The religious discrimination bill gives the right for religious organisations to discriminate against those who do not toe the party line. What are these groups afraid of? We live in the twenty first century, not in the Bronze Age when many of these beliefs were forged. You cannot turn the clock back. You cannot pretend that you live in another time. We are all a part of a modern multicultural Australia. We are all a part of a rich and diverse society. Show some respect and tolerance for the lifestyles and views of your fellow citizens. Thinned skinned religious groups fearful of diversity need to re-evaluate their place in Australian society.
Religious Schools Afraid of Different Lifestyle Proponents
There are too many religious based schools in Australia. Sending your children to these schools only prolongs the misguided views of the proponents of religion. Humanity is evolving and growing toward a more enlightened space. We do not need the backward looking reliance on the narrow minded perspective of men who lived hundreds and even thousands of years ago. I say men because these religions overwhelmingly discard the recognition of the role of women in their organisations and communities. The past was not a rosier place, no matter what you might have heard. It was full of tribal associations and brutal consequences for those who did not toe the line.
Modern Australia Growing in Diversity & Sophistication
Australia is a wonderful place, and it is growing in diversity and sophistication. There are places here for gay people and those identifying as LGBTQI. Not so long ago gangs of white middle class youths were murdering gays in hate crimes in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and in other cities and towns. I do not hear the church groups speaking about this phenomenon in Australian society too often. The disability community is emerging from decades and centuries of exclusion and suppression. Church charities were part of that model, which maintained the disabled on the fringes of society hidden away. ‘God had condemned these miscreants, but they deserved our charity’ – was the ethos underpinning many religious based institutions. This kind of thinking is not good enough for the wellbeing of human beings in the 21C.
A lot of churches and religious groups become defacto networking cohorts, where they do business with each other. There are rules and regulations that church members must adhere to if they are to be accepted by the group. Lifestyles must adhere to the religion’s ethos. There are hierarchies of status within religious organisations and church groups. Individuality is subsumed within the group. Even within these congregations there are those who prescribe more orthodox views. There are often power struggles based on the embodiment of these moral tenets, with hard liners and moderates battling for control. These dynamics produce things like the call for a religious discrimination bill among religious groups and churches. Why do they need to protect their right to discriminate against those with different lifestyles? If they are certain about their pathway being the right way, then, why are they so afraid? Religious groups fearful of diversity tells us something about the soundness of their faith.
Really, if you are sending your kid to a religious school, you are fostering the continuation of misguided beliefs in a world which no longer exists. We should be putting all our energies into improving state schools for all.