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We are excited to announce an exciting new project that will have a big impact on protecting Christian freedom: the Australian Christian Freedom Index.

Religious liberty — the ability to live out our Christian faith in private and public without penalty — is the most fundamental of all human rights.

Human rights exist only because God exists and has made humanity in his image. We’re special, having infinite dignity, value and worth.

That’s why human rights are “inalienable”. They come from God — not human governments. But remove Christianity from society, and the basis for all other human rights is destroyed (see “10 Reasons Our Human Rights Come from Jesus“.)

The photo above shows of the removal of the cross from the Calvary Public Hospital, Canberra. The image was taken after the ACT government forcibly acquired the hospital, despite widespread condemnation. This horrendous evil occurred because the hospital, which was started by the Little Sisters of Mary, refused to perform abortions — a pro-life and Hippocratic oath stance considered anathema to the Labor-Greens ACT government.

Importance of Christian Freedom

Christian liberty recognises the right of each individual to “seek God… and find him” (Acts 17:27). Discovering God through his word is life’s most important privilege – an endeavour granted to us by God.

The Bible explicitly links freedom of religion with the gospel. In 1 Timothy 2:1–4, Paul urges prayer for “all those who are in authority”.

Why? So that these authorities don’t hinder Christians from living a godly life and sharing the gospel with others. As Paul writes, this “pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved”. Religious freedom has eternal consequences.

The USA has been the greatest champion of religious freedom. We shouldn’t be surprised to discover that America sends out more Christian missionaries (by a big margin) than any other nation — 135,000 per year. This is no co-incidence.

We want Christian freedom, with its corresponding gospel witness, to continue and increase in Australia.

But sadly, in Australia, this freedom is being eroded.

Whether it’s restrictions on what the Bible teaches about sexuality and gender, employees being fired for expressing biblical views, attempted murder of Christian leaders or firebombing of Christian church buildings — Christianity is under attack in Australia.

This is why we are thrilled to announce the the Australian Christian Freedom Index and the accompanying Christian Freedom Survey.

Australian Christian Freedom Survey

The index will record the experiences of thousands of Australian Christians who have faced hostility for their faith, document state and federal laws that conflict with Christian freedom, record church property vandalism, plus so much more.

This real-world data will be professionally presented — at a level suitable for politicians and legal experts. We already have strong international interest in the index from high-government levels. Other countries are interested in what we are doing here in Australia in the fight for freedom.

That Christians do face discrimination in Australia is routinely ignored by a large segment of society — including politicians — because “that doesn’t happen here”.

You will help change that by adding your voice through this anonymous survey! After the Australian Christian Freedom Index is published, that dismissive attitude will be all the more impossible to defend without someone further revealing their anti-Christian bias.

This Christian Freedom Index is a defence for religious freedom and the survey below is an important part of it.

This index is impossible without you.

We need you to take the Australian Christian Freedom Survey. The survey will only take a few minutes, but the impact will be significant. All results will be anonymous.

A sufficient dataset requires thousands of survey responses. Your experiences and perception on the state of religious freedom in Australia are invaluable.

We strongly encourage you to take the survey today and share it with your friends. Your help is greatly appreciated. Simply click the orange button below to take the survey.

Yours for Christian faith, freedom and the gospel,

Samuel Hartwich and Warwick Marsh