Displaying items by tag: religious freedom

Two important things happened on the weekend of 6-7 June.  A court upheld the right to protest in large numbers in public, even in times of real or manufactured health scares.  This has implications for lockdown policies.  The second important thing to happen was that we can go to Church again.  For this, we should, all of us, bend the knee.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald sets up a number of “straw man” arguments so that it can knock them down and claim that the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill is harmful. I disagree.

It appears that they have kissed and made up – sort of. As most folks would have heard by now, the long-running stand-off between star rugby player Israel Folau and Rugby Australia has seemingly come to an end – with a confidential settlement just being reached.

In 2018, representatives of the Catholic Church signed a controversial accord with China known as the Sino-Vatican Provisional Agreement, which some say has escalated China's crackdown on Christians and other religious minorities. In this interview, China expert Steve Mosher explains what this agreement has meant for Chinese Catholics, whom retired Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong says have been "incredibly betrayed".

A UN expert charged with promoting LGBT rights around the world called on governments to take action against religions that don’t embrace LGBT rights.

In his latest report to the General Assembly, Victor Madrigal-Borloz said, “States should adopt decisive action when religious authorities, leaders or agents infringe on the rights of LGBT persons through violence and discrimination, including hate speech.”

Be warned: This appalling new bill will spell the end of freedom in Victoria.

An important decision of the England and Wales Court of Appeal has ruled that a social work student, Felix Ngole, should not have been dismissed from his course on the basis of comments he made on social media sharing the Bible’s view on homosexuality.

Many organisations around Australia are attempting to pressure the Morrison government into legislating to protect religious freedom. Of special concern is the attempt by the Greens and the ALP to remove 'religious exemptions' in anti-discrimination law. The ICS (Institute for Civil Society) has released a video and briefing paper to provide resources so that we can become more informed and also reach out to politicians. 

Did Qantas fire Israel Folau? Are SJW corporations running the nation’s public policy now? What can we do to make them stick to their knitting? Dr Jeremy Sammut has written a book answering just that question.

In a previous post I commented on the events surrounding celebrity rugby player Israel Folau’s posting on social media of a meme stating that various groups of sinners, including “homosexuals”, were destined for hell unless they repented and put their trust in Jesus Christ. He was immediately threatened with dismissal by his employer, Rugby Australia (“RA”), a threat subsequently implemented through an internal tribunal finding that he was guilty of a high level breach of the RA “code of conduct”.