Religious Freedom Review - My Submission
Thought you might be interested to read my submission to the Australian Religious Freedom Review:
I am, first of all, concerned with the statement from Commissioner Tom Calma that “The fundamental human right of freedom of religion … encompasses freedom of thought on all matters and the freedom to demonstrate and express our religion and belief individually, with others, in private or in public.” This seems to suggest that the Commission is seeing religious belief as a personal matter which should be shared only with those of like mind.
True Christianity can never be a private belief system. The Bible commands us to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” (Mark 16:15Mark 16:15
English: World English Bible - WEB
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to the whole creation.) Any law which seeks to prevent Christians from freely preaching the Gospel to those who are not already believers, or that forbids us from publicly declaring God’s Biblical standards on any moral or ethical issue, is in fact a violation of our right to practice our faith, and therefore an act of discrimination. I strongly urge the Commission to ensure that any laws that are passed do not discriminate against Christians in this manner. To be true religious freedom, this must include the right to publicly declare that Christianity is the only way to God, and that our God is the only true God; and to compare (without inciting violence or hatred against their adherents) the claims of other faiths and demonstrate where they are lacking, without having the adherents of those faiths sue for “vilification.”
My second concern is that, when laws are passed which contradict Biblical standards, Christians may be forced to act contrary to their conscience in these matters. To give two examples: Christian doctors who believe that abortion is murder may be forced to conduct abortions or lose their licence; Christian marriage celebrants who believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman may, if homosexual marriages are approved, be forced to conduct such marriages or lose their celebrant licence. I strongly urge the Commission to ensure that, where laws are passed that may be contrary to any person’s sincerely held moral standard, that person should be given the right to refuse to perform such acts without endangering their professional standard.
Thirdly, I would like to point out that, according to the definition given in the review document, humanism is as much a religion as Christianity, Buddhism or any other. The separation of Church and State means that the State should not promote any one religion over another. Yet humanism is blatantly promoted through our education system. This issue needs to be addressed.
Also on the subject of education, many Christians reject the evolution myth, which is promoted by the humanist religion as fact rather than very shaky theory, and prefer to hold the the truth of the Biblical account of creation, as backed up by solid creation science studies. Any law which tries to force Christian schools to teach evolution is in fact trying to force them to teach the doctrines of another religion. This is a violation of Christians’ freedom of belief, and of our freedom to train and teach our children according to our beliefs (and not according to the beliefs of another religion.) I strongly urge the Commission to uphold the right of Christian schools in this matter.
Finally, I note that in Britain the Islamic lobby has succeeded in convincing the government to allow them to set up Sharia courts in some areas, governing issues of family, property etc. I strongly urge the Commission not to go down this route. Islam will happily allow people to convert from other faiths into Islam, but will not allow Muslims to convert out of Islam to other faiths. In many countries, to do so carries the death penalty, whilst in other countries where the death penalty for “apostacy” does not formally exist, it is often enacted anyway by family members. I strongly urge the commission to ensure that all Australians and Australian residents have the right to change from any religion to any other religion, without fear of recriminations, and to ensure that no separatist religious courts are allowed which could overrule such rights for the individuals they control.
This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9Colossians 2:9
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.)
