Submission on Second Draft of Religious Discrimination Bill
Associate Professor Neil Foster writes about the Second Draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill –
“In short, I think this legisation is an important step in improving protection of religious freedom in Australia, and the second draft is an improvement on the first. But I recommend some clarification or change of approach in the following areas:
- Defining Religious Belief – I recommend that the way that the courts should determine whether a claim to religious belief is justified should focus on sincerity rather than courts examining “reasonableness” ; I also think that the bar of “unlawfulness” determining what beliefs cannot be protected at all needs to be raised to mainly cover serious criminal offences;
- Who is protected by the Bill? – I suggest that the Bill ought to protect religious groups as well as individuals; in this context I think that the limits on protection based on the concept of “commercial activity” need to be removed, though I agree that the kind of organisations protected need to be limited in other ways;
- Who is bound by the Bill? – I agree that, as at present, both individuals and groups should be bound not to religiously discriminate; but I think the exemption given to government bodies from the provisions relating to religious free speech outside working hours should be rolled back;
- The limits of protection – I argue that cases where religious freedom can be over-ridden should be limited to those where it is “necessary” in protection of important fundamental rights, as spelled out in the ICCPR art 18(3);
- Protecting religious free speech – I argue that the good initiative protecting statements of religious belief in clause 42 should also be extended to “vilification” claims, so long as they do not contravene the limits set out in the clause itself and defined by the Commonwealth;
- Conscientious objection by health practitioners – I argue that the complicated provisions protecting conscientious objection to certain procedures by health practitioners need to be improved;
- The Religious Freedom Commissioner – I support this new position but argue that the person concerned should be clearly shown to understand the issues facing religious citizens;
- A note on charities – I support the current provision ensuring that advocacy of traditional views on the nature of marriage not disqualify a body from being recognised as a charity, and suggest a further change to make this even clearer.”
Pursuing Sanctification – God’s work or ours?
“John Owen says Christians need to ‘be killing sin, or it will be killing you.’
Yet from my experience most Christians aren’t employing everything they have at their disposal to kill sin or to pursue sanctification in any regard. The most I hear about this is the throwaway line, ‘I’m struggling with X sin’ but upon further questioning often those who say this aren’t struggling at all with a sin; they’ve often simply identified that they have a persistent sin, and yet do nothing about it.
Then when I reflect on my own fight with sin, I’m ashamed to realise I too often fall into the same trap of identifying sin without fighting it. I started to consider why this is the case for me. Why is it that I know about my sins, but I don’t fight them? And I have come to the conclusion that I (and I suspect many others) don’t fight sin because I don’t know what my role is in sanctification.
In order to figure it out I had to understand three things …”
– Daniel Bishop writes on what should be of vital interest to every Christian – at The Australian Church Record – Part 1 and Part 2.
Giving thanks for Richard Johnson
This Australia Day long weekend, pause to give thanks to the Lord for the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales.
232 years ago this weekend, the First Fleet arrived at Farm Cove. 232 years ago next weekend, Johnson preached at the first church service at Farm Cove.
Read about Richard Johnson and pray that the Lord will call many into the service of Christ’s gospel in our land.
Reading Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21–24)
“Paul’s closing greeting in Ephesians is a good opportunity to summarise what the letter is all about and to remember why it’s worth reading and reflecting on it.”
– Our thanks to ACL Council member Lionel Windsor for a challenging and edifying series reflecting on the Letter to the Ephesians. Here is the last instalment.
How long, Lord, must we call for help?
“In light of the recent Australian bushfires, we perhaps cannot be blamed for asking, Why is God allowing such a thing to happen? How can God turn a blind eye to the devastation that has come as a result of these fires – the loss of property, animals, even human life? Why doesn’t God do something about it? Why does God allow so many to needlessly suffer?
It is these kinds of questions that the prophet Habakkuk also struggled with, roughly six hundred years before Christ. …”
– Ben George writes at The Australian Church Record.
Sporting brain snaps
“When you read this I will be winging my way to Melbourne for part of a holiday.
Why Melbourne? Well we don’t have the Australian Open Tennis in Armidale. We don’t have the rich celebrity temper tantrum, racket smashers from around the world in Armidale. We just have the normal temper tantrum racket smashers and club throwers of our local region. I think it will be interesting to see how the great ones of the sporting world do it. I am not planning to take any tips from them, however I might just be embarrassed and perversely entertained by them…”
– Diocese of Armidale’s Bishop Rick Lewers shares some challenges about anger.
World Watch List 2020
Open Doors has released its World Watch List for 2020.
Fuel for prayer.
Spiritual Formation: the rise of a tradition
“Spiritual formation” seems to be an innocuous phrase, for Christians; a good thing to do, what we would want for ourselves and others. It is in use in general church circles, and in more formal literature. In particular, if one investigates developments concerning theological education, it is very clear that spiritual formation is what theological education should be about. …
“Spiritual formation” seems a reasonable thing for Christians to do, but what exactly does it mean, and why is it seen as the main purpose of theological education? …
– Church Society has published some excerpts from an article by Kirsty Birkett in the current issue of Churchman.
The ACR speaks with Jane Tooher about the Priscilla and Aquila Conference
The Australian Church Record recently spoke with Jane Tooher, Director of the Priscilla and Aquila Centre at Moore College, about the upcoming P&A Conference for 2020.
On Preaching, the Supper, and the Unity of the Church
“Recently, the well-known pastor and author Francis Chan made some alarming comments about preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and the unity of the church.
In this episode of Pastors’ Talk, Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever, Bobby Jamieson, and Mark Feather about Chan’s comments in particular and the topics of preaching, the Supper, and unity more generally.”
– Listen here.
Sound an Alarm: Gender Activism is about to silence us
“The Victorian government intends to pass a law very soon that may see ordinary citizens imprisoned if they speak up against the chemical, psychological and physical mutilation of confused adolescents. …”
– Retired Judge of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Stuart Lindsay, writes this opinion piece in Quadrant.
Should we trade in Funerals for “Celebrations of Life”?
“Over the last decade of serving the local church, I’ve noticed a trend: people don’t like thinking about death. In every conceivable way, we dismiss, ignore, and refuse to acknowledge our mortality. In the words of the blues artist, Albert King, ‘Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.’
Nobody wants to die and nobody wants to think about death…”
– At 9Marks, Jason Hill considers a question many Sydney Anglican ministers also confront.
Prayer: the heart of evangelism (Ephesians 6:17–20)
“One of the best things we can pray for is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will go out to the world, both through us and through others.”
– Lionel Windsor nears the end of Ephesians and comes to a key passage.
(Photo: GAFCON.)
Abuse in the marriages of ministry leaders
“This week on the Pastor’s Heart, we address the complex issue of domestic abuse within the relationships of ministry leaders.”
Dominic Steele speaks with Jenni Woodhouse, pastoral care coordinator for the Church Missionary Society NSW & ACT, and previously chaplain for the Sydney Anglican Church’s Professional Standards Unit.
The Recruitment Problem
“While I was training at Moore Theological College (2012- 2015) the constant rhetoric was that the Sydney Anglican Diocese was oversupplied with full-time gospel workers. We were warned from the very beginning of the need to be creative in funding our own Sydney Anglican positions if we were to stay in Sydney.
From one perspective, this was a great win for the Kingdom! It forced many people to consider full-time gospel ministry outside Sydney and caused those who wanted to stay in Sydney to consider the cost of staying. …”
– The Australian Church Record has republished this article by Mike Leite in the ACR’s Journal for Summer 2019.
Photo: Moore College, 1956.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…