Religious Discrimination Bill passes lower house along with SDA amendment

“This morning Australia woke up to the news that at an all-night sitting which concluded around 5 am, the House of Representatives has passed the Religious Discrimination Bill 2022. (The link there will take you to official Parliamentary site for the Bill; as I write the updated version given a third reading has not been published but should be later in the day.) The government amendments which I noted in a previous post were apparently all accepted.

There was an amendment moved by the Opposition which came very close to being accepted, but which in the end did not pass. (It can be seen here in the Opposition amendments document.) It would have introduced a prohibition on “religious vilification”. I do not think Australia needs more such laws; in the time available now let me link a paper I produced a few years ago on the dangers of limiting free speech in this way.

However, the package of bills also includes the Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2022, which saw an Opposition amendment accepted when 5 members of the government crossed the floor. …”

– In this post at Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster summarises the current position, and gives some examples of how the changes to the bill could play out in a faith-based school.

“Rushed amendment has gutted the Religious Discrimination Bill package”

Here’s a media release from the Australian Christian Lobby:

“Rushed amendment has gutted the Religious Discrimination Bill package
10 February 2022

The Morrison Government should withdraw its Religious Discrimination Bills from the Senate after they have been completely undermined by the simultaneous voting down of section 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act in the House of Representatives overnight, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

Australian Christian Lobby’s National Director of Politics said, “The bills were intended to help faith-based schools, but they now do more harm than good.

‘Labor, independents and Liberals, Bridget Archer, David Sharma, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen and Fiona Martin voted for an amendment to remove section 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act which contains vital protections for religious schools. These protections have enabled faith-based schools to teach their religion and conduct their schools according to their faith values. The loss of this protection would outweigh any benefits that could be obtained by the Religious Discrimination Bill.

‘The Australian Christian Lobby withdraws its support for the Religious Discrimination Bill package and calls on the Morrison Government to now withdraw the Bills from the Senate.

‘Taking away protections for Christian schools is a price too high to pay for the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill. The amendments voted on by Labor, independents and these Liberal MPs unnecessarily interfere with the operation of faith-based schools.

‘With the amendments so damaging to religious freedom, the Government should immediately withdraw the bills’ Ms Francis said.

ENDS

– From The Australian Christian Lobby.

(Of course, the Australian Christian Lobby should not be confused with the Anglican Church League.)

Government amendments to Religious Discrimination bills

“Debate in the House of Representatives in the Federal Parliament resumed today on the package of bills dealing with religious discrimination. …

The second reading debate continues on Wednesday, I think, but the government has now released two sets of amendments it will be making to the bills. …”

– Assoc Professor Neil Foster posted this update late last night (8th February 2022) at Law and Religion Australia.

Image: Diocese of Sydney.

A small step forward for religious freedom – with Bishop Michael Stead

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“Religious Freedom will be debated in the Australian Parliament this week.

Two parliamentary reports were released late on Friday afternoon. MP’s and Senators have spent the weekend reading them.

The reports show the Coalition and Labor broadly in support of introducing improved protections for people of Faith.

The reports recommendations are set to go to the party rooms on Tuesday morning, and the House of Representatives as early as Tuesday afternoon.

Anglican Bishop Michael Stead is the new chair of Freedom for Faith.”

– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart.

And please pray about the expected vote this afternoon (Tuesday 8th February).

See also:

Submission to the Senate Legal Affairs Committee on the Religious Discrimination Bill – Freedom for Faith.

Parliamentary reports recommend passage of Religious Discrimination Bills

“Two committees of the Australian Federal Parliament examining proposed legislation on religious discrimination handed down their reports on Friday 4 February, 2022. Both committees recommended that the Bills introduced in November 2021 be passed by the Parliament, with some minor amendments. The report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights (“PJCHR”) can be found here, and that of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee can be found here. …”

– Neil Foster posts the latest developments in the Religious Discrimination Bills.

Australian pastor explains draconian Victorian conversion therapy ban

“An Australian pastor has warned UK Christians what to expect if the Government’s proposed conversion therapy ban resembles the one coming into force later this month in the state of Victoria.

Speaking to The Christian Institute, Murray Campbell, Lead Pastor at Mentone Baptist Church in Melbourne, said that under the ban, prayers and conversations on issues of gender and sexuality will be prohibited if they are perceived as an attempt to change or suppress someone’s sexuality or gender identity, even if they are consensual. …”

– See Murray Campbell’s interview with The Christian Institute in the UK.

Religious school tells parents it will apply its religious beliefs

“The above heading doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? Isn’t that what one would expect, that a school set up to educate students in a particular religious view would apply those beliefs in its practices? But the press in Australia sees it differently, apparently.

‘School rules: Brisbane college expects students to denounce homosexuality’ is the way that the Sydney Morning Herald puts it (Jan 31). Citipointe Christian College has sent a letter to parents spelling out its views on a number of issues, letting them know that the College expects students and parents to be aware of these views if students are to be sent there.

Here I will comment on whether the College is legally justified in so doing. …”

– Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia.

‘The divide between two different Christianities’

“One of the most influential books in the 20th Century Church was J Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism.

Machen was prophetic in his analysis of the crisis facing the Church in the US in the first half of the century – some would argue that it was because of his (and others’) stance that the US Church did not go down the path of decline that Churches in most other Western countries did.

In his prophetic book he warned:

‘A terrible crisis unquestionably has arisen in the Church. In the ministry of evangelical churches are to be found hosts of those who reject the gospel of Christ. By the equivocal use of traditional phrases, by the representation of differences of opinion as though they were only differences about the interpretation of the Bible, entrance into the Church was secured for those who are hostile to the very foundations of the faith.’

These words came to mind as I listened to the latest debate on conversion therapy on Premier’s Unbelievable, between Jayne Ozanne, the chair of Ban Conversion Therapy, and Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance. …”

– At The Wee Flea, David Robertson reposts an article he wrote for Christian Today.

The Criminalization of Christianity in Finland

“In a foreshadowing of America’s future under coercive secularism, a Finnish politician and Finnish bishop will go on criminal trial next week for merely upholding historic Christian teaching on sexual morality.

The trial is a telling measure of the erosion of Christianity in Europe.

Juhana Pohjola, a Lutheran bishop, and Päivi Räsänen, a member of Finland’s Parliament, stand accused of an act increasingly forbidden in the de-Christianized West: quoting the Bible. …

After Räsänen quoted from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans in a tweet, she found herself under police interrogation for 13 hours.”

– The American Spectator.

Three Simple Ways to Flatten your Neighbour

“As our society becomes increasingly post-Christian, it’s no surprise to see the vanishing of a Christian view of humanity—an understanding that allows for complexity, even expects it.

Instead, we give in to the impulse to divide everyone into categories of ‘bad’ or ‘good,’ and then treat them accordingly.

The result? Fewer and fewer people, even in the church (and we ought to know better!), who are able to distinguish what’s good and bad in the same person, or truth and falsehood in particular causes. …”

– Wise observations from Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition.

The Church of England’s astonishing appointment

“The words ‘La La Land’ came to mind when I heard of the appointment of the new Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments. This role manages the process for the appointment of bishops, deans and other senior posts in the Church of England, and it is to be filled by Stephen Knott, currently Justin Welby’s deputy chief of staff. …”

– At Christian Today, David Baker is disturbed by a recent appointment in the Church of England.

Sadly, it seems to be business as usual for the Church of England.

Related:

Stephen Knott to be new Archbishops’ Secretary for Appointments – Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.

Reformed Church in America splits as conservative churches form new denomination

“On New Year’s Day, 43 congregations of the Reformed Church in America split from the national denomination, one of the oldest Protestant bodies in the United States, in part over theological differences regarding same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy. …”

– Story from Religion News Service.

Link via Albert Mohler’s The Briefing for 13 January 2022 (from 12:10.)

– worth hearing his commentary on the history of the Reformed Church of America, and what might happen to the new grouping. There are many parallels in the Anglican world.

Abortion is leading cause of death worldwide for third year in a row

“For the second year in a row, abortions have been the leading cause of death worldwide, with more than three times as many people losing their lives to abortion than the second leading cause of death. …”

– Appalling statistics, via Christian Post.

Image: Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies speaks at the 15 September 2019 Stand for Life rally in Hyde Park. Anglican Media Sydney.

Anglican Revisionists Keep Pushing their Agenda

“It’s 2022 so about time for an Anglican update. What’s new in the Anglican Church in Australia?

Well, not much. The situation can be characterised as revisionists now effectively ignoring the moratorium we were going to have before General Synod.

Action has been happening in 2 places in particular …”

– David Ould shares the latest moves in Wangaratta and Perth.

Image: The Crest of the Anglican Church of Australia and those of its members dioceses.

Related:

Sydney Diocese Response to actions in the Diocese of Wangaratta – December 10 2020.

Clarifying “transgender hate speech”

“An important appeal decision in November 2021, REP v CLINCH (Appeal)[2021] ACAT 106 (3 November 2021), provides significant clarification on what amounts to “transgender hate speech”, and what does not, under the law of Australian Capital Territory – and provides a helpful and persuasive set of reasons which may be influential in other jurisdictions.

Is it unlawful to say that ‘a trans woman is a man’? Not according to the Appeal Tribunal in the Rep decision …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster looks at a clarifying decision.

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