Dear .........................MP,
We
understand that currently there is an enquiry into religious freedoms being
undertaken by an expert panel commissioned by Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull.
This panel is considering the intersection of the practice of the rights of
people from the LGBTQI community and the religious freedoms of many
Australians, including Christians, Jews, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons,
and people of many other faiths. We appreciate that the Prime Minister
commissioned this panel because of community concerns about the impact of same
sex marriage legislation. We know that the report is due on March 31st
and that the panel has been hearing submissions from various groups.
We recognize
that the Australian people signalled overwhelmingly in the same sex marriage
plebiscite that they wanted to redefine the definition of marriage to include
same sex couples. Because this plebiscite was done in good faith by your
government, we accept this decision, however, we also mourn it, as we believe
that marriage in Australia has been systematically weakened over the last few
decades and this decision of the Australian people, ratified by the parliament,
is just another step in this direction. However, we are not writing to seek to
overturn this decision, we have far greater concerns.
Religious
freedom is an important aspect of Australian society, and I and many people
would argue that without it a society cannot function in a healthy and free
manner. This is because religious freedom is about much more than just allowing
people to practice their religion as they see fit. Religious freedom is one
small part of supporting freedom of conscience, that is the ability for people
to live according to the values they believe are important, and the ability to
exercise them without fear of persecution and legal harm. Many people lost
their lives over the course of western history because our society lacked the
wisdom to protect people’s freedom of conscience. But starting in the
reformation and culminating in the enlightenment, many men and women made the
case for freedom of conscience and for several centuries now we have been
living in the fruit of their arguments; a free society. But now we see this
freedom being etched away.
Obviously
there are limits to how people can follow their conscience, we cannot allow
people to harm others physically, or to force their religious or non-religious
views on others. However, we are concerned that this is exactly what some lobby
groups in our society are seeking to do. There are groups that are seeking to
remove exemptions for religious schools from hiring teachers who have
lifestyles consistent with their stated beliefs. If these exemptions are
removed this will place officials in these schools in danger of prosecution
from law and therefore they would be in danger of having their conscience
overridden by force and would be compelled to act against it to follow the
prescribed orthodoxy of the day. This is in many ways similar to the
inquisitions of the past, and we believe this is unacceptable. We have also
heard of similar moves from these groups to seek to have exemptions removed
from charities and other religious organizations, and we can envision a day
when these kinds of law could be turned against churches. In essence we see
some radical groups in our society seeking to encroach on religious freedoms as
a result of the same sex marriage legislation and enforce their version of
orthodoxy. We ask you to stand against this in parliament and defend
everybody’s right to freedom of conscience, including those of us who would
like to practice our religion without being forced to subscribe to the new
sexual orthodoxy of the radical left.
We recognize
that in the past our society has gone too far in how it has treated homosexual
and transgender people, and we would not like to see extreme law enforcement
measures brought against these lifestyles ever again, as this was unjust.
However, many of us in religious and even non-religious communities are sensing
the pendulum swing in the opposite direction and we ask for you to be vigilant
on our behalf in parliament. But this is not just to protect those of us who
are religious, we stand beside our non-religious citizens and defend their right
for freedom of conscience as well, because Jesus would have us do this. As he
said, “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you.”
Specifically
for Christian churches we ask that you defend our right to teach what the Bible
says about marriage, that it is between a man and a woman, that you defend our
right to only practice marriages that are in accordance with this teaching, and
that you defend the right of Christians schools, business owners and other
Christian organizations to follow their conscience and practice what they
believe the Bible is teaching. We also ask that you would do this for people of
other faiths and people of non-religious organizations as well. We would not
expect a Jewish butcher to be forced to go against his conscience, nor a Muslim
congregation either. A strong society protects the rights of its citizens to
disagree and still live in harmony.
We thank you
for your service in parliament, and pray that you will be able to fulfil your
role diligently and faithfully. We recognize that being a member of parliament
is a stressful and demanding job and we thank you for being willing to do it.
Yours
Sincerely
Reverend
Matthew Littlefield
