See many links at the end.

Subject: Submission on Religious Freedom Bills – Second Exposure Drafts

To: Ken.Wyatt.MP@aph.gov.au, FoRConsultation@ag.gov.au
Date: 29 January 2020, 5:53 pm
From: Mx Margaret Dylan Jones (private individual)

Religious Discrimination Bill 2019
Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019
Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill 2019

Dear Sirs,

These conservative coalition government bills comprise a blatant attempt to proselytise the Christian religion and unfairly discriminate against a wide range of people.

The bills would be more accurately called ‘Extending Religious Privilege and Enabling Persecution of Non-Believers.’

These aims and motivations are unacceptable to the majority of Australians, who have historically always been in favour of democracy, individual freedoms, and the ‘fair go.’

Christian theocrats, who are strongly represented in the parliament and especially in the LNP, were stung by the overwhelming vote in favour of marriage equality in the 2017 postal survey and by the results of the 2016 Census which found religious belief in Australia is rapidly falling.

Theocracy, that is, government by religious law and ignoring secular views, the will of the people, and science, is wholly unsuited to our modern multicultural society and the increasingly complex and urgent challenges our country faces.

On a related note, the government’s long-running and expensive National School Chaplaincy Programme has, despite explicit regulation, enabled and possibly encouraged chaplains to actively proselytise Christianity in most types of primary schools and high schools. A Christian friend of mine, who applied to work as a chaplain in government schools, in a job interview was asked more about the strength of their faith and their ability to promote their religion than they were asked about their counselling skills. They said: “[I was asked] a high percentage of questions based on how i would communicate my faith as a christian to others and basically how i could convert and recruit people into becoming a christian.” Why should non-religious students, who are in the majority in Australia, have to suffer this Bible bashing and not have access to (possibly secular) counsellors with superior counselling skills?

Promoting ghettos of religious intolerance inside schools and workplaces can only serve to divide Australians from one another. The ‘othering’ of people as either devout, following a different faith, or blasphemous, must be resisted.

The disingenuous regard shown to everyday Australians by a tiny minority of religious people who use canonic verses to power and spread their own fear and hatred should not be encouraged. Freedom of speech should not be based on Biblical authority.

As an atheist I deplore these attempts to take us back to the Iron Age and I celebrate the fact that religion is declining in Australia. I deplore the trashing of science and the promoting and entrenching of anti-science philosophies, such as so-called creation science, which is a clear and present danger to our nation.

Pandering to the fears of conservative theocrats, who cannot abide science, non-believers and the contrary views of secularists and even the members of other faiths, is a poor governmental response to the issues of modern life. Diversity of ideas is crucial to the long-term wellbeing of society.

Respect should be a two-way street, and it usually is. I give respect to believers and consistently receive it back. I have born-again Christian siblings and I board with my born-again former fiancée. I’ve played piano for religious services and I use a church for my students’ performance practices. All these people know I’m atheist and humanist, and an androgyne, and yet there is no hint of a problem because we all show respect at the individual level.

There is scant evidence that people of faith experience discrimination in Australia, but ample evidence that religious organisations actively discriminate against many kinds of non-believers. I have suffered strong institutional discrimination at job interviews where there was an explicit or implicit religious bias against transgender people.

These bills seek to bring in unnecessary changes and drive us back to a nostalgic vision of a fictitious monocultural and monotheistic world which never did exist.

If these bills become law they will stifle free expression and diversity. Please reject these unnecessary and detrimental bills for the sake of Australia’s future.

Yours,

Mx Margaret Dylan Jones
(Mx* is title, pronounced ‘mix;’ Dylan is middle name; Jones is surname)
MusB(UWA), DipEd, LTCL, ATCL, AMusTCL, AMusA
AMC (Associate Composer), WWCC
Hasluck electorate in Western Australia
www.mixmargaret.com

*Mx (mix) is a non-binary transgender title I’ve been consistently using for nearly eighteen years since 2002.

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LINKS for further study, and to make submissions to the government.

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Details of the bills:
https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Pages/religious-freedom-bills-second-exposure-drafts.aspx :

Religious Discrimination Bill 2019
Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019
Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill 2019
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Make a submission by 31 January 2020 to the consultation
by sending it to
FoRConsultation@ag.gov.au

Write to your local MP. More info:
https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Pages/religious-freedom-bills-second-exposure-drafts.aspx
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Petitions:
https://www.fairagenda.org/religious_discrimination
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Religious Discrimination Bill and Health Factsheet
by Equality Australia :
https://equalityaustralia.org.au/resources/religious-discrimination-bill-healthcare-fact-sheet/ :

Tell your MP why you oppose the bill:
https://equalityaustralia.org.au/no-to-discrimination-2/

Have you been denied treatment in healthcare based on a religious objection? Have you been discriminated against in healthcare? Write to us and tell us your story here:
equalityaustralia.org.au/contact-us/

Workplace discrimination:
https://equalityaustralia.org.au/resources/religious-discrimination-bill-work-place-fact-sheet/
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Submission to Religious Freedom Bills Second Exposure Drafts – The Stirrer:
https://thestirrer.com.au/submission-to-religious-freedom-bills-second-exposure-drafts/
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National Secular Lobby:
Email federal politicians from the contact list at:
https://www.nationalsecularlobby.org/resources/taking-action/contacting-politicians/
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The Network of Women in Emergency Medicine and Associates (NoWEM), for Health care professionals:

Open Letter Against Religious Discrimination Act

The Network of Women in Emergency Medicine and our associates are making a submission regarding the Religious Discrimination Bills – Second Exposure Drafts. We object to the Bills on the grounds that they will remove protections from discrimination for our patients and our healthcare community. See https://www.nowem.org
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The Stirrer / Doug Pollard
https://thestirrer.com.au/time-for-real-equality/ :
Time For Real Equality
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Women’s Agenda:
Here’s why women should be worried about new religious discrimination laws
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/heres-why-women-should-be-worried-about-new-religious-discrimination-laws/
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Rodney Croome:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/this-is-not-a-religious-freedom-bill-it-s-a-licence-to-hate-20190829-p52m5h.html
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Alastair Lawrie :
https://alastairlawrie.net/2020/01/27/the-bad-faith-religious-discrimination-bill-must-be-blocked/ AND https://alastairlawrie.net/2019/09/15/the-growing-list-of-problems-with-the-religious-discrimination-bills/

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See a sample of the 6,000 submissions on the First Exposure Drafts (Oct 2019): https://www.ag.gov.au/Consultations/Pages/religious-freedom-bills.aspx