Carpet Call: The Imperfect Gift of Religious Freedom
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) is a clever guy.
As Robert McCall (aka Denzel Washington) says in the movie Equalizer 2 to Miles, a troubled teenager: ‘It takes talent to make money, Miles, but it takes brains to keep it’.
Regardless of one’s taste in music, there’s no doubting John Lydon had talent – and brains.
‘Imperfection is at the heart of life’, Lydon once said. ‘Imperfection is the greatest gift of all.’
‘Arabic rug makers will make their work perfect except for one tiny stitch, because nothing is perfect in the eyes of God. Only God is perfect. I think that is magnificently intelligent’.
Before the 2022 federal election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised to overhaul religious protection laws in Australia.
Under existing law, when hiring teachers or workers, faith-based organisations are able to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity via an exemption from anti-discrimination laws.
Forcing faith-based schools to become indistinguishable from secular schools with respect to staffing is irrational
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) now says that exemption should be scrapped. No legislation has yet been introduced.
Not content to wait for the Federal Government to act, activists have shifted to the old ‘State by State’ stalking horse approach – find the most amenable State, introduce the law there and then get other States to adopt it one by one. Once a few States have adopted the new law, the Federal Government is then pressured into doing the same. It’s a tried-and-tested model of creeping change.
Former SA Greens Senator and now Greens SA Upper House member Robert Simms is proposing to introduce legislation into the SA Parliament next month which would remove all exemptions from anti-discrimination laws.
There are some things people will not be dictated to or lectured about. One of those is their faith or their morals – particularly what they teach their children. They will certainly not be brow-beaten or cowed into submission by being called bigots or homophobes.
The Left talks about equality and tolerance but this religious freedom debate is not about either of those. It is about discrimination against religious people. The Left may call for tolerance but what they really want is for everyone to agree with and endorse – even celebrate – their view of the world. They are not interested in debate or argument; they simply want the legislative power of the state to force everyone to comply.
If being free means anything, it means citizens having the right to ensure that the religious and moral education of their children conforms with their own convictions – as outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Australia is a signatory.
It means having freedom of conscience, and the freedom to believe and practice the core tenets and values of a person’s faith. It is the state’s role to protect those rights.
There’s no doubt that the Left is out to undermine our freedoms. They’re coming for our churches, our schools, our faith-based organisations, our farms, our mines, our cars and, most of all, our children. They’re also coming for our old people with their euthanasia packs, for our about-to-be-born babies with their grotesque abortion laws, and they’re coming to indoctrinate our primary school children. They’re also coming for Christmas Day and Australia Day and Anzac Day and Remembrance Day. These people mean business.
People and faith-based organisations – schools, hospitals, aged care providers and charities – should not have to rely on exemptions from anti-discrimination laws to function in accordance with their faith.
The Left talks about equality and tolerance but this religious freedom debate is not about either of those.
They should, by right, have the freedom to select people as they see fit.
Political parties grant that right to themselves because they believe, quite rightly, that the political allegiance of a job applicant matters.
In environmental groups, views about climate change are relevant; in women’s shelters, gender is very important.
Saying you can only become a member of a chess club if you play chess is not discriminating against people who don’t play chess!
In ethnic clubs and institutions, ethnicity is sensible and practical.
We accept all these differences.
And in faith-based organisations, faith matters.
Forcing faith-based schools to become indistinguishable from secular schools with respect to staffing is irrational. After all, no-one is forced to work for a faith-based organisation or send their children to a faith-based school where all the staff follow that particular faith.
Expressions of faith by a person or faith-based organisations must be declared lawful. Statutory exemptions are totally inadequate. Exemptions granted can just as easily be withdrawn – as is now being proposed.
The right to religious freedom must be treated as a pre-eminent right and be recognised and protected. Human Rights Commissions should have no role to play.
A Commonwealth law, by reference to its Objects clauses, must recognise religious freedom as pre-eminent and override all state and territory anti-discrimination laws.
To paraphrase John Lydon, while such a law may be imperfect, it would be a magnificent gift.
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