More issues with the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Bill 2024

Associate Professor Neil Foster writes at Law and Religion Australia:

“I am happy to present a guest post today from Associate Professor Mark Fowler, raising more issues of concern from a religious freedom perspective with the recently released proposed Anti-Discrimination Bill 2024.

Dr Mark Fowler is Principal, Fowler Charity Law, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney and an External Fellow at the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, University of Queensland. …”

– Read it here.

No agreement on ‘least-worst’ laws

“More than a half a decade before the NSW government brought on its ‘Conversion Practices’ bill being debated this week, the Sydney Anglican Church expressed its opposition to harmful ‘conversion therapies’. It had become apparent from the testimony of survivors that some groups, including Christian faith groups, have employed harmful practices in an attempt to change or suppress feelings of attraction to the same sex, or gender dysphoria.

Our decision to speak out came in 2018, before the move to legislate against such practices across Australia. Since then, such legislation has moved beyond these now rare and bizarre practices and in some jurisdictions encroaches unnecessarily and ominously into areas of orthodox religious belief and ordinary faith practices including teaching and preaching, prayer, conversation and mutual encouragement.

There have been comments that churches and faith groups have been consulted and are happy with the bill now on the table. This is not the case. …”

While grateful for the government’s engagement with faith communities on legislation, the Archbishop concludes that,

“What we have ended up with is a ‘least worst’ version of such legislation compared to some other Australian jurisdictions but cannot be regarded by biblical Christian churches as representing good law.”

– The Daily Telegraph has today published this op-ed by Archbishop Kanishka Raffel – and SydneyAnglicans.net has a copy.

Good to read and share – and do pray for the Members of Parliament as the proposed legislation is scheduled to be debated today.

Bible Society Australia to close Eternity News

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the difficult decision made by Bible Society Australia Group to end Eternity News in its current form, marking the closing chapter of a significant era.

This means that effective 30 April 2024, the Eternity News print magazine, website, weekly newsletter and social media platforms, along with the Eternity Jobs website, will cease. …”

– Announcement from BSA Group CEO, Grant Thomson.

NSW Conversion Practices Bill — risks to religious freedom

“The NSW government has introduced a Conversion Practices Ban Bill 2024 into the Parliament, with the apparent aim of moving it through very quickly. Legislation of this sort has been introduced in other jurisdictions around Australia and elsewhere.

The aim of banning oppressive and violent practices designed to ‘convert’ someone’s sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual is good, of course. But those practices, while they may have existed some time ago, are really no longer around. The problem with these laws now is that their drafting can be so broad that they interfere with the ordinary teaching of religious doctrines and life within families.

These laws are also often premised on the assumption that ‘gender transition’ is a good thing which should be freely available to children, whether or not with parental permission. They raise important issues of concern to all those interested in the welfare of children, whether or not from a religious perspective.

But laws of this sort can in particular have significant implications for religious freedom.…”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Associate Professor Neil Foster highlights important ways the proposed legislation can be greatly improved.

Do read the full article, and – since the legislation is likely to be debated today – urgently contact your Member of Parliament if you desire.

C of E’s helter-skelter plunge into heresy

“There are many good men and women in the Church of England who simply want to worship and serve God as best they can in the way their parents did. There are ministers whose preaching and teaching has enriched us and whose books Christians read with profit. Such Christians have been betrayed by their denomination. …”

– Presbyterian minister Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack writes at The Conservative Woman.

No churchwardens and vacant PCC posts: an investigation into the church volunteering crisis

“The recent Church Buildings Commission survey in the diocese of Norwich discovered that about 100 churches had no recorded churchwardens. In one rural benefice, there were 19 churches, placing ‘great pressure’ on the incumbent, who had three churches with no PCC members, leaving her with sole responsibility for them.

The Church Times wrote to every diocese last month in an attempt to quantify the extent of the recruitment challenge. …”

– Anglican Mainstream links to an article in Church Times highlighting a[nother] challenge for the Church of England, and especially for smaller churches.

Update:

See also ‘In this age of bloated bureaucracy, pity the poor churchwarden’ by Julian Mann.

Fix the NSW “Conversion Practices” bill

We understand that the Parliament of NSW will debate the Conversion Practices Ban Bill starting this Tuesday (19th March 2024) and it could be fully passed through the Upper House as early as this Thursday.

From Freedom for Faith:

“The Conversion Practices Ban Bill is a genuine effort by the Government to fulfill its election promises to protect religious freedom.

However, at several points the Bill remains unclear, leaving ordinary Australians unsure what they can and cannot say or do. (For more information, you can read our full letter to MPs).

This legislation is likely to be debated this week, and may be passed by the end of Thursday.

Write to your MP NOW to ask them to fix this bill.”

– Contact details for your MP here.

NSW Conversion Practices Ban Bill — Freedom for Faith calls for clarity

“The NSW Government has introduced its Conversion Practices Ban Bill into Parliament on Wednesday March 13.

This legislation is a genuine attempt by the NSW Government to keep its promises to faith communities. However, there are still concerns about the breadth of behaviours that the bill covers.

In the lead up to the NSW election, Chris Minns made clear commitments that any legislation to ban ‘conversion practices’ would protect religious freedom, including prayer, teaching and consensual requests for support. These commitments were repeated by many Labor MPs and candidates at forums across the State.

This legislation represents a genuine effort by the Government to keep those promises. The legislation does protect against the most extreme violations of religious freedom that have been seen in the Victorian legislation and replicated in previous proposals in NSW. It also exempts medical practitioners, allowing them to continue doing what is in the best interest of the patient. Finally, the bill provides an exemption for parents to talk to their children, although unfortunately this does not extend to important family relationships such as grandparents.

However, the bill is weakened by the problematic use of the vague term ‘suppression’. Due to the breadth and uncertainty around what is a suppression practice, it remains unclear exactly what conduct would be in the scope of the bill. In other jurisdictions, simply encouraging a person to remain celibate outside of heterosexual marriage is considered ‘suppression’. This uncertainty risks breading fear in faith communities as to what is allowed.

We call on the Government to give greater clarity as to what is and is not a ‘suppression’ practice.”

– Freedom for Faith has published a webpage with the latest on the NSW Government’s proposed Conversion Practices Ban Bill.

You can also sign up for e-mail updates.

Nationwide evangelistic collaboration: Meet Jesus and the power of prayer

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“The old saying is ‘A rising tide lifts all boats.’ But could the spark of story telling, and celebrating faith increase evangelism in churches and on university campuses everywhere?

National Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students Richard Chin is emphasising the importance of prayer, through what he calls a ‘two-for-two’ model, and asks churches to join him in consistent branding in a nationwide push to introduce people to Jesus.

We discuss practical steps to integrate evangelism into the church’s DNA, champion the role of head, heart, and hand in fostering a consistent culture of outreach.

Rory Shiner is senior pastor of Providence Church, Perth and Chair of the Gospel Coalition Australia.

Baden Stace leads the ministry team at St Stephens Normanhurst in Sydney’s north.

Elliot Temple is missions pastor at Christ Church St Ives also in Sydney’s north.”

– Watch or listen here.

Queensland – new proposed discrimination law

“The Queensland government has released a draft of a proposed new discrimination law for public comment.

The proposed Anti-Discrimination Bill 2024 will make some radical changes to Queensland law, and of interest here is that it will seriously impact religious freedom in that State.

One of the ways that religious freedom is protected in Australia is through the inclusion in discrimination laws of ‘balancing clauses’ (provisions that balance the right not to be discriminated against, with the important right of religious freedom). But the new Bill will dramatically narrow those clauses.

I am pleased to present a guest blog post commenting on some religious freedom impacts of the draft Bill, from Dr Alex Deagon, an Associate Professor in the School of Law at QUT, and an internationally recognised researcher in religious freedom. …”

– See the guest post by Dr Alex Deagon at Associate Professor Neil Foster’s Law and Religion Australia blog.

Anglicans – We Have a Problem

“An old classic movie that sits amongst my DVD collection is a movie entitled Apollo 13. It is a movie based on a disaster that took place during the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. A key line in the movie (which was also spoken in the real event, upon which the move is based) is the line, ‘Houston, we have a problem’.

The problem originates with one of the ship’s oxygen tanks which was faulty and when the order was given to stir the tanks, it exploded. The ship suffered a catastrophic failure and the crew had to move to another part of the ship, and work hard not only to to return to Earth, but to stay alive.

This famous line from the movie reminds me of a problem that faces the Anglican church, a problem of such magnitude that it needs to be said:

‘Anglicans, we have a problem’. …”

– At Anglican.ink, an anonymous contributor writes about an unidentified Anglican province. It all sounds very close to home.

Photo: The real Mission Control in Houston works the problem during Apollo 13. The stakes are even higher in the Anglican Communion.

Why Gafcon? A Global Fellowship in the Word

The second Global Anglican Podcast has been released by Gafcon.

General Secretary, Bishop Paul Donison continues his conversation with Chairman of the Gafcon Primates Council, Archbishop Laurent Mbanda.

This time they speak about the redemptive power of Biblically orthodox mission in Archbishop Mbanda’s home country of Rwanda.

Listen here.

Church of England is blasted for trying to hire £36,000 a year ‘anti-racism’ officer to ‘deconstruct whiteness’

“The Church of England has been blasted for hiring an ‘anti-racism’ officer to ‘deconstruct whiteness’ – with critics accusing it of ‘drinking the critical race Kool Aid’.

The £36,000-a-year and 35-hours a week role is part of a new 11-person ‘racial justice unit’ being set up by the Diocese of Birmingham to work across the West Midlands.

The job advertisement, published on Tuesday, described the role as ensuring that ‘structures, practices and behaviours’ throughout the church allow UK minority ethnic people to ‘flourish’. …”

– Story from Mail Online.

Is there a glimmer of hope?

“The conduct of the House of Bishops has been deceitful and dishonest and disgraceful – concealing legal advice and the game plan. …

To believe there are glimmers of hope is not to prepare for the end of evangelical ministry in the Church of England. Such ministry is being squeezed out and it is naive not to see it, not say it, and not help others prepare for it.”

– Anglican Futures has published this honest assessment from a clergyman in the Church of England.

Do continue to pray for Bible-believing Christians in the CofE.