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Here is a press release about the terrible decision against the Christian pastors in Australia, from the Tears of the Oppressed group (thanks to Mark Durie):
Sex and politics are fine, but don’t talk about religion!The human rights of average Australians are threatened as two Christian pastors are pronounced “guilty” under the Victorian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.
The announcement of the guilty verdict in the test case, Islamic Council of Victoria vs Catch the Fire Ministries, indicates that it is no longer possible to discuss religious ideas in a public context without fear of prosecution in Victoria. Consequently two basic human rights – the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of religion – have been infringed.
“The message to the Australian public is this: ‘Sex and politics are fine… but don’t talk about religion!’ ” says Tears of the Oppressed’s President, Senator Grant Chapman.
“In practice, the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 has allowed one religious group to take another religious group to court over a difference in religious opinion.
“However, under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – to which Australia is a signatory –
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
“The Racial and Religious Tolerance Act interferes with the right to express religious opinions.
“The guilty verdict in this case indicates the freedom of expression – and consequently the freedom of religion - of the average Australian has been compromised.
“The religious ideas and interpretations raised during the court hearing have been in the public domain for years.
“They have been documented in books, the internet, discussed in the academic world, and in churches and mosques since time immemorial.
“Since religions make claims to truth and morality, they should be subject to scrutiny and challenge,” Senator Chapman said.
“Moreover, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 18
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others, and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.“It is the role of teachers in every religion to demonstrate why their faith is worthy of adoption, and this may involve showing why – in their opinion – other religions may be less truthful, or even in error.
“Neither should the right to critically examine a faith be restricted to adherents of those faiths.
“Critical examination of other faiths is integral to the process of adopting the faith of one’s choice.
“Critical examination of a belief system is therefore a religious activity.
“The Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001, however, limits critical examination by exposing Victorians who make critical or negative comments about a religion to accusations of vilification.
“In the past, Australians have always been free to make critical or negative comments about religion.
“That’s part of what it means to have a religiously free society.
“Until now, we have been able to belong to a religious faith, or not belong to a religious faith, as we choose.
“Now the Australian public needs to be aware that their human right to freedom of religion and its expression is being whittled away by insidious laws which, under the guise of protecting religious freedom, actually diminish it.
“Mainstream public opinion has deterred other States from proceeding with similar legislation.
“The pressure of public opinion must be brought to bear urgently on the Victorian Government to remove this heinous law from the statute book.”
Background:
Tears of the Oppressed is an interdenominational Christian human rights organization. Its primary focus is religious freedom, particularly religious freedom for minority Christian communities suffering severe religious persecution in other parts of the world.Contact: For further information, contact Senator Grant Chapman, President of Tears of the Oppressed, on 0408 812 296.
Tears of the Oppressed
PO Box 188
Calwell ACT 2905
Ph. 02 6291 0900
Fax. 02 6291 0900
Email contact: Elizabeth Scott, National Director - escott@tearsoftheoppressed.org
Posted by Robert at December 17, 2004 7:58 PM
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Mark,
Thankyou for the address for the org tears of the opressed. Hopefully this case can be carried through to the higher courts.
I am an atheist, (god help me in these tragic times)but as Locke points out religion is the basis of social structure and i know which structure i prefer.
Posted by: meredith![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 17, 2004 8:45 PM
Meredith: interesting that you, an atheist, should approvingly quote Locke. In his _Essay on Toleration_, he excluded atheists from tolerance.
Posted by: Kepha1 at December 17, 2004 10:39 PM
Locke would eventually have changed his mind.
Posted by: Hugh at December 17, 2004 11:29 PM
Australia, Australia, rise up read and know the truth and take action!
America can help you. You have to want the help though. We can not do it for you. I could just shed a tear for you, but I still do believe in you not to mention we have great faith for the truth. You need to fight and be wise. Know that this fight is spiritual. Engage on every level. May The Lord bless you in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Real prayer is the most powerful force on this earth, but that does not give you an excuse to not take the fight to the enemy on the grounds that you are still allowed to.
at December 18, 2004 1:18 AM
I think in atheist he was referring to some one who has no capability for adhering to the Bonds of Humane Society, or will undermine it, maybe today he’d mean politically correct conspirers.
Posted by: meredith at December 18, 2004 9:04 AM
There's little doubt that the catch the fire folks are in the news across Australia, but that doesn't mean the Spencer is getting any publicity out of it. I raise that in the sense of describing the elephant by the piece: if the Catch folks are one small part of this struggle the Australians see they'll miss the whole picture, which is what Spencer provides the willing world with daily.
In a week or so I'll offer something far more sophisticated that this, but for now let's look at what we can do as individuals from afar to assist our Australians friends in the fight that concerns us all, a fight they understand clearly in the context of Bali. Australians don't, one assumes, need great convincing that Islam is a serious threat not simply to the Australian way of life but to the lives of Australians in the way. they, like the rest of us across the globe, are faced with a murderous ideology peopled with fanatics, "wild-eyed pistol wavers who ain't afraid to die." They know the seriousness of the threat. They see the court ruling. but I'm sure they do not see the over-all picture that Spencer provides daily. We can't write letters to them to keep them up to speed: we can flood the office of the tearsoftheoppressed with letters asking them and their readers and supporters and sympathizers to come to this site. If Spencer can't go to the Aussies, let the Aussies come to Spencer.
Take a moment and send an e-mail to www.tearsoftheoppressed.org letting them know they have friends and supporters here who can be of some assistence to them, and they to us. Spencer does this work for this kind of reason, I believe. Let the light out from under the basket.
I'm going to write something like:
Dear Aussies: We are seriously concerned about attacks on free expression in Australia. After reading of the plight of the Catch the Flame ministers, condemned for expressing the opinions of many people in the free world, Christians and others, ecumenicals and atheists, all of us, contributors and critics www.jihadwatch.org, a website dedicated to monitoring, exposing, and resisting the menace of Islam, are watching events in Australia with a deep and sympathetic interest.
Please join us at jihadwatch to tell us what you understand of the Moslem menace in Australia, and in turn find out how the rest of the world feels about it and the greater menace across the world.
I'll have some cofffee before I sit down to write to them, and then I'll edit out the boring and repetitious bits. I'll try to spell properly. but I will, regardles, send them a note and encourage them to read Spencer's work, and having read, to respond; and having read and responded, I'll urge them to gather their flocks to contribute to Spencer's site as well. It won't hurt anyone here to have a million Aussies on our side.
If Jihad watchers show the Aussies that we are concerned and interested in their struggle, they will come here to explain it to us more deeply, and they will learn that they are not alone way down there.
This is one example of we being the media. We have a message. We have the means to deliver it. We have power. We have almost everything we need to make a real counter-movement to stop the medeival rot of Islam from destroying yet more of the fabric of of the world's civilizations. We can start today by sending a note to
www.escott@tearsoftheoppressed.org.
Let her know what Spencer does here. Invite her folks to come.
It's not any of my business at all, but I do also think that if you have some cash to donate it might go further on Spencer's paypal acct.
For now, for today, I urge us all to write to the Aussies.
Posted by: sonofwalker at December 18, 2004 12:42 PM
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