what the government said it is [i.e. a law to protect LGBTQ persons from coercive, abusive or involuntary psychological or spiritual practices], there wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s not, it’s a lot more than that. This in its own way is an omnibus bill, and they’ve got a very, very nasty habit of doing this to people, and to the parliament, of putting bills up which are in part acceptable, and in other parts appalling, and this is one of them.” 

In a 31 January 2021 article for the Spectator Australia, crossbencher David Limbrick (Liberal Democrats) – who voted against the Bill – slammed the Bill as “shameful”.

“I have approached this legislation with an open mind – I am not a religious conservative – and sat through many meetings with stakeholders from all sides of the argument. 

“This idea that evil religious people are waiting in the shadows to deny people choices about their own sexuality is an offensive caricature, not just to faith leaders, but to millions of people quietly practising their religions.  

“What’s worse is that there are undertones of anti-religious bigotry. Anyone who thinks this particular brand of bigotry is better than any other kind is kidding themselves.”

AFTER THE VOTE

After the vote, Baptist pastor and blogger Murray Campbell gave voice to the question many Victorians would now be asking: “How can we respond when a Government makes illegal practices that have been part of Christian religion since the beginning of the Church and have their foundation in the teaching and example of Jesus Christ? 

“To be very clear,” Campbell explains, “I am not talking about aversion practices and non-consensual activity that stems from pseudo-science and bad theology. Church leaders including myself have repeatedly spoken against such things and believe they have no place in our churches . . .” 

However, “Among other things, the Conversion Practices Bill criminalises prayer and conversation where one person aims to persuade another that pursuing certain sexual activity or change is not the best course of action. A prayer for sexual abstinence can be considered ‘suppression’ and therefore illegal. Sermons are not targeted in this Bill, although the recently resigned Attorney General, Jill Hennessy, explained in the Parliament that sermons may be included at a later date.” 

What’s more, Campbell reports, “During tonight’s debate, one member of the Legislative Council [Ms Bath] asked the Attorney General [Ms Symes], ‘How will the Government up-skill ministers and pastors so that they know where the line is, [and] what they can and cannot say to people about sexual orientation and gender identity?’ (my [Campbell’s] paraphrase of the question). 

“What a revealing question! The Attorney General indicated that education materials will be made available. In other words, religious people must defer to the Government’s doctrine.”

See: Victoria Bans Conversion Practices Despite Significant Flaws in the Bill
by Murray Campbell, 4 February 2021  

Regarding the answer from Victorian Attorney General Ms Jaclyn Symes MLC, here is the quote from Hansard (p282):  “. . . when this bill is passed, there will be a 12-month implementation period. VEOHRC [Victoria Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission] will be providing education, materials and advice to religious organisations . . .” 

THE WAY FORWARD

As for the way forward, the Moderator-General of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, Rev. Dr. Peter Barnes, issued a statement on the website of the Presbyterian Church of Australia, encouraging the congregations of the Presbyterian Church of Australia not to be deterred from the obligation to proclaim “the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27).”

“We are obliged before God,” he writes, “to preach all that He has revealed to us, whether law or gospel, and to do so in a spirit of love and truth.

“There is nothing unique in such legislation. When King Darius exceeded his God-given authority, Daniel did ‘as he had done previously’ (Dan. 6:10). 

“It is our task to keep on keeping on, to proclaim and to live out so far as we can the gospel of Christ which has been entrusted to us.”

AMEN

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

Victoria, Australia: The Church of LGBTQ+’s War Against “Apostasy”

by Elizabeth Kendal

When the Victorian parliament returns on 2 February, one of the first issues to be decided will be the fate of the government’s unprecedented and far-reaching Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020.  

If passed, the Bill will – in the words of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews – ensure that “cruel and bigoted practices that seek to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity will be stamped out across Victoria”. 

SEE: Premier of Victoria, the Hon. Daniel Andrews 
Banning Cruel Conversion Practices For Good
Press release 25 Nov 2020 

The “cruel and bigoted practices” to be “stamped out” include both formal (e.g. professional counselling) and informal (e.g. prayer) therapies and practices. The Bill will make it a criminal offence to engage such practices even if they have been requested. 

According to the Premier, these “therapies” -- which he insists “are based on false ideology” -- are nothing but “the worst form of bigoted quackery imaginable”.  

The Bill – which was introduced to the Victorian parliament on 25 November 2020 – passed the Victorian Legislative Assembly (lower house) on Thursday 10 December, the final parliamentary sitting day of the year 2020. 

The opposition put forward an amendment, to pause the Bill so as to enable consultation over the summer break. When that failed, the opposition, opting to boycott the vote, rose and left the chamber. 

All 55 MPs remaining in the chamber voted in favour of the Bill. 

The Bill empowers the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to investigate reports of conversion and suppression practices. Criminal penalties of up to 10-years in prison will apply.  

The Bill is now before the Legislative Council (upper house) where its fate will soon be decided. 

Regardless of Council’s decision, we can be certain that the Church of LGBTIQ+’s war against apostasy has only just begun.

A TROJAN HORSE FOR ACTIVISM

In commentary for The Australian (26 January), columnist Nick Cater refers to the Bill as “an ugly law that purports to prohibit gay conversion therapy.” 

Yet, as Cater notes, “the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill is not primarily intended to outlaw a practice that almost every Victorian would abhor. It is a Trojan horse for activism of the most insidious kind. It is an attack on freedom of religion and parental rights by activists who regard the very existence of categories of sex and sexuality to be oppressive.

“To call upon the laws of biology when counselling a gender-confused teenager or to suggest they might want to think again before declaring war on their bodies will become a criminal act. The role of doctors, psychiatrists, priests and parents will be reduced to applying a rubber stamp”.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AUSTRALIA

The Bill has strong backing from Amnesty International (AI) Australia, as well as from the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts (SOGICE) Survivors group. In fact, SOGICE Survivors created a graphic for AI which outlines how churches go about attempting to “convert” LGBTIQ+ individuals through informal means, including preaching, conversations and prayer. [Graphic – 9 slides, full size.] 

According to Amnesty International: “This model [as outlined in the graphic] represents some of the common experiences of modern survivors of conversion practices. The manifestations of the conversion movement are broad and can include children, healthcare professionals and paid services. However, these are extremely rare in Australia. To be truly effective, legislation must also address these far more prevalent experiences of the ‘modern survivor’ outlined in the graphic”.

AGENDA TO SILENCE PEOPLE OF FAITH

Contrary to the premier’s press release, faith leaders were not consulted. Indeed, many are shocked by what they see as massive over-reach by a government clearly hostile to Christianity. 

In his opinion piece published in The AGE (14 Dec 2020), Barney Zwartz – former religion editor of The Age from 2002 to 2013, now a senior fellow of the Centre for Public Christianity – gave voice to the legitimate concerns of religious leaders. 

“Most Victorian churches are intensely concerned about legislation the state government is rushing through Parliament without consultation to ban so-called conversion therapy to change sexual orientation. It is not that the churches practise or defend any form of coercive conversion therapy; the problem is the massive overreach of the bill and the State arrogating to itself wide control over the religious beliefs and practices of religious believers.

“No faith leaders were allowed to see the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill (2020) before it was introduced to Parliament, and the Attorney-General, Jill Hennessy, has declined to meet church representatives herself.

“Many Christians – and people of other faiths – fear there is a broader agenda at work by a state government more hostile to Christianity than its predecessors. . . They fear the bill may hide an agenda to silence people of faith.

“And not only believers. Thanks to the broad-brush approach, this legislation might unintentionally intrude on rights and freedoms that are precious to everyone. . . 

“I emphasise,” writes Zwartz, “that the churches do not want to be a source of harm to vulnerable people, and it is clear that, sadly, in some cases that has happened, that people have suffered psychological and spiritual damage. A meeting of leaders of Victorian churches last Wednesday unanimously supported the intention of the bill to protect vulnerable people from coercive practices.

“Yet, so far as I am aware, the number of coercive conversion therapy cases historically in Victoria is tiny, certainly not enough to justify legislation of this magnitude.

“The text of the legislation is troubling, interfering as it does with Christian practices of prayer, conversion, Christian formation, spiritual accompaniment, family and church life, and the ability of individuals to seek advice or counselling to make their own decisions.

“Frankly, should someone actively wish to change their orientation, or to seek advice about practising celibacy, or any private matter of conscience, it is none of the government’s business.

“If a married adult is struggling with sexuality and asks for prayer so s/he can contain sexual expression to the marriage, are people praying for them guilty of a 'change or suppression practice'? What if a polyamorist is advised to stay faithful in a marriage but decides this advice has damaged him? The bill explicitly says these prohibitions are regardless of consent, or the desires of the subject.

“What if a pre-pubescent child requests gender-reassignment treatment, but the parents, who know and love that child, encourage him or her to wait and see if their feelings change? Are the parents guilty of a 'change or suppression practice'? That certainly seems a possible interpretation of the legislation.

“Further, the definition of sexual orientation has been amended extraordinarily broadly. . .

“Astute observers have also noted that the bill (under Section 57) requires an independent reviewer – chosen by the Attorney-General, so a political appointment – who must consider the need for a redress scheme. That raises the stakes.

“The penalties under the bill are severe, including imprisonment. The government wants to suggest that not much is changing but, with the bill as it is, that is clearly untrue. . .”

THE BILL IS EVERY BIT AS BAD AS PEOPLE SAY IT IS

John Steenhof appeals to church leaders.
source: Australian Christian Lobby

John Steenhof is the Managing Director and Principal Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Alliance. Working in partnership with the Australian Christian Lobby, Steenhof has issued appealed to church leaders, urging them to raise their voice. 

“Now let’s be clear;” he says, “no-one supports aversion therapies, where pain or nausea are used to deal with unwanted sexual attraction. These practices are abusive and rightfully consigned to the dustbins of history.

“But the Victorian Conversion Bill goes much farther than just targeting coercion. This bill is overly broad and fundamentally flawed. If it passes unchallenged you will face coercion, investigation, monitoring, re-education, potential fines and jail time just for promoting the teachings of the Bible.

“Hostile activists will be empowered to take complaints, and to weaponise the Victorian Human Rights Commission against religion and against churches. Pastors, priests, and ministers are under threat. The Bill targets religious practices and prayer specifically; and a pastor who would preach that God’s plan for those who are not married is celibacy could find the cops on their doorstep. 

“Ordinary Christians could be investigated if they have prayed for change with someone who is experiencing unwanted sexual feelings. Parents who do not affirm a child’s gender confusion could also face questions. 

“The Bill also targets the many members of the LGBTIQ+ community who themselves have benefited from spiritual guidance and have seen changes in their lives. This Bill will be fundamental breach of their human rights to live the way that they want, to seek the treatment that they want. It removes their support during a very vulnerable time.

“This Bill will criminalise a traditional Biblical sexual ethic . . .”

Law professor Neil Foster has done an enormous amount of work, analysing and following the progress of the Bill. He warns that it is “every bit as bad as people say it is!” 

“The Bill,” he explains, “creates a powerful set of bureaucratic mechanisms by which religious groups presenting the classic teachings of their faith may be subject to investigation and ‘re-education’ by human rights officers. It arguably makes the presentation of some aspects of Biblical teaching unlawful if the aim of that teaching is to encourage someone to follow that teaching in their own life. Despite the appearance of addressing horrific and oppressive quasi-psychological procedures inflicted on young people, the Bill goes well beyond this laudable goal, and will make it unlawful to provide assistance in obeying the Bible to those who explicitly and with full understanding request such help”. 

UPDATE:
The Institute for Civil Society has produced an excellent paper entitled Problems and Proposed Amendments: Victoria’s ‘Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020’.

Quotes: "Compared with all other ban jurisdictions, the Victorian Bill would create the broadest and harshest ban in the world."

"The Victorian Bill has the harshest criminal penalties of any legislation in the world – for 'change or suppression' conduct causing psychological harm 5 years’ imprisonment or a $100,000 fine or for serious psychological harm 10 years imprisonment or a $200,000 fine. Most other laws provide for at most 1 years’ imprisonment." 

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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF) and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

Australia: Will Religious Liberty Slide into Oblivion?

by Elizabeth Kendal

Australia’s ruling Liberal National coalition/Party (LNP) has been riven by a ferocious internal culture war. It is a war that pits conservatives (routinely described in the media as extreme, radical, reactionary and “far-right”) against progressives (routinely described in the media as moderates and centrists despite being as far left as the far left on many social issues).

This war has resulted in two changes of prime minister in five years. After the federal polls of 2013 resulted in the election of an LNP  conservative (with a 17 seat majority), an intra-party coup in September 2015 put the party in the hands of progressives. That government was re-elected in 2016 with one seat majority, before a counter coup led by conservatives in August 2018 left the government in chaos. Tensions were resolved (somewhat) through party’s election of a compromise candidate: Scott Morrison, a conservative who had served as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection in the Abbott (conservative) government, and as treasurer in the Turnbull (progressive) government.

More critically, the war has led to the loss of two LNP Members of Parliament. One seat was lost in October through a bi-election which saw Dr Kerryn Phelps – a progressive LGBT activist, running as an independent – elected in Turnbull’s formerly safe Liberal seat. Another seat was lost on 27 November when MP Julia Banks (progressive) treacherously defected to the crossbench. Having been re-elected in July 2016 with a one seat majority, these were two seats the LNP could not afford to lose. Now, as it navigates its way to the next federal election (slated for May 2019), the LNP must proceed as a minority government.

Eager to humiliate the LNP ahead of the 2019 polls the opposition is doing all in its power to hinder the government’s agenda on multiple fronts. High on the list is the issue of religious freedom.

The Status of Religious Freedom in Australia

Throughout the nation’s short history, the idea that religious freedom is a fundamental and universal human right has simply been taken for granted. Consequently, no legislation has ever been enacted to protect religious freedom. As far as legislation goes, religious freedom only exists in negative terms – through exemptions in anti-discrimination law. The religious exemptions became a necessity after the law’s list of protected attributes was expanded to include attributes such as gender identity and sexual orientation.  Strip the religious exemptions away, and religious freedom is not protected.

In the absence of legislation to protect religious freedom, and despite the deference shown to “international standards” [i.e. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, 1966)], “equality” and “non-discrimination” have come to be viewed as the benchmarks by which rights are established.

This leaves religious liberty and faith communities in a precarious position, especially now that same-sex marriage / “marriage equality” has been legalised and therefore legitimised as good and as a right. Unable to claim minority (and therefore protected) status, Christians are particularly vulnerable. The fact that devout, Bible-believing Christians doubtless are a minority and exist in large numbers within ethnic minorities is irrelevant.

HOSTILITY RISES

Hostility quietly simmered and rose over several years as the national debate over “marriage equality” ran parallel to the federal government’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse. 

Launched in November 2012 by then Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Royal Commission was necessitated by the lack of justice, absence of resolution and lingering, festering pain caused by the scandal of child sexual abuse in the Church.

See: Royal Commission Timeline 

The Royal Commission investigated numerous institutions, including schools, residential care facilities, sporting clubs and detention facilities as well as religious institutions of all creeds and denominations. While all the reports were shocking, revealing a deep social sickness, it was the reports of sexual abuse in the Church – especially those alleged to have been committed or covered-up by some of the Church’s most respected figures – that captivated the attention of mainstream media and seized popular imagination. Quite apart from the enormous financial cost of redress, the primary consequence of the Royal Commission for the Church is that the Church’s moral authority has been shredded and will doubtless remain rubbish for generations to come.

The Royal Commission handed down its findings and recommendations on 15 December 2017, just one week after the Australian parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage and one month after the postal plebiscite in which 61.6 percent of Australian voters expressed support for “marriage equality”.

In a very real sense, the Australian Church has been driven into exile.

The Case of White Magazine

On 17 November 2018, Christians Luke and Carla Burrell announced that after 12 years of successful business, White magazine would cease publication. The popular wedding magazine became economically nonviable after LGBTQ activists, who had become aware that the magazine did not feature same-sex couples, launched an aggressive campaign against it. The campaign drove off advertisers, frightened staff and included threats of physical harm (including a threat to torch the Burrell’s home).

Official statement by White magazine: Farewell (17 Nov 2018)

In Australia we take threats by LGBTQ activists very seriously. In December 2016, Eternity House – the headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) – was firebombed by an LGBTQ activist who was seriously burned in the process. Canberra police were quick to clean up the scene and whitewash the attack as a failed suicide attempt with no ideological motive, something ACL rejected from the outset. This official narrative was confirmed as false when the accused – IT manager and LGBT activist Jaden Duong – testified in court that he researched how to make a bomb and targeted ACL headquarters precisely because he disliked ACL’s “position on sexuality”. [The accused committed suicide before the trial could conclude.]

The Rise of Lawfare

In the two years since its founding in September 2016, the Australia Christian Lobby’s Human Rights Law Alliance has been involved in some 50 cases of lawfare against Christians. Initiated (generally) by leftists and LGBTQ activists, these cases involve “everyday Christians” who have been targeted for their beliefs.

ACL Managing Director Martyn Iles elaborates (Nov 2018): “There is the story of a university student who was suspended for praying with another student [see Josh’s story]; a general manager dismissed for his beliefs regarding Safe Schools [a supposedly anti-bullying programme, designed by an openly Marxist LGBTQ activist, which teaches gender fluidity, moral relativism and has been likened to LGBTQ grooming] and the case of David van Gend who was hauled in front of the Medical Board all for posting two tweets [challenging] gender ideology.”

Madeline (18)

In September 2017 (i.e. during the same-sex marriage postal plebiscite campaign) Madeline (18), a children’s party entertainer based in Canberra, updated her Facebook profile image to include the official “It’s ok to vote no” frame. For this, Madeline was immediately sacked on the grounds that her “homophobic views” comprised “hate speech” which was “detrimental to the business”.

Indeed numerous workers, including teachers and other professionals, have been disciplined, sacked or have lost their accreditation simply for expressing their position on same-sex marriage. While most cases are quickly resolved after the accused Christians receive legal advice, the trend is undeniable: intolerance is escalating.

The Case of Jason Tey

Jason Tey with his family
(WAToday, Jan 2018)

One of the most shocking and troubling cases relates to the internationally recognised, ward-winning, Perth-based wedding photographer Jason Tey.  A conservative Christian, Jason Tey was taken to the Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission after he agreed to photograph the children of a same-sex couple, but disclosed a conflict of belief in case the couple felt more comfortable hiring someone else.

As Martyn Iles notes, “[Jason Tey] did not refuse service. He offered to do the job despite his conflict. The conciliation conference failed, and he is now before Western Australia’s State Administrative Tribunal.”

Tey describes the action against him as “a kick in the guts because I work so hard for my business to be a positive influence and to provide a living for my family.”

The Emergence of Thought Crime

As Iles points out, the cases of White Magazine and Jason Tey “cross a concerning threshold”.

“They are not for overt actions which may be considered discriminatory.  They are for two things previously deemed part of our inherent freedoms – in the case of White (Magazine), for doing nothing, for their silence. In the case of Tey, for merely stating his beliefs. Nothing more than that.”

Iles warns that Australia is facing “a quiet crisis of freedom”.

“We are at the stage where anything less than total affirmation [of LGBTQ ideology] is worthy of vicious attack. We’re spiralling into an Orwellian nightmare.”

The State of Victoria

It must be noted that Ground Zero for lawfare has been the south-eastern state of Victoria. Consequently, the 24 November re-election of the Andrews Labor government (described by Andrews as “the most progressive government in the nation”) –  despite its pre-election promise to double the deficit – bodes ill for religious freedom in Victoria.

During its previous term, the Andrews-led Labor government legalised euthanasia and assisted suicide, removed religious instruction from Victorian classrooms, imposed compulsory gender ideology on state secondary colleges, and criminalised  the act of offering to assist women seeking abortion within 150 meters of an abortion clinic [see Kathy’s story].

During 2016 the Andrews Labor government also tried to strip religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law so as to deny religious schools the right to select staff who uphold their values. It also tried to amend the Births, Death and Marriages Registration Act so as to enable transgender, gender diverse and intersex adults and children to alter the record of sex in their Victorian birth registration without having to undergo sex affirmation surgery and be unmarried . . . so long as they have not altered the record of their sex with the 12 months preceding the date of application. Fortunately, thanks to the tireless work of Christian lobbyists, the government came up one vote short in both cases.

It will not have that problem now, having won re-election in a landslide. Doubtless religious freedom will be back on the agenda in 2019.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE BALANCE

In November 2017, in the wake of the same-sex marriage postal plebiscite, the Australian government commissioned a Religious Freedom Review and appointed former-MP Philip Ruddock  to lead an Expert Panel tasked with examining whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to religious freedom.  Submissions were received, and after one extension, the panel delivered its report to the Prime Minister on 18 May 2018. Seven months later, the report has still not been released.

In early October, with patience wearing thin, excerpts of the “Ruddock Review” were leaked to the media. Lacking context and detail, the leaked excerpts were “mischievously” misrepresented to create anti-Christian hysteria.

The Ruddock Review concluded that religious exemptions for religious bodies should remain in place but with constraints. Specifically, the Ruddock Review recommends that schools have a publicly available policy outlining their position and explaining how that policy will be enforced. Schools must then provide a copy of their policy in writing to all employees, prospective employees, students, prospective students, and the parents of all current and prospective students. Finally, in all they do, schools must have regard to the best interests of the child.

Christian schools were unconcerned as most have these procedures in place already. Furthermore, it is precisely because Christian schools are committed to advancing the best interests of the child, that no gay student has ever been expelled from any Australian Christian school.

However, mainstream media misreported the leak as evidence that the government plans to give Christian schools permission to summarily expel gay students and sack gay teachers. Across the land impassioned calls rang out to “end discrimination of gay children”!

As Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies rightly assessed, “The enemies of religious freedom have been hard at work. The selective and distorted leaking of the recommendations of the Ruddock Review has been nothing more than anti-religious activism masquerading as journalism.”

On 12 October, Prime Minister Scott Morrison (an evangelical Christian) assured the public that the government “does not support expulsion of students from religious non-state schools on the basis of their sexuality”. Driven in part by panic and the urgent need to restore confidence, he then proposed that the LNP government could have legislation to ban the [hypothetical] practice in place within a fortnight. All that was required was that religious exemptions be removed from anti-discrimination law. Cognisant of the consequences, religious schools let out a collective gasp.

Capitalising on the community outrage whipped up by the mischievous misreporting, the Greens introduced a bill to the Senate on 16 October, to “amend the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to remove the exemption for religious educational institutions to discriminate against students and teachers on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, gender identification, marital or relationship status or pregnancy; and Fair Work Act 2009 to ensure that religious exemptions from anti-discrimination provisions do not extend to educational institutions.”

The language of the Greens’ Discrimination Free Schools Bill 2018 is so broad that it would include not just faith-based schools, but Sunday schools and theological colleges as well.

LNP senators objected, insisting that “existing exemptions for schools … should not be eroded unless adequate protections for religious freedom are afforded in their place”. They insisted that “religious schools and religious universities [must be] permitted to operate in accordance with the doctrines, tenets and beliefs of their particular faith. To do any less would have the practical effect of depriving religious institutions of the ability to teach their beliefs and operate consistently with their ethos.”

For more details on the Greens’ Bill see:
Submission: Inquiry into Legislative Exemptions that Allow Faith-Based Educational Institutions to Discriminate Against Students, Teachers and Staff. By Mark Sneddon,
Institute for Civil Society (I4CS), 21 November 2018.

On 27 November, Liberal MP Julia Banks (progressive) defected to the crossbench reducing the Morrison-led LNP government to minority government.

On 29 November, Labor introduced a Bill to the Senate claiming the government was “dragging its heels” on the issue of ending discrimination against gay children. Labor’s Sex Discrimination Amendment (Removing Discrimination Against Students) Bill 2018 “amends the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to remove the capacity of bodies established for religious purposes that provide education to directly discriminate against students on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status.”

Australia’s Attorney-General Christian Porter warned that “Labor’s bill represents radical change because it provides no legislative ability for schools to act in accordance with their beliefs and the tenets of their faith.

“It completely removes the ability of religious educational institutions to maintain their ethos through what they teach and the rules of conduct they impose on students.”

As Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large at The Australian explains (29 Nov): “The Attorney-General lays a charge at Labor’s door — that the opposition is denying the legitimate rights of the one million Australians in religious school communities in order to grandstand on gay rights.

“The Labor bill moved by opposition Senate leader Penny Wong has a good prospect of passing the Senate, given that chamber agreed with Labor’s procedural motion for a Senate vote on Monday to pass this law as quickly as possible.

“Every sign is that the religious schools are broken and prey to radical change. Their will to -defend their centuries-old, faith-based teaching mission is compromised by their terror of being labelled homophobic, while their parental communities do not comprehend what is happening.

“There is universal agreement that the law allowing schools to remove students because of sex or gender be repealed. That is not the issue, though it is constantly presented as the issue. The real debate is about the remaining protections for religious schools.”

Kelly continues: “Porter’s warning is fundamental — that under the guise of protecting gay students the national parliament is moving towards the undermining of religious education in Australia. . .

“The reality is that a critical shift in that balance [of rights] can undermine an education system whose legal protections are fragile.

“It is absurd to believe activists will not test a new legal structure.” (emphasis mine) 

For more on Labor’s Bill see:
ALP’s Bill to Severely Limit Freedom of Religious Schools and Colleges and Religious Education in Churches, Mosques, Temples, by Mark Snedden, Institute for Civil Society (I4CS), 30 Nov 2018

ALP Bill on religious schools and students
by Neil Foster, Law and Religion in Australia, 29 Nov 2018

Final Sitting Week before Christmas

On Monday 3 December – the start of the final sitting week before Christmas – Labor’s Bill was debated in the Senate for three and half hours. It had been agreed that debate would be limited and a vote taken that would send the Bill to the Lower House. However, after securing the support of two crossbenchers, government Senate Leader Mathias Cormann successfully moved a motion to delay consideration of the Bill until 2019 on the grounds that more time is required to guarantee protections. Labor MPs were furious.

Since then, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor leader Bill Shorten have both introduced Bills into the House of Representatives in an effort to get legislation through before Christmas. Debate continues and the situation is fluid. [For updates, see: Law and Religion in Australia]

Riding the Progressive Wave

Regardless of what Labor may or may not be able pull off this week, current polls indicate that Labor will win the next federal election (presently slated for May 2019) in a landslide. Riding the progressive wave that has swept up Australia’s urban elites, Labor (historically the party of the “worker”) will doubtless campaign on a platform of removing religious exemptions from anti-discrimination law so as to guarantee “equality” and “non-discrimination”. In the absence of any legislation to protect religious freedom, the stripping of religious exemptions would leave Christian institutions without rights and defenceless.

Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large at The Australian observes (30 Nov), “The country is changing decisively against the Liberals [conservatives].” The Morrison government might be “on the verge of a fiscal victory with a budget surplus and growth economy”, but who cares? “The fiscal issue is so yesterday’s politics.”


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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com 

Australia: Major Terror Attack Averted in Melbourne

-- plus, Australian Christian Lobby's Canberra headquarters bombed
by Elizabeth Kendal

On the morning of Friday 23 December, some 400 heavily armed police raided homes in five of Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs.

The raids were the culmination of weeks of intensive investigations and monitoring by Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police, and ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation).

Seven suspected Islamic terrorists were arrested. Of the five being held in custody, four are Australian-born of Lebanese descent, while a fifth is an Egyptian-born Australian citizen. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton described them as “self-radicalised . . . [but] inspired by ISIS and ISIS propaganda”.

According to reports, the terror plotters were preparing to attack Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, St Paul’s Cathedral and Federation Square using Improvised Explosive Devices and other weapons such as guns and knives, most likely on Christmas Day.

Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said this event had concerned him “more than any other” over the past few years. “They had moved very quickly from an intention to a capability and developed capability, including quite progressed plans, we will allege,” Mr Colvin said.

“We’ve heard about Federation Square, we’ve heard about the Flinders Street train station and St Paul’s Cathedral. We believe that they were narrowing down exactly what their plan was, but that’s all in one very small part of Melbourne’s CBD.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described it as "one of the most substantial terrorist plots that have been disrupted [in Australia] in recent years".

Christmas services will continue at the cathedral as planned, albeit under heightened security. “We will be alert, but not afraid,” said Dean of St Paul’s, Dr Andreas Loewe. “We thank the police and ASIO for their excellent work.”

Meanwhile in Canberra

Just days earlier, on the evening of Wednesday 21 December, a van loaded with multiple gas canisters was driven at speed into the headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), in the heart of the Australian capital, Canberra. The driver then ignited the canisters, triggering a massive explosion. The blast blew out the widows and ignited a fire, resulting in significant damage.  Fortunately no-one was working inside the building at the time.

A conservative Christian lobby group which lobbies for religious freedom and pro-family values, ACL has received multiple death threats during the course of the year, mostly for its reasoned defence of traditional marriage.

The driver survived the attack and after presenting at a Canberra hospital with severe burns, was flown to Sydney for specialist burns treatment. The police are not releasing the bomber’s name, only that he is “an Australian citizen”. While Canberra police have launched an investigation, they have already publicly asserted that the attack was not politically, religiously or ideologically motivated, something ACL Managing Director Lyle Shelton finds difficult to swallow. "I think something of this nature, that appears to be so deliberate, is an attack against the sort of things that we've been saying in the public square," he told ABC radio. Mr Shelton said he bore the bomber no malice, but was praying for his recovery and for his family.

-------------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is international religious liberty analyst and advocate. She serves as Director of Advocacy at Canberra-based Christian Faith and Freedom (CFF), and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.

She has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and, After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016).

See www.ElizabethKendal.com

Elizabeth Kendal's message in solidarity with Syrian and Iraqi Christians.

On the afternoon of Saturday 2 August, several thousand Syrian and Iraqi Christians gathered in Melbourne's Federation Square to stand in solidarity with Christians suffering severe persecution under ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham/Syria -- now known as IS).

For background please see:
Raqqa, Syria: Christians in the lions' den
By Elizabeth Kendal, 4 March 2014
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 250.

ISIS takes the war back to Iraq
By Elizabeth Kendal, 11 June 2014
Religious Liberty Monitoring.

Upper Mesopotamia: Christians at the mercy of ISIS
By Elizabeth Kendal, 17 June 2014
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 265.

IRAQ: Christians Flee the Killing Fields
By Elizabeth Kendal, 13 Aug 2014
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 273.

 For many of those present at the rally, the victims are not merely their co-religionists, but their relatives: grandparents, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters.

They were joined in Federation Square by a spattering of sympathetic fellow Christians, but not nearly enough.

The rally included a series of short speeches given by guest representatives from various religious, ethnic, political and advocacy groups.

Following the speeches, a group of Assyrian youths presented a short skit in which they re-enacted the way ISIS treats Christians.

After enacting their capture, humiliation and massacre, the Christian youths rose up, lifted up a giant cross and declared: "We are Christians and we are proud! Save Iraqi Christians!"

I was greatly honoured to be given the opportunity to address the rally.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Speech by Elizabeth Kendal www.ElizabethKendal.com 
"The March in Solidarity for the Persecuted Christians of Iraq".
Federation Square, Melbourne, Saturday 2 August 2014
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank-you for giving me this opportunity to address this gathering.

I would like to make two appeals:
1) To the Australian Church
2) To my Christian brothers and sisters from Syria and Iraq

To the Australian Church I would like to say:

You have heard on the news that for the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now devoid of Christians.

But I want to tell you, the crisis stretches far beyond Mosul.

This year, Christians have been driven out of towns as far west as Armenian town of Kessab in Syria's the far north-west corner. Even now, remnant Christians are being driven out of towns right across Syria’s north and east – out of Al-Raqqah, from where photographic evidence of public executions and even crucifixions have emerged, and out of the Al-Hassekah and Deir al Zour. In Iraq they are being driven out of Nineveh, while a decimated remnant survives in Baghdad. Indeed, across the entire Christian heartland of Upper Mesopotamia, those who choose to remain Christian have no choice but to flee.

This is the land where the disciples of the Jesus Christ were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

This is the land from where mission was launched west in Europe and east in to Persia and China.

Christianity has been decimated in its historic heartland, in our lifetime and before our eyes.

What’s more, Christianity is in the process of being eradicated from its historic heartland.

All we need to do for this to eventuate is nothing.

It will happen – unless we step up and be the Church God demands we be and has gifted and empowered us to be.

The day has arrived when Church passivity must end.

We are exhorted in Galatians 6:2 – “bear one another’s burdens, for in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” / the law of love.

And unless we want to hear the Lord say to us, “Whatever you did not do for the least of these children of mine, you did not do for me” – then we had better get serious.

My message to my Christian brothers and sisters from Syria and Iraq is this:

It is possible that those who have fled their homes and lands in recent years -- in order to save their lives -- may never see their homes again. Upper Mesopotamia is in the eye of a very big storm that will probably wreak havoc for a long time yet.

But – God has promised that one day, a highway will stretch from Egypt through Israel to Assyria (Isaiah 19:23f) -- and there will be peace. In that day the Lord will declare: “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.” (v25)

As Christians, all of us are called not merely to live righteous and just lives – but to advance righteousness and justice in the world. And so, following the manner of the prophets and apostles, we lobby the king – we exhort our leaders to do what God expects them to do: “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves . . .  plead the cause of the needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9).

BUT – we do not put our faith in princes, or in humanity (Psalm 118:8-9)

NOR do we put our trust in horses and chariots (military hardware) (Psalm 20:7)

RATHER – we put our trust in the Lord Almighty, for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23)

After all – what will this Assyria of Isaiah 19 be – but the work of HIS hands.

“But,” you might ask, “how do we keep faith alive through these dark days?”
ANSWER: By remembering.

When the Israelites lamented over the fall of Jerusalem – crying “God does not see, God does not care” (Lamentations 1-2), God exhorted them to remember, saying (Isaiah 40:27f): Why do you say God doesn't see and God doesn't care? Remember! "The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable." In other words: he sees!
What’s more, he cares! For he lifts up, revives and empowers those who wait for  / trust in HIM;
   "they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint." (v31)

Remember – that your faith might be energised, that you might soar in his strength.

So the Australian Church I say – get to work!
Don’t be passive observers of suffering!
Don’t leave the sacrifice to others!
Get down; get active!

And to my Iraqi and Syrian brothers and sisters in Christ, I say – arise!
And keep your eyes fixed on Jesus for he is your shield, your glory and the lifter of your head. (Psalm 3:3)

May we stand together – One Lord – One Body.

AMEN

======
Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012)

Australia: same-sex marriage debate heats up

By Elizabeth Kendal

Former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd has shifted his position on same-sex marriage. As reported by The Australian (21 May 2013): "Kevin Rudd has thrown his support behind gay marriage as an important social reform for the nation, in a dramatic reversal of his long-held public position.

"After what he calls a difficult personal journey, the former Labor prime minister says he has concluded the secular Australian state should recognise same-sex marriage, while religious institutions should be legally allowed an exemption maintaining their historic position that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman."

What MP Rudd is not talking about is that the legalisation of same-sex marriage requires a change to the definition of "marriage" in the Marriage Act -- and that would have enormous, wide-reaching implications.

In the United Kingdom, in March 2012, a Home Office official asked the Department for Education (DfE) whether schools have a legal responsibility to teach about marriage, and how the introduction of same-sex unions would affect this.

According to the Daily Mail (2 July 2012): "Officials at the Home Office and the Department for Education concede that teachers may be under a legal obligation to inform children about same-sex marriage once it has passed into law.

"Under the Education Act 1996, pupils must learn about the nature of marriage and its importance for family life in sex education classes. . .

"Tory MP David Burrowes questioned whether schools will be able to exercise discretion on the subject. 'The issue of same-sex marriage is not just one about equality, but what happens in our school classrooms as well,' he said. 'Teachers should be able to exercise their consciences according to their own views on marriage, but that could well be constrained by these proposals. As much as I am sceptical about the Government being able to exempt churches from conducting same-sex marriages, I also doubt whether it will be possible to construct exemptions for teachers. They would be open to legal challenges.'

"Colin Hart, campaign director at the Coalition for Marriage, said: 'Marriage appears more than 3,000 times in law, affecting every aspect of our lives. It is simply impossible to redefine it without many serious unintended consequences, not least forcing schools to teach children about gay marriage, even if this goes against the wishes of the parents, children and teachers.'"

According to a senior lawyer, QC Aidan O'Neill, if British law is extended to include same-sex unions, then schools will be forced to promote same-sex marriage to their pupils, and parents with traditional and religious views who oppose same-sex unions, will be "hard-pressed" to remove their children from the classes.

It should also be noted that  the UK's Equalities and Human Rights Commission has deemed religious liberty a "qualified right" which "the state can interfere with" in some circumstances.  The equality regulator has ruled that whilst employees working in the public sector -- specifically marriage registrars, teachers and chaplains -- should be free to express their views on marriage without being disciplined they are not free to "opt out" of duties because of religious beliefs. In other words, religious beliefs will not be accommodated.

A survey has revealed that whilst 74,000 British teachers (17 percent of all teachers) said they would teach "the importance" of same-sex marriage (as required) but would not be happy about it, a further 40,000 teachers said they will refuse to teach on "the importance" of same-sex marriage despite knowing they may face disciplinary action or dismissal.

Meanwhile, France has drafted laws to ban the use of the words "mother" and "father" in the civil code, replacing them simply with "parent"; while the U.S. Department of Education is replacing the terms "Mother" and "Father" on student loan forms with the less gender-specific "Parent 1" and "Parent 2".

Redefining marriage would have a huge impact on society. This debate has not even started in Australia yet. Consequently, most people have no idea just how drastic the consequences could be.

--------------------------------

Elizabeth Kendal is the author of
Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today
(Deror Books, Dec 2012)

Australia: Victims of Victoria's Religious Tolerance Law.

Date: Thursday 30 June 2005
Subj: Australia: Victims of Victoria's Religious Tolerance Law.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.

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AUSTRALIA: VICTIMS OF VICTORIA'S RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE LAW
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Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance (R&RT) Act has already produced many victims. The first victim has been the religious harmony that was pervasive throughout Victoria (a south eastern state of Australia) before the Act's implementation. The R&RT Act was not needed, and now that it has stirred tensions and produced a queue of litigants at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the Victorian state Labor government believes the R&RT Act will fix the problems the Act created in the first place. (Link 1)

The R&RT Act has given rise to several complaints but the case that has caught the world's attention is that of The Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) vs Catch the Fire Ministries and pastors Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot. Using the Victorian R&RT Act, the ICV took Catch the Fire Ministries and pastors Nalliah and Scot to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on charges of vilification of Muslims. After a lengthy and expensive court case, they were found guilty and convicted on 17 December 2004.

The charges arose when three Western Muslim "reverts" attended an "Insights into Islam" seminar run by Catch the Fire Ministries in March 2002, where Daniel Scot, an expert on Islam, was the speaker. As Mr Scot told TIME magazine (4 July issue), the aim of the seminar was to help Christians "understand Islamic beliefs and culture and, after the September 11 attacks, why some Muslims engage in terrorism".

The three "reverts" attended the seminar on the advice of May Helou, a member of the ICV who was at the time employed by Victoria's Equal Opportunity Commission to assist in education about the R&RT Act.

This case has set a precedent that vilification (saying or writing things that incite hatred, contempt or ridicule) of a religious belief or practice may be regarded as equivalent to vilification of the people who believe or follow that religion.

The case has also demonstrated just how fragile justice can be when religious disputes are decided in secular courts. Daniel Scot was deemed to be "not credible" simply because the judge did not believe (and in some cases, understand) his teaching. Amongst other issues, the judge deemed Scot "not credible" and guilty of vilification on the grounds that he was frequently referring to Wahhabi, literal interpretations of the Koran, which are not, in the judge's personal opinion, relevant to the 21st Century. As noted by one observer, "This development represents a dangerous limitation on freedom of speech and the capacity of Christians to take up the cause of the persecuted church."

UPDATE: REMEDY – PASTORS ORDERED TO APOLOGISE

On Wednesday 22 June 2005, Judge Higgins of the VCAT handed down his "remedies" (penalties) to Catch the Fire Ministries and pastors Nalliah and Scot.

The religion editor of The AGE (Melbourne), Barney Zwartz, reports, "Judge Michael Higgins, of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, yesterday [22 June] ordered Christian group Catch the Fire Ministries, Mr Scot and Mr Nalliah to publish apologies for comments made at a Melbourne seminar in March 2002, and in a newsletter and website article.

"Judge Higgins said the pastors were otherwise of good character, but their passionate religious beliefs caused them to transgress the law. He ordered them to publish apologies on their website, in their newsletter and in four advertisements in Melbourne newspapers and to promise not to repeat the vilification anywhere in Australia. But this order could be defied as early as Monday [27 June], when Mr Scot begins a two-week seminar on Islam in Brisbane."

Daniel Scot points out that it was primarily his quotes from Koran that had been deemed to vilify Muslims, therefore it would very difficult to obey the judge's order not to repeat the vilification without a Koran that has been suitably edited. "I told the judge earlier," Scot informed The AGE, "you haven't provided me with a new Koran with the illegal verses removed, so I have to use the same Koran. He doesn't say which parts I quoted are illegal, he is asking a very vague thing."

Scot told TIME magazine's Elizabeth Keenan that he believes his real offence was "talking about the parts of the Koran that Muslims want to hide from people".

Nalliah and Scot have vowed to go to jail rather than publish newspaper apologies, the wording and size of which have been ordained by the tribunal and will cost AUD$68,690 (USD$52,740). Scot will not suspend his teaching seminars. "You don't compromise truth for fear of jail," Scot told The AGE. Likewise Nalliah told The AGE that he would not surrender "freedom of speech to a law which is sharia law by stealth".

The AGE reports, "The pastors' lawyers have already appealed against the verdict to the Supreme Court, claiming that the act is unconstitutional and that Judge Higgins made errors and showed 'irredeemable bias'. The case will be heard next month [July]."

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NEW CASES
------------------

THE INCARSERATED CHILD-ABUSING WITCH
vs
THE SALVATION ARMY, CORRECTIONS VICTORIA, AND ALPHA COURSE

Robin Fletcher, a professed and practising witch who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the sexual abuse of two under-age girls in 1998, voluntarily attended an ALPHA course in Ararat prison. The course was run by a Salvation Army chaplain. Fletcher lodged complaints against the Salvation Army, Corrections Victoria (prison managers), and CMC Australasia Pty Ltd (the distributors of the ALPHA course in Victoria) on the grounds that the course vilifies witches, Wiccans and pagans. (Link 2)

THE OCCULT ORDER
vs
THE CHILD RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER

The occult group Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) has made a complaint against psychologist Dr Reina Michaelson (1997 Young Australian of the Year) and her organisation, Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program (CSAPP), for vilification of members of OTO.

OTO national officer David Bottrill and member Brent Gray claim Dr Michaelson has vilified and misrepresented OTO through an Internet article linking the society to paedophilia, satanic rituals, and animal and child sacrifices, all of which are promoted in the OTO text "The Book of the Law".

The complainants testify, "What is contained on the website could incite hatred and lead to violence against members of the OTO." Dr Michaelson meanwhile contends that OTO's text, The Book of the Law, contains "talk of blood rituals using children, eating flesh, the sacrifice of a child, the killing and torture of others and uninhibited 'love' without restraint", and as such, promotes illegal activity and violence against children.

The Herald Sun (Melbourne) reports that Ordo Templi Orientis was founded in Germany in 1902. Members follow the religion of Thelema, as taught by occultist and mystic Aleister Crowley.

Dr Reina Michaelson is presently in the Maldives working with child victims of the Tsunami. She will face the VCAT upon her return. (Link 3)

--------
VICTIMS
--------

Amir Butler, the head of the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee, says that there are Muslims who welcome debate, and he does not want to see the R&RT Act used to prevent it. Amir Butler, told TIME magazine, "If Muslims rush to the courts, some people will get the impression we can't respond to the arguments and think there must be some truth in them. The only way to fight offensive ideas is to confront them intellectually. Legislation cannot make bad ideas disappear."

Social religious harmony, two Christian pastors (who have been continuously misquoted and vilified in the media), The Salvation Army, Corrections Victoria, ALPHA, and a child rights advocate, and those who desire open debate are all victims of this "religious tolerance" law. But the greatest tragedy in this drama is that Victorians stand to lose their openness, their religious openness, and with it, their religious liberty to stand up as Christian apologists and evangelists, confronting evil and error, and engaging with the lost on matters of life and death.

------------------------

The most comprehensive, regularly updated coverage of these cases can be found at the Saltshakers website. This includes a highly recommended, detailed paper entitled "Religious Vilification laws in Victoria - Background to the law and cases ", prepared by Saltshakers' Research Director Mrs Jenny Stokes in June 2005 as a background paper for a Christian Legal Society seminar.

- Elizabeth Kendal
rl-research@crossnet.org.au

Links

1) Free speech farce
Andrew Bolt (Associate Editor - Herald Sun). 24 June 2005
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,15708881,00.html

2) Dump this law now
Andrew Bolt (Associate Editor - Herald Sun). 27 April 2005
http://heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,15095082,00.html

3) Child rights crusader faces lawsuit
Kate Uebergang, tribunal reporter. 31 May 2005
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,15461960,00.html