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Two weeks out from the federal election, Scott Morrison (LNP) has doubled down on his commitment to introduce protections for faith communities who conscientiously object to assimilating with LGBTQ+ ideology, particularly transgenderism and same-sex “marriage”.

In a letter to David Adler — the President of the Australian Jewish Association — the Australian Prime Minister again declared his support for freedom of religion “without discrimination”.

He told Adler: religious freedom is “fundamental to who we are and who we must be as a tolerant, multicultural, and multi-faith liberal democracy”.

Labor Interference

Morrison then blamed Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese (Labor) for the original Religious Discrimination Bill being pulled.

Morrison accused Labor of using the original bill to “score a political victory against the Government”, putting their own gain ahead of “achieving laws to protect Australians of religious faith against discrimination.”

He further explained to AJA that,

“Labor supported amendments which hallowed out the protections, using the Bill as a device to make unacceptable changes to other laws that would further undermine the ability of religious institutions, particularly religious schools, to practice their faith.”

Addressing Adler, Morrison declared that unless a “consensus can be found”, and “issues created by the amendments resolved”, he cannot “in good conscious risk a Labor-led removal of current laws protecting freedom of religion”.

Morrison concluded the letter with the reassurance of pursuing an undefiled Religious Discrimination Bill, if re-elected.

The AJA shared the letter to their social media sites on Monday, adding,

 “AJA was involved in consultations with Attorney-General Senator Michaela Cash on the Religious Discrimination Bill. The legislation failed to pass.”

Two-Faced ALP

Confirming Morrison’s criticism, Australian Labor promised to “legislate a religious discrimination act”, then stabbed that in the back, stating that if elected, Labor would ban faith-based schools from exercising their right to conscientious objection, removing the right of faith-based entities to only hire those who share their values, and adhere to their beliefs.

It’s this politicising that drove organisations like the Canberra Declaration (CD) to remove their initial support for the Bill.

Editor Kurt Mahlburg explained in February that the watering down of the Bill was an abandonment of Christian schools from both sides of politics.

Summarising reasons for CD pulling its support, Kurt cited the removal of “key protections for religious schools”, calling it a “dreadful compromise”.

The Canberra Declaration was joined by the Australian Christian Lobby and the National Civic Council, with ACL’s Wendy Francis stating: “the removal of legal protections for Christian schools was a price too high to pay.”

Punished

Morrison’s recommitment to a Religious Discrimination Bill coincides with a rising number of Christians being penalised or forced out of their profession for affirming Biblically-backed biological science.

Examples include Dr Jereth Kok, a general practitioner with 15 years of experience, suspended by the Medical Board of Australia for posting material to his private social media pages which align with his Christian faith.

Other examples are Israel Folau and Margaret Court, both of whom have been targeted for non-compliance with the post-SSM liberty-killing “new normal.”

More recently, Sergeant Bruno Staffieri, a veteran LEO serving with the Victorian Police, is facing punishment for private online posts he put up affirming binary, biological facts about gender.

He allegedly commented online to a senior project officer,

“So you are doing tertiary education studying genders. I’ll make it easy for you to pass… there are 2.”

The Age said Staffieri’s biggest crime is him allegedly criticising Victorian Police’s assimilation with the LGBTQ+ political religion.

Age reporter Cameron Houston labelled Staffieri’s situation a,

“Test case for freedom of speech, and the force’s recently revised Social Media policy, particularly for officers expressing religious or political opinions online.”

With the dead weight brought on by appeasing woke Liberals in his ranks, Scott Morrison’s promise to reissue a Religious Discrimination Bill untainted by far-left woke jihadists will be a difficult task.

It’s also unclear if the Prime Minister, who was silent on the “no jab, no job” frenzy that swept through the country, can protect religious freedom — and by default, conscientious objection.

Scott Morrison proved weak by making no real effort to preserve informed consent. He failed to oppose vaccine mandates, the climax of two years of COVID-19 mass hysteria which both the government and legacy media were largely responsible for creating.

Perhaps Morrison’s best chance is reframing the Bill as a defence of conscientious objection.

If re-elected, Morrison could argue on the grounds of freedom of conscience. We all have the right not to bow in worship before the protected LGBTQ+ political class; at the same time, people are free to go along with them if they wish. It is a conscience issue. Not agreeing with someone’s behaviour does not mean that you hate them. Christians are commanded to love all. Freedom of conscience is a fundamental right.

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Photo: Australian Jewish News