Green Party a Threat to Religious Liberty in Australia

Country: International

Date of incident: May 21, 2016


Archbishop Anthony Fisher warned that religious liberty is at stake in Australia's national elections because of the Green's proposed $32 million "Safe Schools" Program which would charge parents, schools, and churches with discrimination if they fail to conform.

In an Australian editorial, Archbishop Fisher wrote: "'Bishop jailed for excluding gender ideology from classroom'; 'Muslim parents required to enrol children in gay-friendly program'; 'Hindu teacher who said marriage between man and woman fined for hate speech' – such might be the headlines if the new Greens policy on religious liberty and 'heteronormative bigotry' were ever to become law". While the Greens' version of the Safe Schools Program has been significantly edited by the federal government after a strong Christian protest, the Greens want the original version restored. Elements include: children being "taught that sex is about the outside body but gender about how you feel inside; that it’s up to you to choose your gender and how you express it; that children should play-act as if they were LGBTI adults; that they should feel free to dress in the school uniform of the opposite sex and use their bathrooms; and so on." The program, touted as an "Anti-Bullying" initiative, would result in bullying and punishment of those who do not go along the gender-mainstreaming goals of the program.  Source: The Australian