‘No change to religion in Queensland state schools’

“There had been no change to religious instruction policy in Queensland schools said education Minister Kate Jones.
Ms Jones said the Palaszczuk Government supported religious instruction in state schools in consultation with parents…”

– Part of a media statement from the Queensland Government.

For background – see this earlier opinion piece from Murray Campbell:

“In the school playground, children talk about everything and anything: what they watch on television, who is eating what for lunch, their favourite sporting players and what bands they’re listening too, and what they’re hoping to do on the weekend. But if the Queensland Education Department have their way, the one topic children will not be allowed to speak about is Jesus.

In our click bait media culture, it is sometimes hard to discern real stories from the dubious, but sure enough, this story is legitimate.

The Queensland Education Department have undertaken to inform schools that children are not to discuss Christianity outside formal Religious Instruction classes.”

and also this story from News.com.au, Christmas cards, Jesus talk to be discouraged in ‘inclusive’ Qld schools.

“Christmas cards and Jesus talk may be quashed in Queensland school yards after a review into religious instruction by the state’s education department. The Australian has today revealed that the move to discourage Christianity references in the state’s school yards comes as part of a bid to crack down on “junior evangelists” who may be imposing their beliefs on non-Christians. …”

Bill Muehlenberg at CultureWatch writes (28 July 2017):

“This hastily released statement is really about two things: damage control, and sleight-of-hand government-speak. There was a huge public backlash about this, with petitions circulating, letters being written, and MPs being contacted. So the Labor government had to move quickly.”

Photo: The Hon. Kate Jones.

ABC ignored church’s ‘positive story’

“A senior female Anglican leader has expressed ‘disappointment’ that her ‘positive’ story in fighting domestic violence was ignored by the ABC in its controversial TV program claiming Christian men who go to church occasionally are the worst abusers of women.

Sydney diocese Archdeacon for Women Kara Hartley was ­interviewed for more than an hour by ABC journalist Julia Baird for the report on 7:30 that aired on Wednesday night, but none of her comments were aired.…

Archdeacon Hartley’s remarks came as the Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane, Mark Coleridge, ­revealed he had, on request, provided the ABC with extensive comments for a related online essay by Baird and co-author ­Hayley Gleeson. But not only did Baird and Gleeson not publish any of his remarks, they falsely reported he had not responded.

Only after the diocese made an official complaint to the ABC did it amend the article yesterday.”

– Story from The Australian. (Photo courtesy Sam Law.)

Related:

A summary of major public statements from Diocesan Leadership on the issue of Domestic Violence – Anglican Diocese of Sydney.

Domestic Violence: A starting point for answers – Kara Hartley, The Australian Church Record.

Bolt Report editorial, 20 July 2017. – Sky News via The Herald Sun.

Update:

An Unholy Row – ABC TV Media Watch, 24 July 2017.

Religious Freedom Protection in Australia — 2017 update

Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia writes:

“I recently presented a paper surveying general religious freedom protections available in Australia, based on a similar paper I presented in 2015 but updated with some more recent developments. The paper can be downloaded here. …

Hopefully the paper will be a useful resource in this area.”

Freedom laws needed

“The Diocese of Sydney, along with a number of other Christian groups, has called for special legislation to enshrine freedom of belief as a ‘positive right’ in Australia, rather than as a negative ‘exemption’ to other legislation.

The call came in a submission to the Federal Government inquiry into the ‘protection and promotion of the human right to freedom of religion or belief worldwide, including in Australia’. …”

– Report from Russell Powell at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Faith counts — 2016 Census figures released

“The latest census figures showing a rise in the number of people reporting no religious affiliation do not show Australia is losing faith, according to the Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel.

2016 Census figures, released today show the proportion of people reporting no religion increased to 30 percent in 2016 – up eight percent in five years, and nearly double the 16 per cent recorded in the 2001 census. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell reports on comments made on SBS Television by the Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel.

‘Pyne’s boast: The plan revealed’

“Christopher Pyne bragged to his Left-wing faction that we might get same-sex marriage ‘sooner than everyone thinks’.

As he said on Friday:

One of those we’ve got to deliver before too long is marriage equality in this country… We’re going to get it. I think it might even be sooner than everyone thinks. And your friends in Canberra are working on that outcome.

Sure enough:

Two Liberal MPs have been secretly working on a plan to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia as soon as August, with a draft copy of the laws well advanced and consultation with advocates under way. …”

– from The Herald Sun. (Photo: pyneonline.com.au.)

Protection of Religious Freedom through Discrimination Balancing Clauses

Associate Professor Neil Foster presented a paper with the above title at today’s Freedom 17 Conference in Canberra.

He has made it available via his blog.

Margaret Court Arena name change called for after star’s Qantas boycott over gay marriage support

“Martina Navratilova has joined calls for Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne to be renamed after the tennis champion said she would no longer fly with Qantas because of the airline’s stance on same-sex marriage.

Margaret Court, who is now a pastor at Victory Life Church in Perth, wrote an open letter to Qantas in yesterday’s West Australian saying she was disappointed that Qantas chief Alan Joyce had become an active campaigner for same-sex marriage. …”

– Contrary views no longer permitted. Story from ABC News.

Abortion bill defeated in NSW Parliament

“The decision of the NSW Legislative Council to reject Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi’s extreme abortion bill is a win for both women and unborn children in the state, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

The Abortion Law Reform (Miscellaneous Acts Amendment) Bill 2016 sought to make abortion legal up to birth, remove the rights of doctors to conscientiously object, and ban prayer vigils and sidewalk counselling outside abortion facilities or be subject to 12 months in prison or a $16,500 fine.

ACL NSW director Mark Makowiecki said the bill did not include any safeguards for women seeking abortion, nor did it require abortion practitioners to hold a medical qualification. …”

– from an Australian Christian Lobby media release.

And from Paul Green, MLC, Christian Democratic Party:

“We have received hundreds of emails and letters, including a correspondence from the Catholic and Anglican Archbishops. As well as support of over 55,000 people signing and promoting petitions regarding this Bill.

I also commend the work of organisations such as Australian Christian Lobby, Abortion Rethink, Canberra Declaration and many more for vocally standing against this Bill. Rather than decriminalising abortion, we need to review our attitudes and practices to ensure there are appropriate safeguards for the well-being of the unborn child, the woman, and others impacted by the decision.

We need to address the underlying causes and provide women with real alternatives to unplanned pregnancies that are not going to expose them to further harm.”

(both via e-mail)

Earlier post: Proposed Abortion Law changes in NSW.

Proposed Abortion Law changes in NSW

Update:

We understand that the proposed bills are likely to be debated this week – on Thursday 11th May.

Important news:

“Two NSW Private Member’s Bills relating to abortion may be debated in the NSW Parliament in the next month.

One in particular will completely remove any legal regulation of abortions in the State. It will also have serious consequences for religious freedom and free speech. …

This Bill was introduced into Parliament on 11 August, 2016, by Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Greens MLC. If enacted it would make sweeping changes to the law of abortion in NSW. It would allow the killing of an unborn child at any stage prior to birth.

It would impose a serious burden on the religious freedom of medical practitioners who have a conscientious objection to abortion. It would also seriously impede rights of religious freedom and free speech of those who would wish to protest against abortion near abortion clinics…”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster, Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle, discusses proposed abortion law changes in NSW which, if passed into law, would have far-reaching consequences. (Emphasis added.)

Related:

The Australian Christian Lobby describes the first bill as “The Worst Abortion Laws… Ever.” and is one of the groups organising petitions to the President and Members of the Legislative Council.

If you wish to sign their petition, please note the important information to ensure it is acceptable.

Christians under siege, religious freedom inquiry hears

“A Melbourne IT specialist engaged to work on the Safe Schools program was sacked after privately expressing concerns about the contentious initiative during a staff meeting, with his employer later accusing him of ‘creating an unsafe work environment’. …

His predicament is just one of several cases of discrimination ­alleged by Christians or opponents of same-sex marriage that have come to light as part of the inquiry, which, in the wake of the Coopers Brewery fiasco, has heightened concerns about free speech and a growing intolerance towards traditional views.”

– Report from today’s The Australian.

Can kids tell other kids about Jesus at school?

“Astonishingly, the answer to the question posed here, recently provided by the Queensland Department of Education and Training is: No!

In their latest reviews of material used in Special Religious Instruction (SRI) offered in public schools in that State, they assert as follows:

While not explicitly prohibited by the [relevant legislation], nor referenced in the [Departmental published] RI policy statement, the Department expects schools to take appropriate action if aware that students participating in RI are evangelising to students who do not participate in their RI class, given this could adversely affect the school’s ability to provide a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students.

(This statement is found both in the Report on the Review of the GodSpace Religious Instruction Materials, March 2017, at para 3.1.1 on p 5, and in the Report on the Review of the ACCESS ministries’ Religious Instruction Materials, Feb 2017, at para 3.1.1 on p 6.)

In this post I want to explain why this over-reaching bureaucratic imposition is not justified by the law governing the Department’s activities, and indeed is probably illegal. …”

– Posted a few days ago, Neil Foster, Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle, gives his opinion on directives from the Queensland Department of Education and Training.

Australian Presbyterians — Taking God Seriously


Presbyterian Moderator-General John Wilson outlines some of the ways Presbyterians in Australia plan to celebrate Reformation 500 – with evangelism!

See the video here. (3’42”)

The Rainbow Ringwraiths

“Totalitarians and fascists have always sought to demonise their opponents, in part by marking them out from the ‘normal’ majority. They are clearly identified one way or another as recalcitrants, and treated accordingly. Simply consider how Jews fared as the Nazi regime occupied various European countries: being forced to wear a yellow badge in the form of a Star of David.

Millions of our young men gave their lives to fight these totalist regimes and to preserve our cherished freedoms. But a new totalitarianism is descending upon the West, and it comes in the form of the militant and totalitarian rainbow activists. …”

– Bill Muehlenberg at CultureWatch has more on the ‘voluntary’ wearing of rings to promote same-sex marriage.

‘A ring to bind them to their master’s will’

“Bosses at big companies like Qantas and Google have ‘suggested’ their employees wear black rings with a gap to show they support same-sex marriage. Or show that they have a future at their company, perhaps, because it’s not quite clear how this push for ‘tolerance’ quite works now. …”

– Andrew Bolt reports on a concerning move — Herald Sun.

More:

Firms ring in campaign for marriage equality — The Australian.

“Qantas staff and cabin crew would wear them, he said, while Google Australia has also provided rings for its 1300 staff to wear. ‘Our goal is to build ­momentum around the issue of marriage equality and spark those conversations about ­acceptance,’ Mr McDonagh said.

The move is likely to fire up the debate about the role of corporations as lobbyists for contentious social causes, which has attracted criticism from some conservative politicians and religious leaders in light of the recent public hounding of brewer Coopers into pledging support for Australian Marriage Equality.”

Airbnb calls for marriage equality — AdNews.

“Launched with support from some of Australia’s biggest brands including Qantas, Google, ANZ bank and eBay, and in collaboration with The Equality Campaign, ‘Until We All Belong’ marks the most public corporate declaration for marriage equality in Australia to date.”

Image: AdNews.

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