Latest newsletter #176 Click to read online

Criminalising prayer in Australia

Editorial

Australians with unwanted same-sex attractions are now forbidden from getting the help they want if they live in Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory.

These states and territory in the past year have passed legislation, in imitation of similar laws overseas, to outlaw so-called "gay conversion therapy" — that is, counselling or psychological treatment designed to help people with gender dysphoria develop their heterosexual potential.

By far the most extreme law of this kind anywhere in the world is Victoria's controversial Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020, passed by the state's parliament in February this year.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson AO sounded the alarm late last year when he said: "A law before the Victorian parliament seeking to outlaw parental, therapeutic or religious discussions on issues of sexuality and gender is the biggest threat to our democratic freedoms in Australia's entire legislative history" (Twitter, Dec. 14, 2020).

He was not exaggerating. The nub of the Victorian legislation is its extraordinarily wide-ranging definition of "change or suppression practices". It seeks to criminalise — and punish with heavy fines and possible 10-year jail terms — anyone who offers help and support to an individual struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions, including "carrying out a religious practice, including but not limited to, a prayer-based practice, a deliverance practice or an exorcism".

The specifically anti-religious nature of the Victorian legislation, however, received widespread publicity overseas.

In an article titled "Prohibiting prayer in Australia", Englishborn theologian and author Carl R. Trueman wrote the following in an American journal: "It is an ominous sign when such a basic religious practice as prayer is now the target of hostile legislation in a democratic country. We may not yet be at the point where thought is a crime, but we seem to be at the point where the expression of certain thoughts, even in prayer, could be considered criminal behaviour" (First Things, Feb. 8, 2021).

Many backers of Victoria's draconian law pleaded that, in its absence, young people with same-sex attractions would constantly be at risk of being forced to undergo coercive "conversion therapies", such as ice baths, forced isolation or electric shocks.

Their argument, however, was utterly groundless. Coercive practices such as these have long been illegal; so any bill seeking to outlaw them is entirely superfluous.

The real aim of the bill has been to criminalise and punish anyone who offers counselling to an individual struggling with unwanted same-sex attractions — counselling which, it should be noted, the individual is free to accept or reject.

The legislation's title is really a misnomer. It should be called the Counselling Censorship Law.

It is a deliberate and premeditated assault on free speech; patient autonomy; the professional independence and judgement of GPs, psychiatrists, priests and pastors; and, last but not least, the rights of concerned parents.

Ignored in this whole affair is the plight of those individuals suffering unwanted same-sex attractions.

One courageous young Melbourne woman, Leah Gray, has gone public on how she was helped to leave a lesbian lifestyle. She is now happily married with a young son.

A few days before Victoria's conversion therapy ban was made law, she testified: "Ten years ago I voluntarily sought counsel from Christian psychologists, ministries, support networks and people who had walked before me.

"It was difficult, but I found relief and happiness. Every step of my journey will become illegal under the Victorian government's Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill.

"For the record, none of these avenues of support were ever harmful or coercive. In fact, the counselling I received saved my life. Ex-LGBT people like me are living proof that real and lasting change is possible, that suicides have been prevented, and that it is good for people to have the freedom to choose the type of help and support they want — including (shock horror) the religious kind" (MercatorNet, Feb. 2, 2021).

Too few Australians have ever heard the testimony of individuals like Leah and many others like her, because our mainstream media simply refuses to allow their voices to be heard.


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