The Last Word
by John Ballantyne, editor of Endeavour Forum newsletter
Last year, Liberal frontbencher Christopher
Pyne dismissed as "a complete red herring"
the widespread fear among voters that
legalising same-sex "marriage" could
further erode religious freedom and freedom
of speech. "It has got nothing to do with
freedom of speech, nothing to do with
religious freedom," he assured Leigh Sales on ABC television's
7:30 Report (August 24, 2017).To which one could reply, as the Duke of Wellington did to a stranger who mistook him for a Mr Smith, "If you believe that, sir, you'll believe anything."
Contrary to Mr Pyne's assurances, religious freedom and freedom of speech have been relentlessly curbed wherever marriage has been redefined, as Canadians, Americans and the British have rapidly discovered.
Last December, the Australian Parliament voted overwhelmingly to ratify the voters' plebiscite endorsing changes to Australia's Marriage Act, but specifically rejected including any safeguards for freedom of conscience and autonomy for religious organisations.
Since then, Christian voters have been expected to draw comfort from the as yet unpublished findings of Philip Ruddock's "Expert Panel to Examine Religious Freedom Protection in Australia", which the Turnbull government has been remarkably coy about releasing.
But even if the government belatedly draws up a bill to protect religious freedom, what hope is there that majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate will support such necessary measures, after they failed to do so last December when they had the opportunity?
Australian Christians had better wake up and realise that they
have very few friends in Canberra. 