Israel Folau comprehensively upstaged the recent election campaign. But both leaders fled from the issue of his sacking by Rugby Australia over his social media posts, despite its obvious importance to ordinary people.

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Why does religious freedom matter...because it does matter, I think, from a Christian perspective.

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After the same-sex marriage debate, the Federal Government commissioned a review to investigate religious freedom and report back, now by mid-May, with recommendations concerning how the government can protect religious freedom best.

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For this week’s special summer collection of Voice for Values we hear from Martyn Iles speaking at EMBOLDEN 2017, ACL’s national conference.

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Happy New Year and welcome to another year at ACL.

I trust you and your family have enjoyed rest and relaxation over the Christmas period.

The ACL Team and I have benefitted from time out after a tumultuous 12 months.

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This month, Australian social researchers, McCrindle, published a national study on religion, spirituality and worldview trends entitled ‘Faith and Belief in Australia’. 

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The Australian Government should condemn the jailing of former Christian governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, also known as Ahok, for alleged blasphemy against Islam, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.

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Legislation restricting religious schools and organisations in the employment of people who share common values was today introduced in the Victorian parliament by the Andrews Government.

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MEDIA RELEASE



5 May 2016



The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes news that a complaint against Hobart’s Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has been dropped today by the complainant, Greens candidate Martine Delaney.



However, Australian Christian Lobby Managing Director Lyle Shelton said it was a travesty of justice that Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner believed the Archbishop had a case to answer simply for distributing the Catholic Church marriage booklet “Don’t Mess with Marriage.”



“What Archbishop Porteous did was completely reasonable and he should have the right to express a point of view on marriage,” Mr Shelton said.



“This was an example of where State-based Human Rights Commissions are often being weaponised by activists against those with different views.



“A complaint does not even have to be legally defensible for process to start, for lawyers to be engaged, mediation to be required and for intimidation to be achieved. This is ripe for abuse by activists on legally spurious grounds.



“Being taken to law is extremely intimidating for laypeople who express reasonable views in debates. They have watched the case of Archbishop Julian Porteous and they are being silenced for fear of retribution.



“This is how misguided laws and legal processes are silencing the community.”



Mr Shelton said it would not be an unprecedented move to temporarily set-aside the anti-discrimination laws.



“This is not a new idea. In the UK a speech protection exists in s29J of the Public Order Act 1986 which states in part, ‘any discussion or criticism of marriage which concerns the sex of the parties to marriage shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred’,” Mr Shelton said. 



“This is a genuine need so that activists don’t abuse the law as Rodney Croome of Australian Marriage Equality did when he urged supporters to report Archbishop Porteous to the Human Rights Commission for completely benign and reasonable comments about marriage.

“When the law stops decent people from saying reasonable things, it is defective.”



ENDS



Media Contact: 02 6259 0431

I’ve said before there are some things that should stay in the ‘only in America file’.



Today I’m writing from Washington DC where I’ve had the privilege of meeting with people focussed on preserving religious freedom – something ironically under threat in the ‘land of the free’.



[caption id="attachment_34103" align="alignleft" width="300"] Members of the House Armed Services Committee listening to Christian and Jewish leaders expressing concerns about the suppression of religion in the US military.[/caption]



I’ve just come from the Rayburn Building on Capitol Hill, across the road from the Congress, where three Christians and a Jewish Rabi were making the case for religious freedom in the US military.



The white Acropolis-styled Rayburn Building is where many Congressmen and Congresswomen have their offices. Its cavernous hallways also lead to imposing committee hearing rooms with tiered seating to elevate the elected people.



The House Armed Services Committee convened today’s hearing to hear from the religious leaders about the growing instances of intimidation and suppression of faith in the US military.



The Family Research Council’s Director of its Centre for Religious Liberty, Travis Weber, a lawyer and a former US Navy test pilot, told the committee Bibles were removed from navy lodges because of fears they were causing offence.



[caption id="attachment_34105" align="alignright" width="300"] Retired US Army Colonel Ron Crews testifies today about double standards which forced a Christian article off an airforce website but kept an atheist's article on line.[/caption]



He said an air force cadet had been singled out and targeted for expressing his Christianity on a white board.



I later learned he had written a scripture verse.



I wonder if an obscenity scrawled on a unit white board would have caused such a fuss?



Ron Crews, a retired US Army Colonel, is now the executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.



In his testimony he told of a Christian airman who had written of his faith in Jesus Christ on a military website, only to have it ordered taken down.



But an airman’s article telling how proud he is to be an atheist remains online.



“The double standards must stop,” Colonel Crews told the hearing.



Congress had recently passed a law affirming religious freedom in the military, but the religious leaders were able to point out that the will of Congress was being ignored.



One of the reasons I am in the US is because it is about five years ahead of us in the battle for religious freedom.



But the signs are ominous in Australia, as ACL supporters would know given the battle in Victoria for the right of Christian schools to determine their hiring policy, as opposed to a court.



We can’t bury our head in the sand and assume aggressive secularists won’t start going after Australia’s fine military chaplains.



ACL is committed to doing its best to ensure that some things remain in ‘the only in America’ file.