The
High Court in 1981 declared that there is no separation of church and
state in Australia. Peter Costello is wrong. This is not a secular
democracy – it is barely a democracy!
70 percent of Federal funding
for education goes to religious schools. Many social services,
previously run by secular arms of government, have been transferred to
religious organisations, from emergency housing to employment,
counselling to health. Some government-funded family planning offices
now run by religions, deny women information that could lead to
abortion. Gay bashing occurs in some church-run youth shelters. Some
religion-based charities have refused assistance to homosexuals. Gays
sometimes have to endure preaching about their sins if they want space
in hostels. If they’re directed to counsellors in schools, they can be
told to fight their perversions and change, or god will reject them.
Organized
religion has opposed just about every positive social change over the
last century, apart from the granting of citizenship to Aborigines in
the late 1960’s, and if the government continues to let social policy be
dictated by religious leaders, then gays could soon be saying goodbye
to their rights. History demonstrates incontrovertibly that the more
influence religion has in government, the more persecution. In Russia,
for example, Christianity, which has regained almost all its
pre-communist power, has aligned itself with Muslims and neo Nazis;
inciting them to extreme violence against gays – and advocating their
expulsion to Siberia.
Why are religions given the right to discriminate, vilify and persecute? Because there are votes in it.
Before
the last election, a special sitting of parliament was convened to
address an alarming threat. Terrorism? No. Global warming? No. The thing
that threatened the foundations of Australian society was the prospect
of same-sex-unions. It was utter nonsense, but it won Howard the
election, just as a similar lie swung the balance for his mate, George
Bush, because it guaranteed the votes of fundamentalist Christians and
Muslims in marginal seats. Hand in hand, the USA and Australia are
retreating to the dark ages of religious intolerance.
The Labor party
is no better. They conspired with the government then, and their new
Draft Sexuality and Discrimination Bill 2006, specifically permits
discrimination by organisations attached to religion.
Removing legal
disadvantage to same-sex-oriented people is simple; just remove all
discriminatory passages from existing laws. We do not want special new
laws that refer only to us! That’s merely more discrimination and
understandably considered by some to be ‘special treatment.’
A great
hoax has been played on the Australian public, who think we now have
equality. How many times have I heard heterosexuals say, “But you guys
are ok now. There's no more discrimination against gays.”
If only!
There are still dozens of laws that unfairly discriminate, because the
sources of discrimination and persecution – religions – have been placed
above the law! To protect existing hard-won rights and attain true
equality, same-sex-oriented men and women have to choose who they love
more – themselves or their oppressors – you can't play for both teams.
Religious
ideologies can never be part of the solution, because they are the
problem! Healthy, just and fair societies are not based on religious
dogma, but on universal humanist principles of freedom, justice, honesty
and compassion.


Peter Rigby Taylor.

*BRW chief business commentator, Adele Ferguson, reported by Geraldine Mitchell