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The Left’s rules of respect and tolerance don’t apply to the Christian faith.

The Left are always banging on about not offending this group, and not upsetting that group — words are literal violence.

Don’t misgender a trans woman. And don’t start a meeting without acknowledging the aboriginal people — even if none are in the room.

Don’t imply disabled people are in any way disadvantaged. And don’t say drag queens reading stories to children is anything other than perfectly normal.

But, of course, there is one group for whom the normal sensibilities do not apply.

“Inclusiveness” means excluding Christians. And “diversity” means everyone except Christians.

And so it was that absurdity ensued when Nine News reporter Lana Murphy was handed a pro-abortion sign at a Melbourne protest.

The sign read:

“Mary (the virgin) should have had an abortion.”

Now abortion rallies are not exactly known for their niceties. And, let’s face it, people wanting to kill Jesus is hardly a new phenomenon. But this sign was beyond the pale.

Insulting

Ms Murphy evidently thought it was hilarious, and posted a photograph on Instagram of herself in fits of laughter holding the sign.

Imagine the reaction if you went public with a sign saying George Floyd’s mum should have had an abortion. The Left would be rightly enraged.

Would Ms Murphy have thought a sign funny that suggested Aminah bint Wahb should have had an abortion?

Not if she valued her life, she wouldn’t.

Laughingly hold a sign like that and you’d be in hiding — with police protection — faster than a French cartoonist can say Charlie Hebdo.

(Perhaps someone later whispered to Murphy that a certain other religion also regards Mary and Jesus as sacred figures and that is why she quickly deleted her Twitter account.)

But this was a tasteless joke about Christianity, and so Murphy and her cameraman had little reason not to think it hilarious. The rules of respect and tolerance don’t apply to the Christian faith.

Anti-Christian

The Left decries every kind of phobia under the sun apart from Christianophobia, which — like biology — they don’t believe exists.

It’s this double standard that exposes Leftism for what it is — a shameless assault on Christianity.

Christianity is the one minority (according to the latest census, only 44% of Australians now identify as Christian) that can be ridiculed, insulted and mocked with impunity.

I personally support the right of anyone to mock anything they like. If free speech doesn’t apply to speech I don’t like then it is not free at all.

And if Jesus is real, then He is well able to deal with his detractors.

If a Nine News reporter wants to take in hand and laugh along with a sign like that, that’s her business. It’s the double standard that I take issue with. What happened to equality?

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said last year:

‘All forms of hate are unacceptable and have no place in Victoria.’

I imagine a sign saying that the founder of the Christian religion should have been poisoned in the womb and sucked into the trash before ever drawing breath would be reasonably hateful?

I look forward to Premier Andrews coming out tomorrow to condemn this hateful, vile, disgusting attack on the Christian faith.

I’m joking, of course. It’ll never happen.

Daniel Andrews is no more likely to defend Christianity against hateful attacks than he is to remember who recommended the security team for his failed hotel quarantine program.

The Law Need Not Apply

Victoria’s Racial and Religious Tolerance Act makes behaviour that incites or encourages hatred, serious contempt, revulsion or severe ridicule against another person or group of people, because of their race or religion, unlawful.

Will Ms Murphy be charged with a hate crime? We all know she won’t.

It’s Jesus who is being mocked, not Muhammad. It’s Christianity that is being pilloried, not Buddhism. Play on…

For the record, I think hate speech laws are absurd. It’s not the government’s job to protect my feelings or to adjudicate my enemy’s emotions.

Again, it’s the double standard that insists hate is terrible, except when directed toward Christians who should not be so sensitive, to which I object.

Mercy

Some Christians took to social media demanding Murphy’s employers sack her. If Israel Folau lost his job for saying homosexuals would go to hell, Murphy should lose her job for saying that Mary should have had access to um, health care.

This is foolish. You can’t complain about cancel culture and then demand the cancellation of people you don’t like.

As for the double standard, perhaps Christians shouldn’t be too upset by that either. That Christians are expected to turn the other cheek and to forgive every sleight against them is the unintended compliment the Left pay to the Christian faith and to its founder who, when nailed to a Roman cross, said only: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”

Postscript:

Ms Murphy later issued the following statement:

In my role as a journalist I always strive to remain impartial and respectful to either side of rational debate.

On Saturday, while reporting on the pro choice rally, I was photographed being passed a sign made by one of the attendees.

The words on the sign and my subsequent posting of that image on my personal social media account has caused offence to some in the religious community.

This was not my intention, and I wholeheartedly apologise to those that were hurt.

I acknowledge that in my professional role, it was not the appropriate time to appear to have chosen a side.

___

Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.
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