Freedom of Religion and Belief

The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is conducting an Inquiry called ''Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century".

Submissions were received until the end of March 2009 (extended from 31 January 2009).

When 'official bodies' are doing an Inquiry about 'religion' we should all take sit up and take note, because this affects every one of us - because in essence this could well be called 'Freedom FROM belief'!

The Inquiry and national consultation is being held by the federal Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) - formerly the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC).

AHRC has published a 16 page Discussion Paper and is asking for SUBMISSIONS - letters, comment, etc.
It is VITAL that we ALL respond - submissions closed end of March 2009 .

UPDATE - April 2009:
Bob Carr, former Labor Premier of NSW, has written a very good article OPPOSING religious vilification laws...
Religion laws don't have a prayer in a country with robust common sense
Bob Carr, SMH, April 18, 2009.
"This week we have heard about an increasing international trend to prosecute religious issues in the courts. In Britain cases are being brought under laws such as the Religious Hatred Act, which makes it a crime to "stir up" "religious hatred". British police have even warned that insulting Scientology would be treated as a crime.
Such legislation may soon be heading to a statute book near you. . ." _____________________________________

What is the Inquiry about?

In the document attached below we've included the two short articles we published in our November and December 2008 journals.

SS 11/08 - AHRC Inquiry 'Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century'

Part 1 outlines the background and the overall objective.
Some key points:

• HREOC conducted an Inquiry in 1998 called Article 18: Freedom of religion and belief. It investigated Australia's 'obligations' under the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
• The Report proposed the establishment of a 'Religious Freedom Act'. The Howard government opposed the idea.
• The Inquiry is being run in "partnership" with Monash University, RMIT and the Australian Multicultural Foundation (AMF). That means Gary Bouma from Monash (who acted as an expert witness for the Islamic Council in the Catch the Fire vilification case), Des Cahill (RMIT) and Hass Dellal (a Muslim who runs the AMF).
• These men wrote the book Religion, Cultural Diversity and Safeguarding Australia for an Immigration Department project in 2004. It proposed a rotating roster of prayers in federal Parliament, a national interfaith 'sacred space' and a Multifaith Council. A separate book proposed the establishment of local Interfaith Networks...
  Click here for our website page, with links and comment on those publications

Part 2 outlines the main focus of the Inquiry and the 'questions'...
The major objective is to produce a report which will give "recommendations for promoting freedom of religion and belief (including secular belief) in Australia".
The Discussion Paper lists seven areas for consideration - each of these includes a number of questions.

What sort of questions?
To show you what AHRC and the researchers are really focusing on, let me list a few questions:

* How are federal and state and territory governments managing incitement to religious hatred, and the question of control and responsibility?
* Would a legislated national Charter of Rights add to these freedoms of religion and belief?
* Is there religious radicalism and political extremism in Australia? If so, what are the risks to Australia?
* How is diverse sexuality perceived within faith communities?
* Do you consider environmental concern to be an influence shaping spiritualities and value systems?
* Are there religious groups, practices and beliefs that you think are of concern to Australians?

WHAT do these matters have to do with 'religious freedom'?

ACTION -
Update: April 2009: Submissions now CLOSED.
The following is a record of the process...
PLEASE write a submission!
We need to tell the Australian Human Rights Commission our views - otherwise they'll just hear from everyone else!

PLEASE read the following article - Part 1 and Part 2 are each one page.

SS 11/08 - AHRC Inquiry 'Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century'

PLEASE read the 'Freedom of Religion & Belief' documents:
The Discussion paper is online. (pdf 5 MB, Word 180 KB)
The Inquiry website - click here.
The Discussion Paper - click here.

Then WRITE a 'submission'. Submissions are due by end of March 2009
- SEND your submission by email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it