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We must protect people from harmful speech. But the cause of freedom must exceed the creation of religious exemptions. Tomorrow, the Ruddock inquiry is due to release its findings on whether Australian law adequately protects the right to freedom of religion. The timing of this inquiry comes on the back of marriage reform.
It’s hard not to see the inquiry as an effort to appease Christians who opposed the reform. The published submissions certainly suggest this is the major issue. But there is hope it may engender a more interesting conversation over the nature of Australia’s diverse democratic secularism. What it is examining?
The question of freedom of religion has become entangled in the relationship between Christian resistance to same-sex marriage and the reality that Australia has democratically decided to amend its marriage laws.
Read more: The ‘gay wedding cake’ dilemma: when religious freedom and LGBTI rights intersect
We will probably also see the question of the relationship between Sharia and Australian law raised. And we will see freedom of speech and its relationship to freedom of religion raised again, so we can negotiate cases such as Israel Folau’s recent comments on homosexuality and divine judgement.
We will also see the issue of the right to freedom from religion raised. For example, there is a live question over the difference between coercive evangelism and religious education.
The place of religious education in schools is a highly contested issue in Australia. There are complicated questions around physician-assisted suicide and religious hospital systems that need careful consideration, too.
It will also be telling to see if the review considers the relationship between indigenous spiritualities and Australian law . What is freedom of religion?
Part of the reason we are having a conversation about religious freedom is because of the way we have defined religion. This has been discussed in the preliminary 2017 Interim Report: Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom in Australia . The definition proposes some belief in “a supernatural Being, Thing or Principle” and the manifestation of this in action described in canons of conduct.Academics have long found religion a problematic category.First, the definition […]