tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/religious-discrimination-56606/articlesReligious discrimination – The Conversation2024-03-27T08:56:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2267272024-03-27T08:56:00Z2024-03-27T08:56:00ZView from the Hill: Albanese hit by unexpected wave as he tries to clear the decks<p>In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. </p>
<p>In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, managerial prime minister, busy attempting to reinforce the anchors of the ship of state and to clear its decks ahead of the May 14 budget. But this week, some rough weather hit the boat. </p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2015/jul/25/alp-conference-2015-bill-shorten-to-unveil-asylum-policy-politics-live">Labor national conference less than a decade ago</a> Albanese opposed the ALP embracing turning back boats carrying asylum seekers. This week, his government tried to rush through legislation to give it power to force non-citizens to cooperate in their removal by, for example, signing an application for a passport or other travel documents.</p>
<p>Also this week, the government watered down its proposed vehicle efficiency measure in an effort to defuse opposition attacks that it is a “new car and ute tax”. </p>
<p>On another front, Albanese last week took the extraordinary course of declaring the government won’t proceed with legislation on religious discrimination without bipartisan support. </p>
<p>Taken together, these actions show a PM wanting to chart a course firmly focused on an election that is at most just over a year away. </p>
<p>Preoccupied as it was with the Voice referendum for much of last year, the government was late to appreciate the extent to which voters were becoming overwhelmingly concerned with the cost of living. </p>
<p>It’s not making that mistake now. </p>
<p>Last year it also didn’t anticipate a possible threat to its immigration detention regime. It was ambushed by the High Court’s judgement in November prohibiting the indefinite incarceration of immigration detainees. </p>
<p>As a result of that decision, about 150 people were released, the Coalition sparked a fear campaign about ex-criminals roaming the streets, and the government played catch-up with emergency legislation including for preventative detention. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-consequences-of-the-governments-new-migration-legislation-could-be-dire-for-individuals-and-for-australia-226713">The consequences of the government's new migration legislation could be dire – for individuals and for Australia</a>
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<p>But it always has the refugee lawyers on its heels and so, for example, to avoid court rebuffs to legislation already passed, it has been withdrawing its requirement for individuals to wear ankle bracelets.</p>
<p>The government didn’t want to be caught out a second time by the High Court, which has another seminal case coming, with a hearing in April. It relates to an Iranian man who’s refusing to cooperate with attempts to deport him; Iran won’t take back involuntary removals. </p>
<p>The government has better prospects of winning this case. But it wants to shore up its defences, both to convince the court, and in the event the worst happens. </p>
<p>This week’s bill would prohibit non-citizens the government is trying to remove from refusing to cooperate. The penalty would be a mandatory year’s jail, with a maximum sentence of five years. Countries that refuse to accept involuntary returnees would also be subject to sanctions – their citizens (with some exceptions) could not get visas to come to Australia. </p>
<p>One can imagine what Labor would have said if a Coalition government had thrown up such a bill with no notice. </p>
<p>The government gambled the opposition would have little option but to pass the bill. But on Wednesday the Coalition called its bluff. </p>
<p>In a rare alliance of Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers, the Senate has referred the bill to a committee inquiry. This is due to report on May 7, meaning the legislation can’t be passed before the budget session (or the High Court hearing).</p>
<p>Worse for the government, the heat intensified on Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, after a report that she had bawled out her departmental secretary, Stephanie Foster, over Foster making public, in the context of a Senate hearing, a document about the ex-detainees’ criminal backgrounds. </p>
<p>On the same day the immigration legislation was unveiled, Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Transport Minister Catherine King walked back the government’s vehicle efficiency standards policy. </p>
<p>Initially the government had released three options for this new (and overdue) policy, declaring its preferred option would see Australia in line with the United States. </p>
<p>Then a few things happened. The Coalition went into full attack. The US recalibrated its own position, under pressure from its auto industry. The Greens, unhappy about another government policy, indicated they wouldn’t wave through the government’s option. </p>
<p>The Albanese office maintained oversight of negotiations with the industry, and agreed to take meetings with senior stakeholders from the car companies and industry bodies, to build confidence in the consultation process.</p>
<p>The retreat on emissions standards is modest, although the opposition will campaign against the standards regardless. </p>
<p>While the battle over the immigration bill and the retreat on emission reduction standards were playing out in public, behind closed doors Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was briefing his opposition counterpart Michaelia Cash, the Greens and crossbenchers about the proposed religious discrimination draft legislation. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-anthony-albaneses-religious-discrimination-legislation-is-in-peter-duttons-hands-226119">Future of Anthony Albanese's religious discrimination legislation is in Peter Dutton's hands</a>
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<p>The government has given Cash the draft legislation, on a confidential basis. The Greens and some crossbenchers were angry they were not provided with it. </p>
<p>From what’s been said so far, the proposed religious discrimination legislation would scrap the present provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act, which allow religious schools to discriminate on grounds of sexuality and gender identification against both students and teachers. </p>
<p>This would be replaced in new legislation by a prohibition of any discrimination against students. Schools would be able to preference people sharing their faith and values in hiring, but not discriminate in firing. </p>
<p>In addition, there would be an explicit protection to safeguard people against discrimination on the basis of their faith. </p>
<p>The Senate forced the government into an inquiry on the immigration legislation, but Albanese has said he won’t have an inquiry into the religious freedom legislation. </p>
<p>Albanese’s conditional stand on this legislation is driven by his not wanting a divisive debate in the run up to the election. He has been seared enough by the Voice issue. </p>
<p>On religious discrimination, he is wedged between LGBTQ+ advocates and various faith groups. The situation is further complicated by the Greens saying they would be willing to work with the government on the legislation. If the attempt to get bipartisanship – Labor-Coalition agreement – falls apart, both sides can blame each other. Most voters will have their minds on more urgent concerns. </p>
<p>The final days of the autumn parliamentary sitting have run off course for the government, with the delay of the immigration legislation. The uncertainty hanging over the religious freedom legislation is unhelpful. Despite Albanese’s efforts, the seas are still choppy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, managerial prime minister trying to reinforce the anchors of the ship of state ahead of the May budget.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2263092024-03-21T09:16:15Z2024-03-21T09:16:15ZA major report recommends more protections for LGBTQ+ students and teachers in religious schools. But this needs parliament’s support to become law<p>The federal government has just released a <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ALRC-ADL-Final-Report-142.pdf">major report</a> about anti-discrimination laws and religious schools in Australia. </p>
<p>It was done by the Australian Law Reform Commission, which finished its work late last year. </p>
<p>It has been <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/no-action-on-lgbtiq-rights-would-be-broken-promise/103613650">keenly anticipated</a> by the LGBTQ+ community who want to ensure students cannot be expelled from religious schools, and to ensure LGBTQ+ teachers do not lose their jobs. </p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/religious-schools-raise-alarm-on-hiring-rules/news-story/586dbbb77330d52bc3b97c5673621a69">religious schools</a> have also been campaigning to maintain their right to hire staff who share their religious beliefs. </p>
<h2>Why do we have this report?</h2>
<p>This work forms part of a broader, <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-the-morrison-government-change-the-relationship-between-religion-and-politics-in-australia-190650">highly contentious</a> debate about religious discrimination and expression in Australia. This has been going since marriage equality laws were passed in 2017. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/anti-discrimination-laws/">Australian Law Reform Commission’s</a> job is to provide the federal attorney-general with advice about how to bring the law into line with current social conditions and community needs. It is made up of independent legal experts. </p>
<p>The commission first started looking into the rights of religious schools <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/review-into-the-framework-of-religious-exemptions-in-anti-discrimination-legislation/">in 2019</a> at the behest of the Morrison government. </p>
<p>But its <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/anti-discrimination-laws/">focus changed in 2022</a>, when the Albanese government asked it to look at what changes were needed to better protect students and staff from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship status or pregnancy.</p>
<p>This debate has been complicated by a <a href="http://researchoutputs.unisa.edu.au/11541.2/141590?_gl=1*3h6hza*_gcl_au*MTg0NjE1MDk3My4xNzA5NTk3NDA5">mix of relevant state and territory laws</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-religious-discrimination-laws-back-in-the-news-and-where-did-they-come-from-in-the-first-place-226220">lack of a special law</a> protecting against discrimination on religious grounds at the federal level.</p>
<h2>What does the report say?</h2>
<p>The report notes many religious schools in Australia already have inclusive enrolment and employment policies and <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/What-We-Heard-ADL2.pdf">do not want</a> to discriminate against students or teachers on any grounds. The commission also highlights the importance of religious faith in the Australian community and says families should be able to continue to choose schools for their children that align with their values and beliefs.</p>
<p>But the commission also notes the laws need changing to make sure religious schools are not given a blanket exemption from the rules designed to protect people against sex discrimination. It follows <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-26/religious-discrimination-bill-lgbtq-students-teachers-religion/100651222">a raft</a> of other inquiries <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Religiousdiscrimination/Report">documenting accounts</a> of students being expelled from faith-based schools “because they were transgender” or teachers being fired because of their sexual orientation. </p>
<p>The commission found when students or staff are subject to discrimination on the basis of these attributes, it can </p>
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<p>result in tangible harm (such as loss of employment, and economic or social disadvantage) as well as intangible harm (such as undermining a person’s sense of self‑worth, equality, belonging, inclusion, and respect). </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-religious-discrimination-laws-back-in-the-news-and-where-did-they-come-from-in-the-first-place-226220">Why are religious discrimination laws back in the news? And where did they come from in the first place?</a>
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<h2>What does it recommend?</h2>
<p>For these reasons, the commission recommends amending laws so religious schools are subject to the same rules as all other education service providers (including public schools).</p>
<p>This means religious schools can’t deny enrolment to trans students, and can’t expel a kid for having gay parents. It also wants laws clarified so religious schools can’t fire or refuse to hire teachers on the basis of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or pregnancy. </p>
<p>However, at the same time, the commission recommends religious schools should still be able to “<a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ALRC-ADL-Final-Report-142.pdf">build a community of faith</a>”, for example by giving preference when hiring to teachers who share the school’s religion, provided they don’t breach other workplace laws. </p>
<h2>What does this mean for students, teachers and schools?</h2>
<p>If the recommendations become law, not much would change for most schools. For schools in some places, <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/consol_act/eoa2010250/s83a.html">such as Victoria</a>, this change would simply align state and federal laws. </p>
<p>Religious schools will still be able to <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-schools-can-build-a-community-of-faith-without-discriminating-the-law-should-reflect-that-200532">maintain their religious character</a> by selecting staff who share their faith. And while the <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ALRC-ADL-Final-Report-142.pdf">recommended changes</a> would remove religious schools’ ability to discriminate directly on certain grounds, such as when hiring staff, a “reasonableness test” would still apply to working out whether other directions or conditions relating to employment are unlawful. </p>
<p>For example, this means a school principal could still ask a teacher to comply with a specific requirement, such as a dress code, if it is reasonable in the circumstances.</p>
<p>This means if the recommendations do become law, religious school administrators would need to check their employment and enrolment policies to review any conditions on staff recruitment (<a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ALRC-ADL-Final-Report-142.pdf">including interns and volunteers</a>. They would also need to check any rules or policies relating to students that could result in a disadvantage for people on the basis of their sexual orientation, orientation, gender identity, relationship status or pregnancy.</p>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>Although the Australian Law Reform Commission is made of up some of the sharpest legal minds in Australia, it cannot change the law itself. Only federal parliament can do that by passing legislation to implement its recommendations. </p>
<p>At the moment this does not look likely. Earlier this week, <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-anthony-albaneses-religious-discrimination-legislation-is-in-peter-duttons-hands-226119">Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said</a> any changes would need bipartisan support before he takes them to parliament. </p>
<p>Coalition members did not make supportive noises. On Tuesday, Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash <a href="https://thewest.com.au/opinion/michaelia-cash-religious-schools-can-be-sued-for-acting-in-good-faith-in-albo-governments-proposed-reforms-c-13994020">asked</a>: “how will religious schools be able to maintain their values?” </p>
<p>This suggests the debate around religious discrimination and schools in Australia will continue. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-anthony-albaneses-religious-discrimination-legislation-is-in-peter-duttons-hands-226119">Future of Anthony Albanese's religious discrimination legislation is in Peter Dutton's hands</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226309/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Moulds has previously received research funding from the Law Foundation of South Australia and the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. She is the volunteer Director of the Rights Resource Network SA and a member of the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group. </span></em></p>The federal government has just released a long-awaited report about anti-discrimination laws and religious schools in Australia.Sarah Moulds, Senior Lecturer of Law, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262202024-03-20T04:01:17Z2024-03-20T04:01:17ZWhy are religious discrimination laws back in the news? And where did they come from in the first place?<p>On March 21, the federal government will release the Australian Law Reform Commission’s report on ensuring religious schools cannot discriminate against LGBTQIA+ students and staff.</p>
<p>But the political debate is already well under way – and has been going on since 2017. So how did we get here?</p>
<h2>The current debate started with marriage equality</h2>
<p>When same-sex marriage was legalised in late 2017 following a successful postal survey on the issue, conservative religious groups were promised a <a href="https://theconversation.com/morrison-wants-religious-discrimination-act-passed-before-election-108755">“religious freedom” review</a> as a consolation prize. </p>
<p>That <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/domestic-policy/taskforces-past-domestic-policy-initiatives/religious-freedom-review">review</a>, led by former Liberal minister Philip Ruddock, found Australia does not have a religious freedom problem. However, it did recommend new legislative protections against religious discrimination. In <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/government-response-religious-freedom-review">response</a>, in December 2018, the Morrison government promised a Religious Discrimination Act.</p>
<p>What the Morrison government ended up proposing – in multiple versions over several years – was laws that would both prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of religion (which was not particularly controversial) and allow discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people and others by taking away existing anti-discrimination protections (which was very controversial). These draft laws never passed.</p>
<p>Before the 2022 federal election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised to change federal law to ban discrimination against LGTBQIA+ students and staff by religious schools, and to protect people against discrimination on the basis of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-anthony-albaneses-religious-discrimination-legislation-is-in-peter-duttons-hands-226119">Future of Anthony Albanese's religious discrimination legislation is in Peter Dutton's hands</a>
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<h2>There are actually two distinct issues at play</h2>
<p>The debate we’ve been having over the past few years is actually a debate about two issues.</p>
<p>The first issue is about religious discrimination. This means ensuring people are not discriminated against on the basis of their religious beliefs, or lack of religious beliefs. </p>
<p>All states and territories (other than New South Wales and South Australia) already have laws banning this kind of religious discrimination. But there is no federal law banning religious discrimination – apart from a <a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/s116.html">constitutional provision</a> banning religious discrimination in federal government jobs.</p>
<p>It’s standard practice for there to be complementary federal and state anti-discrimination laws on the same topic. For example, if a person is discriminated against on the basis of their race, that person can choose to take action under either federal or state law.</p>
<p>One proposal is for there to be a federal Religious Discrimination Act.</p>
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<p>The second issue is religious exemptions, which involves allowing discrimination on the basis of sexuality, gender identity, marital status and so on where the discrimination has a religious motivation. For example, the Sex Discrimination Act currently prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, sexuality, gender identity and marital status, but also includes an exemption that allows religious schools to discriminate against students and teachers. </p>
<p>So, if a non-religious private school expels a student for being gay that would contravene the Sex Discrimination Act. But if a religious school did the same thing for religious reasons, that would not contravene the Sex Discrimination Act.</p>
<p>Some states and territories already ban religious schools from discriminating against students and teachers for these kinds of reasons. So if a religious school in Victoria expels a student for being gay, that would not breach federal law as it stands but it would breach Victorian law. The practical result is that the school can’t expel the student for being gay.</p>
<p>A second proposal is to modify the religious exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-does-not-need-a-religious-discrimination-act-99666">Why Australia does not need a Religious Discrimination Act</a>
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<h2>The Morrison government’s first draft of the legislation</h2>
<p>The Morrison government held a consultation during 2019 on a <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/consultations/religious-discrimination-bills-first-exposure-drafts">first draft</a> of its promised legislation. This draft legislation included standard anti-discrimination provisions to prohibit discrimination against people on the basis of their religious beliefs or lack of religious beliefs. It also included highly controversial additional provisions.</p>
<p>The controversial provisions included:</p>
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<li><p>a provision about “statements of belief” – motivated by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-does-rugby-australia-have-legal-grounds-to-sack-israel-folau-for-anti-gay-social-media-posts-116170">Israel Folau controversy</a> – which would have overridden all other federal and state anti-discrimination laws to allow derogatory statements to be made by doctors, schools and employers against women, people with disabilities and LGTBQIA+ people.</p></li>
<li><p>a provision allowing healthcare practitioners to refuse to provide care to people, such as allowing a pharmacist to refuse to fill prescriptions for a divorced woman or a nurse to refuse to dress a gay man’s wound.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In effect, these provisions would have created a “sword” allowing harm to be inflicted on people by taking away existing anti-discrimination protections. Anti-discrimination laws are meant to be a “shield” protecting people from harm. This is why the issue has been so controversial.</p>
<h2>The Morrison government’s second draft</h2>
<p>The controversy over the first draft led to consultations in 2020 on a <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/consultations/religious-discrimination-bills-second-exposure-drafts">second draft</a>.</p>
<p>The second draft was very similar to the first. It too included the override provisions on “statements of belief” and refusal to provide health care. </p>
<p>However, it reduced the number of healthcare professions entitled to refuse to treat patients. It also included some <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/summary-of-amendments-to-the-bills-since-the-first-exposure-draft.pdf">additional measures</a> about:</p>
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<li><p>allowing religious hospitals to “preference” people of the same religion as the body in hiring decisions. For example, a Catholic hospital could give priority to Catholics in hiring new staff</p></li>
<li><p>allowing religious camps and conference centres to take faith into account when hiring out their campsites.</p></li>
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<h2>The bill fails</h2>
<p>The Morrison government <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6821">introduced legislation</a> based on the second draft into parliament in 2021. </p>
<p>During debate, several Liberal backbenchers <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2022/March/Floor_crossings_in_the_House_of_Representatives_on_10_February_2022">crossed the floor</a> to vote in favour of amendments the government did not want. One of those amendments – to remove the ability of religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ students – succeeded, with five Liberal MPs crossing the floor. </p>
<p>The amended bill passed the House of Representatives with the support of both major parties. However, it did not come to a final vote in the Senate because people on all sides of the debate were unhappy with the bill and it was causing internal tensions in the Liberal Party. The bill lapsed.</p>
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<h2>So why is it back in the news?</h2>
<p>After the Labor Party won the 2022 federal election, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus <a href="https://ministers.ag.gov.au/media-centre/australian-law-reform-commission-review-religious-exemptions-educational-institutions-04-11-2022">asked</a> the Australian Law Reform Commission to advise on what amendments to federal law would be necessary to deliver the Labor Party’s election promise. Labor’s promised legislation would:</p>
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<li><p>ensure religious schools cannot discriminate against LGBTQIA+ students or staff under federal law.</p></li>
<li><p>ensure religious schools can give preference to people of the same faith as the school when hiring staff under federal law.</p></li>
<li><p>ensure the legislation will be drafted in a manner that does not remove existing legal protections against other forms of discrimination.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The commission delivered its report to the attorney-general in December 2023. </p>
<p>In anticipation of the report being released on March 21, senior politicians on both sides of politics, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, have <a href="https://theconversation.com/future-of-anthony-albaneses-religious-discrimination-legislation-is-in-peter-duttons-hands-226119">already started</a> the politicking. The debate may not be over yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226220/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Beck is board member of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc and a member of Australia Labor Party. The views in this article are his own.</span></em></p>Religious discrimination laws have been highly controversial in Australia in recent years. Here’s where they started, and where we are now.Luke Beck, Professor of Constitutional Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2110422023-08-10T04:20:47Z2023-08-10T04:20:47ZWhy a Queensland court overturned a ban on religious knives in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542058/original/file-20230810-19-8vexkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4484%2C2980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Sikh man wearing a small 'kirpan' blade, one of the five articles of faith Sikhs must carry.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/QCA/2023/156">Supreme Court of Queensland</a> last week overturned a law banning children from bringing “knives” to school for religious reasons. This will allow Sikh students, parents, and teachers to carry a ceremonial dagger known as a “kirpan” at schools in Queensland. </p>
<p>Initiated Sikhs must carry a kirpan as one of five articles of faith. Those preparing for initiation, including school aged children, may also carry the five markers of faith. Many kirpans are blunt and worn stitched inside a sheath under a person’s cloths.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time the issue of kirpans in schools has been raised. In 2021 the New South Wales government <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-religious-symbol-not-a-knife-at-the-heart-of-the-nsw-kirpan-ban-is-a-battle-to-define-secularism-161413">temporarily banned</a> students from wearing kirpans at school following an incident where a 14-year-old boy used one to stab another student. The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-13/religious-knives-to-be-allowed-in-nsw-schools-again/100374484">ban was eventually lifted</a> after consultation with the Sikh community, leading to new guidelines. </p>
<p>In 2006 the <a href="https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/15/index.do">Canadian Supreme Court</a> found a ban on wearing kirpans in school was a breach of freedom of religion under the Canadian Charter of Rights.</p>
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<p>What made the Queensland law particularly egregious is that not only did it prohibit the freedom of religion of a small and vulnerable minority, it did so deliberately. The only religious or ethnic group in Australia that habitually wears a religious or cultural symbol that resembles a knife are Sikhs. The law was therefore directly targeted at Sikhs.</p>
<p>The Queensland case highlights the needs for Australia’s secular legal system to recognise the adverse impact of law on religious and cultural minorities. </p>
<h2>What did the court say?</h2>
<p>All states and territories have laws prohibiting people from carrying and using knives in public places and schools. However, knives can be used for a range of legitimate activities such as cutting food or whittling wood. Children can carry knives as part of a scout’s uniform, for example. As a result, all states and territories have exemptions that allow people, including children, to carry and use knives where it’s “reasonably necessary”.</p>
<p>In New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory there are also specific exemptions that allow Sikhs to wear a kirpan for religious purposes. In Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Sikhs rely on the general exemption when wearing a kirpan in public places or at schools. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-religion-is-australias-second-largest-religious-group-and-its-having-a-profound-effect-on-our-laws-185697">'No religion' is Australia's second-largest religious group – and it's having a profound effect on our laws</a>
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<p>But Queensland’s laws are a little different. Section 51(1) of Queensland’s <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1990-071">Weapons Act 1990</a> prohibited carrying knives in a public place or school without a reasonable excuse. As in other states and territories, the act also provides a range of reasons, including religion, for carrying a knife in a public place.</p>
<p>However, section 51(5) specifically states that religion is not a reasonable excuse for carrying a knife at a <em>school</em>.</p>
<p>To be clear, children could still bring a knife to school in Queensland for a range of other reasons, such as to cut up food or as part of their studies. However, Sikh children were specifically banned from carrying a knife for religious reasons.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court found the ban on bringing a knife to school specifically for religious reasons was inconsistent with the Racial Discrimination Act. </p>
<p>As per <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution/chapter5#chapter-05_109">Australia’s constitution</a>, state laws that are inconsistent with Commonwealth laws are void to the extent of the inconsistency. So, the court found that section 51(5) of the Queensland’s Weapons Act 1990 was void. </p>
<h2>A religion or ethnicity?</h2>
<p>Sikhism originated in the Punjab region in South Asia in the 15th Century. There are around 25-30 million Sikhs worldwide, with about five million living outside the Punjab region.</p>
<p>At the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-census/2021#data-downloads">2021 census</a> there were 210,400 Sikhs in Australia, roughly 0.8% of the population. </p>
<p>While Sikhism is commonly thought of as a religion, the <a href="http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1982/7.html">courts</a> have recognised Sikhs have a common ethnic origin. As one of the judges explained in the case:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nearly all Sikhs originate from the Punjab region. Nearly all Sikhs continue to have a link with family in Punjab, practice elements of Punjabi culture and speak the Punjabi language.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As a result, Sikhs are considered to be an ethno-religious group for the purposes of the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act. </p>
<h2>A knife or a religious symbol?</h2>
<p>The kirpan is one of the five articles of faith worn by initiated Sikhs and those preparing for initiation. The other four are: a kachera (a special undergarment), kanga (a wooden comb), kara (an iron band) and keshas (unshorn hair). If one of the five items is removed, they’re required to undergo a lengthy absolution (or forgiveness) process. </p>
<p>The Queensland Supreme Court found the kirpan was a knife for the purposes of the Weapons Act 1990. It found that a knife remains a knife no matter how blunt or sharp it is, how it’s worn or how easy it is to access.</p>
<p>To Sikhs, a kirpan is fundamentally <a href="https://www.worldsikh.org/what_is_the_kirpan">a religious symbol</a>. It’s a symbol of dignity and of their obligation to stand up for others. Referring to the kirpan as a knife downplays its important religious significance. But in a secular legal system, defining it in any other way would be unworkable. </p>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-03/qld-sikhs-allowed-to-carry-ceremonial-kirpan-at-school/102679354">Queensland education department</a> is carefully considering the Supreme Court’s decision.</p>
<p>The court did leave the door open for a complete ban on knives in schools, although this would impact other legitimate uses of knives such as preparing food.</p>
<p>Kirpans are currently worn in schools by students, parents and teachers in other states of Australia, often with strict guidelines. The Queensland education system will likely need to develop similar guidelines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renae Barker is provides advise to the Anglican Diocese of Bunbury and Anglican Diocese of Perth </span></em></p>Not only did the Queensland law prohibit the freedom of religion of a small vulnerable minority, it did so deliberately.Renae Barker, Senior Lecturer, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1906232022-09-20T12:40:06Z2022-09-20T12:40:06ZWhy Pope Francis chose to highlight religious freedom during his visit to Kazakhstan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485142/original/file-20220916-21-lnaulc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C8106%2C5314&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pope Francis on his three-day trip to Kazakhstan in September 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KazakhstanPope/e1a68ef5904943aa991b720d08f27266/photo?Query=Kazakhstan%20Pope&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=548&currentItemNo=62">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pope Francis spent three days in Kazakhstan, starting Sept. 13, 2022, to attend the Seventh <a href="https://religions-congress.org/en/news/infografika/136">Congress of World and Traditional Religions</a>. The pope met with religious leaders, called for increased religious freedom and <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220914-kazakhstan-congresso.html">condemned religious justifications for war and violence</a>. </p>
<p>The pope’s appeal for peace in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan was especially significant in light of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-pope-francis-china-kazakhstan-a73b592396e8220479588f562bdda031">Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine</a>, which he called “senseless.” </p>
<p>Most Christians in Kazakhstan <a href="https://ucs.nd.edu/learn/kazakhstan/">belong to the Russian Orthodox Church</a>, whose leader, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2022/03/08/moscow-patriarch-stokes-orthodox-tensions-with-war-remarks/">Patriarch Kirill, has justified the Russian invasion as a moral crusade</a>. Francis had hoped to meet with Kirill, who chose <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-patriarch-no-meeting-pope/32019662.html">not to attend the congress</a>. In Kirill’s absence, Francis addressed his remarks to the Russian Orthodox delegation.</p>
<p>As a scholar who has spent over <a href="https://asu.academia.edu/EugeneClay">30 years studying Christianity</a> in the former Soviet Union, I’ve followed the pope’s visit with keen interest. He has chosen to highlight the causes of peace and religious freedom – matters of particular concern to Kazakhstan’s Catholic minority.</p>
<h2>Christianity in Kazakhstan</h2>
<p>Although Kazakhstan is predominantly Muslim, over 4 million Kazakhstanis profess Christianity. This represents <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">over a quarter of the country’s total population of 19 million</a>. Over 80% of Kazakhstan’s Christians are ethnic Russians.</p>
<p>Christian missionaries brought their gospel to Central Asia as early as the third century after Christ. By the seventh century, Christians had established important centers along the Silk Road, the trading routes from China to Constantinople.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Church-of-the-East">Assyrian Church of the East</a>, a branch of Christianity that developed in the <a href="https://www.worldhistory.org/Sasanian_Empire/">Persian Empire</a>, had a significant presence on the territory of Kazakhstan <a href="https://astanatimes.com/2016/09/evidence-of-ancient-assyrian-church-discovered-in-kazakhstan/">well into the 12th century</a>.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40379005">Muslim conquest of Central Asia</a> in the seventh and eighth centuries, Christianity slowly lost influence and began a long decline. In the 14th century, Franciscan missionaries from Italy <a href="https://catholic-kazakhstan.org/hronika/">briefly created a diocese</a> in today’s southeastern Kazakhstan.</p>
<h2>The Russian conquest</h2>
<p>In the 17th century, Russia began its expansion into Siberia and the northern Kazakh steppes. Cossack soldiers, who belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church, <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/news/show/7165/">established military outposts</a>, where they also practiced their faith. In addition, the “<a href="https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-russian-old-believers-cling-to-faith-amid-uncertain-future">Old Believers</a>” – religious dissenters who broke with the official Orthodox church over ritual questions – fled to Siberia and northern Kazakhstan to escape persecution. Old Believers continue to maintain their communities in eastern Kazakhstan’s Altay Mountains.</p>
<p>The Russian conquest of Central Asia in 1860s and 1870s further increased the numbers of Christian settlers in the region. In 1871, the Russian Orthodox Church <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/e-resources/show/13460/">established the Diocese of Turkestan</a>, which included much of today’s Kazakhstan. The diocesan center was the town of Vernyi, which is now called Almaty and is Kazakhstan’s largest city. </p>
<p>The Russian Orthodox Church also tried, with limited success, to convert the nomadic Kazakhs, who practiced Islam. In 1881, it created a special missionary society <a href="https://www.pravenc.ru/text/1840155.html">to preach the gospel to the Kazakhs</a>. The mission translated the Bible and some liturgical texts into Kazakh. Despite these efforts, most Kazakhs remained Muslim.</p>
<p>Seeking new farmland, German Mennonites and Russian evangelical Christians settled in Kazakhstan in the <a href="http://baptist.kz/history-union/">late 19th and early 20th centuries</a>. These colonists established a Protestant presence in this increasingly diverse territory.</p>
<h2>Religion in Soviet Kazakhstan</h2>
<p>The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, which overthrew the imperial government, ushered in a period of severe <a href="https://e-history.kz/en/news/show/7164/">anti-religious persecution</a>. Most churches and mosques were closed by 1939. The Soviet authorities also forced the <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Silent_Steppe/R0xpAAAAMAAJ?hl=en">Kazakh nomads to settle in collective farms</a>, destroying their traditional way of life.</p>
<p>Kazakhstan became the site of a chain of collective labor camps housing political prisoners. In campaigns of ethnic cleansing, the Soviet government <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/235168">deported thousands</a> of Poles and Germans to Kazakhstan in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of Kazakhstan’s small community of Catholics, which numbers about 125,000, descends from these deportees.</p>
<h2>Religious persecution today</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hundreds of people seated in rows in an open ground in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485144/original/file-20220916-25-k6sdsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People attend a Mass presided over by Pope Francis at the Expo Grounds in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, on Sept. 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/KazakhstanPope/a9d493adf65e436a871f48d746717e27/photo?Query=pope%20Kazakhstan&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=322&currentItemNo=118">AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>With the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan/Independent-Kazakhstan">Kazakhstan became an independent country</a>. According to the <a href="https://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/kazakhstan-census-2009">latest census, conducted in 2009</a>, about 70% of the population professes Islam. Christianity, at 26%, is the second-largest religion.</p>
<p>Pope Francis specifically called for Kazakhstan to increase religious liberty, which he described as a <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2022/september/documents/20220914-kazakhstan-congresso.html">“basic, primary and inalienable right</a>.” The <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2753">human rights organization Forum 18</a> reported that in the calendar year 2021, Kazakhstani authorities convicted at least 114 people and five organizations for exercising their religious faith without state permission. Such convictions usually result in heavy fines. For example, <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2753">police raided the worship service of an unregistered Baptist congregation</a> in the town of Oral in January 2021. Church leaders each had to pay one month’s average wage for the violation. </p>
<p>Despite their significant numbers, Christians – especially those in smaller denominations – have experienced persecution. In <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2011-10-17/kazakhstan-new-law-on-religion-enacted">2011, Kazakhstan adopted a law on religion</a> that instituted a laborious process of registration for religious organizations. According to the U.S. Office of International Religious Freedom, Kazakhstani authorities <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">arrest and imprison people for their religious beliefs</a>. For example, in 2019 <a href="https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2521">three pastors of Almaty’s New Life Pentecostal Church </a> were each sentenced to prison terms ranging from four to five years for their religious activities. </p>
<p>For their part, Kazakhstan’s leaders have been more concerned about ensuring the security and stability of the state than advancing individual religious liberty. They have preferred to favor what they consider to be <a href="https://eurasianet.org/examining-kazakhstans-religious-contradiction">traditional world religions</a> such as <a href="https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/kazakhstan/">Hanafi Sunni Islam, the Russian Orthodox Church, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Judaism</a>. To this end, in 2003 the president of Kazakhstan created the <a href="https://religions-congress.org/en/news/uchastniki-I">Congress of World and Traditional Religions</a>.</p>
<p>Pope Francis chose this venue to voice his concerns about the controversial topics of peace and of religious freedom. Time will tell whether or not his appeals have any success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>J. Eugene Clay receives funding from Social Science Research Council, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>Christianity is the second-largest religion in Kazakhstan, with 26% of the population practicing the faith. But many Christians, especially in the smaller denominations, have experienced persecution.J. Eugene Clay, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868532022-08-02T14:05:40Z2022-08-02T14:05:40ZChristians in Nigeria feel under attack: why it’s a complicated story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476578/original/file-20220728-20412-8gvl0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Christians hold signs as they march on the streets of Abuja calling for peace and security in Nigeria.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Kola Sulaimon/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nigeria has a <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2014-03-10/roots-nigerias-religious-and-ethnic-conflict">long history</a> of religious tensions against which the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61719973">current spate</a> of violence against Christians must be seen. </p>
<p>There are a number of factors that have heightened religious tensions in Nigeria. </p>
<p>The first is the competition for space between the two main religions of Islam and Christianity. Secondly, there is the perception that Nigerian leaders use the state to promote their religion or faith at the expense of others. Thirdly, there’s a culture of insensitivity to the feelings of minorities. </p>
<p>The root of Islam in northern Nigeria can be traced to the <a href="https://www.ascleiden.nl/content/webdossiers/islam-nigeria">11th century</a>, when it first appeared in Borno. The northern region of Nigeria has a majority Muslim population. Southern Nigeria has a majority Christian population. Christian missionary work in southern Nigeria effectively began in Yorubaland <a href="https://www.ajol.info/index.php/ujah/article/download/101237/91927">around 1842</a>.</p>
<p>Christianity also provided a platform for the establishment of western education in western Nigeria. This failed in several areas in northern Nigeria, where western education was equated with Christianity. </p>
<p>Both religions significantly affected the culture, education, politics and many other facets of people’s social lives. Since religion tends to be a central part of people’s identity, any perceived threat to one’s religious beliefs is seen as a threat to one’s whole being.</p>
<p>Given this history and context, it is no surprise that the latest incidents have been read as a campaign against Christians.</p>
<h2>Recent attacks on Christians</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.persecution.org/2022/05/14/nigeria-worlds-scariest-country-christian/">International Christian Concern</a>, in a report on 15 May 2022, described Nigeria as the world’s scariest country in which to be a Christian. </p>
<p>The report argued that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year long genocide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Attacks appear to be escalating. In early June <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/536016-40-dead-over-80-injured-in-owo-attack-ondo-govt.html">40 worshippers</a> were killed in a church attack in Owo, Ondo state, south-west Nigeria. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61719973">BBC reported</a> that by the middle of this year there had already been 23 attacks on church premises and people linked to them. This was compared with 31 attacks in 2021 and 18 in 2020.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2022/07/02/owo-terror-attack-us-senators-decry-killings-persecution-of-christians-in-nigeria/">US senators</a> recently wrote to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, faulting the decision of the American government to remove Nigeria’s designation as a <a href="https://www.state.gov/countries-of-particular-concern-special-watch-list-countries-entities-of-particular-concern/">Country of Particular Concern</a>. This designation refers to countries whose governments have “engaged in or tolerated ‘particularly severe violations of religious freedom’.”</p>
<p>The American senators saw the Owo attack as another evidence of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. They said more than 4,650 Nigerian Christians had been killed for their faith in 2021. </p>
<h2>Non-Christians also allege persecution</h2>
<p>Non-Christian groups have their own stories of mistreatment. </p>
<p>The Muslim Rights Concern, an Islamic rights group, <a href="https://dailypost.ng/2021/05/26/hijab-yoruba-muslimsll-face-persecution-on-creation-of-oduduwa-republic-islamic-group/">has alleged</a> that Muslims in Yorubaland, southwestern Nigeria, face persecution.</p>
<p>Practitioners of traditional African religion equally complain of being persecuted. In particular they complain that institutional practices show preference to Christianity and Islam. </p>
<p>Atheists similarly <a href="https://www.uscirf.gov/religious-prisoners-conscience/mubarak-bala">complain of persecution</a>.</p>
<p>There are also cases of interdenominational discrimination within the Christian and Islamic faith adherents. </p>
<p>For instance, members of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-49175639">Islamic Movement in Nigeria</a> routinely <a href="https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2020/10/19/persecution-of-the-shia-islamic-movement-of-nigeria/">complain</a> of persecution and police brutality from members of the dominant Sunni Muslims. </p>
<h2>Why persecution claims are complicated</h2>
<p>Several factors explain why the alleged persecution of Christians seems to dominate headlines more than complaints from other religious groups.</p>
<p>The first is competition between Christianity and Islam. Both religions are constantly competing for space and control. Each suspects the other of wanting to encroach on its space and poach its members. </p>
<p>In recent years, Muslims have proudly announced that Islam is the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/">fastest rising</a> religion in the world. This has stoked fears in the Christian community. </p>
<p>Similarly, many <a href="https://www.cesnur.org/2005/pa_hady.htm">Muslims fear</a> that globalisation and western culture undermine Islam and therefore view them with suspicion, if not antagonism. </p>
<p>The second factor is open violence. Tension between Muslims and Christians has sometimes blown up into deadly violence. One example is the <a href="https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/maitatsine-riots">Maitatsine riots</a> in Kano in 1980 in which at least 4,179 people lost their lives. There was also the killing of more than <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2007/04/03/chronology">1,000 people</a> in Zamfara State in January 2000 following news of the <a href="https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/content/sharia-implementation-northern-nigeria-after-15-years">introduction of sharia</a> in the state. </p>
<p>Third is the fact that the Nigerian state seems to recognise only Islam and Christianity. This is despite a constitutional provision guaranteeing freedom of religion. </p>
<p>Fourth is the issue of cultural insensitivity towards minority groups.</p>
<p>Across the country, there is a pervasive culture of insensitivity to minority groups’ concerns in virtually all spheres of life, including politics and religion. This gives the impression of the <a href="https://www.pointblanknews.com/Articles/artopn3239.html">glorification of majority tyranny</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, President Muhammadu Buhari’s government has been <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/284189-again-can-accuses-buhari-of-lopsided-appointments.html">accused</a> of favouring Muslims in critical political appointments even though the populations of Muslims and Christians are about evenly balanced. </p>
<p>This has heightened the sense of exclusion and suspicion among Christians. </p>
<p>There’s a danger that tensions could escalate in the run-up to next year’s elections in the country. </p>
<p>Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim from the southwestern part of the country and the presidential candidate of the ruling <a href="https://apc.com.ng/">All Progressives Congress</a>, has chosen Kashim Shettima, a fellow Muslim from Borno State in the northeast, as his running mate in the 2023 election. </p>
<p>This is a choice that could make religion an election issue and lend weight to the allegation that the All Progressives Congress harbours an <a href="https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/huriwa-accuses-buhari-apc-of-agenda-to-islamize-nigeria-with-muslim-muslim-ticket/">Islamisation agenda</a> for the country.</p>
<p>Lastly, tensions between religious groups are fuelled by attacks by Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Boko-Haram">Boko Haram</a> and the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/west-africa/nigeria/273-facing-challenge-islamic-state-west-africa-province">Islamic State West Africa Province</a> attack both Christians and Muslims as well as government assets. But when Christians are victims, it tends to remind them of the groups’ avowed goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate. </p>
<p>The attacks appear to be aimed at legitimising the religious basis of the groups’ terrorism among their members. </p>
<p>It is sometimes difficult to isolate a religious motive behind the attacks. But it’s clear that attacking churches and the killing or kidnapping of top clergy guarantee the terrorists the news headlines they desire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jideofor Adibe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent incidents have been read as a campaign against Christians, but other religious groups feel they are targets too.Jideofor Adibe, Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Nasarawa State University, KeffiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1871372022-07-18T17:42:25Z2022-07-18T17:42:25ZBehind the crisis in Sri Lanka – how political and economic mismanagement combined to plunge nation into turmoil<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474442/original/file-20220717-26-6pn18l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C107%2C5489%2C3549&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The sun sets on Sri Lanka's protest movement (for now).</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protestors-gather-at-presidential-secretariat-in-colombo-on-news-photo/1241898185?adppopup=true">Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/asia/sri-lanka-gotabaya-rajapksa-thursday-intl-hnk/index.html">formally resigned</a> on July 15, 2022, having earlier fled the country amid widespread protests in the Southern Asian nation.</em></p>
<p><em>The man who replaced him, Prime Minister and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62176758">now interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe</a>, is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/76f232c0-cac2-48be-819a-d81b883fa1ca">likewise facing calls to go</a> amid political and economic turmoil.</em></p>
<p><em>Although the drama escalated over a matter of days – during which the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/sri-lankan-protesters-cook-swim-sleep-in-idUSRTS9KFY5">presidential palace</a> and the <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/sri-lanka-president-flees-as-thousands-of-protesters-storm-official-residence-12648619">prime minister’s residence were both occupied</a> by demonstrators – the crisis is years in the making, argues Neil DeVotta, <a href="https://politics.wfu.edu/faculty-and-staff/neil-devotta/">professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>The Conversation U.S. asked DeVotta, who grew up in Sri Lanka and specializes in South Asian politics, to explain what brought about the crisis and where the nation of 22 million goes from here.</em></p>
<h2>Can you talk us through the latest events?</h2>
<p>What happened in Sri Lanka was really quite revolutionary. For the first time in the country’s history, you had a president resign – and in the most humiliating manner.</p>
<p>Gotabaya Rajapaksa had earlier announced his intention to step down but did not do so immediately, because once he did that he would lose <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-62132271">his presidential immunity</a> from prosecution. Instead he fled the country, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-president-rajapaksa-set-fly-singapore-via-maldives-government-source-2022-07-13/">first going to the Maldives</a> and then to Singapore. Some claim he <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sri-lanka-rajapaksa-saudi-arabia-safe-haven-ousted-leaders">may now be looking to get to Saudi Arabia</a> – all of which is somewhat ironic given that Dubai, the Maldives and Saudi Arabia are Muslim states, and during his tenure in power Rajapaksa stood accused of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/11/21/sri-lankas-muslims-have-reason-to-fear-the-new-rajapaksa-era">encouraging Islamophobia to bolster his lock on power</a>.</p>
<p>The catalyst behind all this was a protest movement. Demonstrators have since left the president’s and the prime minister’s official residence, but the protest movement has only partly succeeded. They wanted <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/12/sri-lanka-crisis-no-to-all-party-govt-say-protest-leaders">Rajapaksa and his brothers</a> gone. But many <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/12/sri-lanka-crisis-no-to-all-party-govt-say-protest-leaders">also wanted the ouster of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man washes graffiti saying 'Go Home Gota' from a wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474620/original/file-20220718-22-m4yifv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A staff member washes graffiti left behind by protesters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/staff-member-washes-graffiti-left-behind-by-protestors-from-news-photo/1409431290?adppopup=true">Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Instead, Wickremesinghe, who was not elected to Parliament and got a seat only through a national list that tops up the legislature, has now been sworn in as interim president. So a man with no mandate – his party got only a <a href="https://anfrel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Sri-Lanka-Report-2020-FINAL-ol.pdf">small fraction of the 11.5 million</a> valid votes cast in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/06/world/asia/sri-lanka-elections-rajapaksa.html">2020 election</a> – is now acting president and may end up with the job full time once the <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-crisis-live-updates-july-15-2022/article65642747.ece">Sri Lankan Parliament holds a secret ballot</a> on July 20, 2022.</p>
<h2>What was the spark to the crisis?</h2>
<p>The spark was really set off in April 2021 when Rajapaksa announced a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/fertiliser-ban-decimates-sri-lankan-crops-government-popularity-ebbs-2022-03-03/">ban on fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides</a>.</p>
<p>Successive Sri Lankan governments have long been <a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-teeters-on-economic-edge-from-pandemic-fueled-financial-crisis-and-ukraine-war-spillovers-179741">living beyond their means</a> and employing a debt rollover strategy to keep the country afloat – in short, the country was relying on new loans, alongside revenue from tourism and international remittance, to pay down its debt.</p>
<p>But then came COVID-19, which <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3181671/can-sri-lanka-tourism-recover-triple-whammy-terrorism-covid-19">severely affected tourism</a> and contributed to what economists call a “<a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/nft/op/186/index.htm">balance of payments crisis</a>.” In other words, the country was unable to pay for essential imports or service its debt. This pushed the government to abruptly announce a ban on herbicides and fertilizers – something they <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/7/15/23218969/sri-lanka-organic-fertilizer-pesticide-agriculture-farming">hoped would save the country US$400 million dollars</a> on imports annually. The president had previously indicated that the move to organic agriculture would take place over 10 years. Instead, it was implemented abruptly despite warnings over the <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2022/06/14/in-sri-lanka-the-sabotage-of-an-organic-revolution_5986670_114.html#:%7E:text=It%20was%20April%2027%2C%202021,nation%20the%20first%20country%20in">impact it would have on agriculture yields</a>.</p>
<p>That led to <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/lanka-s-agri-minister-forced-to-flee-as-farmers-protest-his-visit-report-122061800859_1.html">farmers’ protesting</a>. They were soon joined by sympathetic unions. The balance of payments crisis went far beyond farming. It got to the point when the government couldn’t pay for almost anything it was hoping to import, leading to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-asia-south-5217195484ef4c8d858d86bbfb79d35c">shortages in medicines</a> and milk powder. And that led to people from other sectors also protesting.</p>
<p>On top of this, the government was <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/world/sri-lanka-is-printing-money-to-pay-salaries-but-this-could-cause-a-further-economic-implosion-article-91612814">printing money</a> to pay for goods. This inevitably led to inflation – which is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-05/sri-lanka-aims-to-stop-money-printing-as-inflation-nears-60">running above 50%</a>.</p>
<p>The tipping point came when people found that they could no longer pay for cooking gas and fuel. A few weeks ago, the government announced that it would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/27/asia/sri-lanka-fuel-non-essential-services-intl-hnk/index.html">provide fuel for essential services only</a>, shuttering schools and ordering workers to stay at home.</p>
<h2>So this was a purely economic crisis?</h2>
<p>Not quite. While the spark was a balance of payments crisis, I believe that underpinning the mess is a <a href="https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/cleansing-sri-lanka-of-ethnonationalism/">deep-rooted ethnonationalism</a> that has allowed and encouraged <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Sri-Lanka-crisis/Nepotism-bad-policy-push-Sri-Lanka-to-brink-of-economic-ruin">corruption, nepotism and short-termism</a>.</p>
<p>Since at least the 1950s, Sri Lanka has been in the grips of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/when-politics-are-sacralized/genesis-consolidation-and-consequences-of-sinhalese-buddhist-nationalism/D4627144C3A7090A32F13E1DC4288E63">Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism</a>. The Sinhalese make up around 75% of the population, with Tamils at around 15% and Muslims at 10%. </p>
<p>Sinhalese Sri Lankans have <a href="https://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/sinhalese-buddhist-nationalist-ideology-implications-politics-and-conflict-resolution-s">long been favored when it comes to access to universities and government positions</a>. This has been to the detriment of not only the country’s minorities but also its governance. It has <a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lankas-crisis-is-not-just-about-the-economy-but-a-long-history-of-discrimination-against-minority-groups-186747">led to a decay in how the state functions</a>. Sri Lanka has ended up with a system that disregards merit and is instead rooted in enthnocracy – rule by one dominant group. And that has <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/12/sri-lanka-crisis-politics-economics-rajapaksa-protest/">helped spread nepotism and corruption</a>.</p>
<p>The fact that the Rajapaksa brothers helped <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/17/the-terminator-how-gotabaya-rajapaksas-ruthless-streak-led-him-to-power-sri-lanka">brutally suppressed and defeated</a> a three-decade Tamil insurgency bolstered their credentials among Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists and consolidated their grip on power.</p>
<p>That <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/">civil war</a>, which ended in 2009, also contributed to the current crisis. Through the conflict, the Sri Lankan government ran national deficits to finance the counterinsurgency.</p>
<p>After the war, the Rajapaksas looked to develop the country by <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/china-s-infrastructure-projects-have-worsened-sri-lanka-s-economic-woes-992445.html">building up its infrastructure</a>. What the country instead got was “blingfrastructure” – vanity projects, often financed by China, that were <a href="https://srilankabrief.org/sri-lanka-massive-kickbacks-in-unsolicited-projects-with-china/">dogged by corruption and graft</a>. One such project is an airport that sees <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/05/28/the-story-behind-the-worlds-emptiest-international-airport-sri-lankas-mattala-rajapaksa/">very few planes land or take off</a>. I visited the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in 2015, and the only other people there were a coachload of students from a school on a field trip. Nothing has changed since then.</p>
<p>Other such wasteful projects include a conference center and cricket ground – called the <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/srilanka/content/ground/434210.html">Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium</a> – not far from the Mattala airport that hosts next to nothing. And then there is the Lotus Tower, the tallest communications tower in South Asia, which was supposed to contain other facilities and was ceremonially opened in 2019 but <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-tower/opening-of-sri-lankas-tallest-tower-marred-by-corruption-allegation-idUSKBN1W123I">remains out of operation</a>.</p>
<p>The construction of such projects has been <a href="https://srilankabrief.org/sri-lanka-massive-kickbacks-in-unsolicited-projects-with-china/">dogged by suggestions of corruption</a>. Such projects largely <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/12/13/784084567/in-sri-lanka-chinas-building-spree-is-raising-questions-about-sovereignty">involved Chinese construction firms</a>, often using Chinese laborers – <a href="https://www.sundaytimes.lk/091206/BusinessTimes/bt18.html">including the reported use of Chinese prisoners</a>, in the case of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/world/asia/china-sri-lanka-port.html">the Hambantota Port</a>, now leased to China for 99 years because Sri Lanka could not pay its debts. Sri Lankans themselves have benefited only little.</p>
<p>On paper it looked like the <a href="https://opecfund.org/news/accelerating-economic-growth-in-post-conflict-sri-lanka">country was developing and GDP was rising</a>. But the growth was from external money rather than goods and services generated in Sri Lanka.</p>
<p>Chinese loans with short terms and high interest played no small role in quickening Sri Lanka’s debt problem. As a result, the country currently owes <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/yellen-says-its-chinas-interest-restructure-sri-lankas-debt-2022-07-14/">between $5 billion and $10 billion to China</a>, and its overall debt stands at <a href="https://gulfnews.com/business/sri-lanka-defaults-on-entire-51-billion-external-debt-1.1649748538720">$51 billion dollars</a>.</p>
<h2>What happen next?</h2>
<p>The most important thing that Sri Lanka needs going forward is political stability. Without that, you will not get the help required from the international community.</p>
<p>And Sri Lanka is not going to get out of its economic mess without help from international actors, such as the <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/07/15/sri-lanka-imf-bailout-protest-gotabaya-rajapaksa-flee-singapore/">International Monetary Fund</a>, the <a href="https://www.adb.org/countries/sri-lanka/main">Asian Development Bank</a> and <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka">the World Bank</a>. It also needs help from partners like India, Japan, China and the U.S.</p>
<p>As it is, Wickremesinghe, the interim president, has said the country will <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/sri-lanka-admits-bankruptcy-crisis-to-drag-through-2023-wickremesinghe-122070600054_1.html">suffer shortages in goods until the end of 2023</a>.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka needs large-scale, long-term economic restructuring. And for that to happen, the government will have to restructure its bilateral debt – the IMF will not give Sri Lanka money simply so that it can pay off its debt to China or any other entity.</p>
<p>But China knows that <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-15/china-will-agree-to-aid-at-some-point-sri-lanka-envoy-says">cutting any debt deal with Sri Lanka</a> will mean that other countries that hold large Chinese debt – like Pakistan and some African countries – will expect the same. And Beijing doesn’t want to set that precedent. On the other hand, China will most likely have to work with Sri Lanka and other bilateral donors, especially now that the Rajapaksas are out of power. It needs to cultivate goodwill to maintain influence in the island and will not want to be seen as exacerbating Sri Lanka’s woes. </p>
<p>The IMF will also likely expect painful measures to tamp down costs if it is to come to Sri Lanka’s aid. It will most likely insist that Sri Lanka free float its currency rather than peg it to the dollar, since right now Sri Lankans abroad are <a href="https://www.themorning.lk/the-war-against-the-undial-system/">using unofficial channels</a> – and not the banking system – to remit foreign currency. So it will likely have to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/sri-lanka-allow-rupee-weaken-230-per-dollar-2022-03-07/">devalue its currency beyond what it already has</a>. The IMF will also likely expect that the government cut back on the number of state employees – which <a href="https://island.lk/only-traitors-wont-accept-urgent-economic-reform-agenda-acceptable-to-imf/">currently stands at around 1.5 million people</a>.</p>
<p>This will be a very painful process, and it will take some time. And it will likely worsen the country’s turmoil in the days ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil DeVotta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Protests over shortages forced the ouster of Sri Lanka’s president, but the crisis has deep-set roots in ethnonationalism, which has encouraged corruption, argues an expert on the country’s politics.Neil DeVotta, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1855002022-06-28T02:49:01Z2022-06-28T02:49:01ZShifting from chaplains to secular student welfare officers can be divisive. Here’s how schools can manage the risks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470705/original/file-20220624-18-cfq05j.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=210%2C867%2C3253%2C2141&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The new federal Labor government is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/17/labor-confirms-it-will-allow-schools-to-hire-secular-workers-under-chaplaincy-program">ending the compulsory religious aspect</a> of the A$60 million-a-year <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-chaplaincy-program-nscp">National School Chaplaincy Program</a>. The change comes as newly released census data show only <a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-are-more-millennial-multilingual-and-less-religious-what-the-census-reveals-185845">44% of Australians</a> now identify as Christian. The new rules will give Australian schools a fresh choice between a chaplain or a secular student welfare officer, but this change creates a potential for conflict within school communities. </p>
<p>Chaplains of various denominations are now embedded in <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-chaplaincy-program-nscp">thousands of schools</a> across Australia. Considering <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplains-may-be-cheaper-than-psychologists-but-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-of-their-impact-148521">past angst</a> within school communities about the program, guidance is needed for parents and school administrators who wish to shift to secular welfare support for students. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-give-schools-real-choice-about-secular-school-chaplains-latest-change-needs-to-go-further-185487">To give schools real choice about secular school chaplains, latest change needs to go further</a>
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<p>My interest in this issue arises from my personal experience of the chaplaincy program as a parent. But it is informed by <a href="https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/29788/1/29788_Dale_et_al_2013.pdf">my wider research</a> on governance systems and how institutions’ decision-making affects communities. I’m currently researching inclusive approaches to community development. This includes how local schools make decisions to achieve positive outcomes for students and diverse local communities. </p>
<p>In this article, I hope to offer a low-conflict pathway for school communities seeking to change from a religious chaplain to a secular officer. </p>
<p>In schools where there is strong support for incumbent chaplains, particular care needs to be taken. Religious communities, students, parents and school professionals all need to feel comfortable that respectful processes are followed and that resources for student welfare deliver maximum benefit. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-years-of-covid-fires-and-floods-kids-well-being-now-depends-on-better-support-184848">After years of COVID, fires and floods, kids' well-being now depends on better support</a>
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<h2>How the program could lead to tensions</h2>
<p>As a parent in a rural state high school during the past decade, my family experience of the chaplaincy program was vexed. The program facilitated extracurricular activities at the school with religious themes. Religious activities beyond the school gate were also promoted. </p>
<p>While operating within the program guidelines, I believed these activities weakened the separation of church and state. Some of them lacked any form of secular and multi-faith context setting. There were visits by a creationist artist, a Christian magic show and contested programs like <a href="https://hillsong.com/contributors/contributor/shine-strength/">“Shine” for girls and “Strength”</a> for boys.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110218143009/Www.straighttalk.org.au/">Straight Talk Australia</a>” presenters handed out postcard pledges encouraging students to commit to sexual abstinence until entering “a covenant marriage relationship”. I encouraged the school to consider prefacing the talk by outlining state education department policy on sex education and stressing that the activity represented just one organisation’s view on relationship-building and sex education. </p>
<p>Encouraging students to attend non-school-supervised activities beyond the school gate and school hours was equally of concern to me. This could draw students into places where proselytising could occur. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplains-may-be-cheaper-than-psychologists-but-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-of-their-impact-148521">School chaplains may be cheaper than psychologists. But we don't have enough evidence of their impact</a>
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<h2>Lessons on changing from religious to secular welfare support</h2>
<p>In 2011, the Gillard Labor government <a href="https://probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2011/09/schools-given-choice-under-chaplaincy-changes/">institutionalised the same change</a> (but a short-lived one) as the Albanese government has just announced. My school’s Parents and Citizens Association successfully made the shift from a <a href="https://scriptureunion.org.au/we-are-su-australia/">Scripture Union</a>-hosted chaplain to a secular welfare worker. This was achieved with a minimum of conflict despite strong support for the chaplain among many parents and some local Christian groups. </p>
<p>For me, at least three lessons emerged from this process.</p>
<p><strong>1. Not seeking removal of the incumbent chaplain</strong></p>
<p>It is important to not personalise problems associated with the chaplaincy program to individual school-based chaplains. Chaplains have been appointed through legitimate processes under program rules. Many Australians support chaplains as having performed an important role. </p>
<p>Once the rules changed in 2011, our school did not actively seek an immediate transition from the chaplaincy position. Discussion and decision-making were delayed until the position became vacant. </p>
<p><strong>2. Finding a suitable secular host for the welfare worker</strong></p>
<p>Finding a suitable secular organisation to host the welfare worker was perhaps the most difficult challenge the school faced, as there were few organisations well positioned to cover the costs associated with the program. At that time, the funds available for the position were meagre (A$20,000 a year). This meant any hosting organisation would likely, to some degree, need to subsidise overheads. </p>
<p>Religious institutions are often motivated to host the chaplains. That’s why they’re willing to help cover the costs. After a complex national search, our school eventually found a not-for-profit organisation with a secular focus on improving child welfare (and a commitment to trial a hosting arrangement). </p>
<p><strong>3. Framing the school-based decision well</strong></p>
<p>Of utmost importance is the need to positively frame the transition decision within the relevant school-based body. When the chaplaincy position became vacant, my school’s Parents and Citizens Association explored a range of options such as not re-appointing anyone, re-appointing a chaplain, or transition. </p>
<p>I argued we should seek the best-qualified person (religious or not) to service the needs of all school students. Doing so, in my view, made the transition option less contentious. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplaincy-debate-ignores-what-secular-actually-is-30997">School chaplaincy debate ignores what 'secular' actually is</a>
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<h2>Transition need not be divisive</h2>
<p>My interest here is in encouraging good local community and school governance and preserving the integrity of our secular school system.</p>
<p>I hope that sharing this experience can guide all schools in considering this complex decision while meeting the wider needs of the entire school community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allan Dale has received no funding in relation to this article. While the views represented are based on his personal experience, they are informed by his extensive research and practical background in governance systems analysis and place-based approaches to community development. At the time of the events discussed, Allan was an ordinary member, and his partner an office bearer, of the P&C referred to. His separate research efforts receive Australian and State Government funding. </span></em></p>It’s not the first time Australian schools have been given a choice of a religious school chaplain or a secular welfare officer, and for some schools the decision can be divisive.Allan Dale, Professor in Tropical Regional Development, The Cairns Institute, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1854872022-06-21T19:57:56Z2022-06-21T19:57:56ZTo give schools real choice about secular school chaplains, latest change needs to go further<p>New federal Education Minister Jason Clare has announced a change to the <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/national-school-chaplaincy-program-nscp">National School Chaplaincy Program</a> to allow schools to “choose” between having a religious chaplain and having a professionally qualified well-being worker.</p>
<p>The opposition has <a href="https://twitter.com/AlanTudgeMP/status/1537670249113214976?cxt=HHwWgICjwbq889YqAAAA">criticised</a> the announcement as effectively meaning “the end of many school chaplains”. So what’s the fuss about?</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-years-of-covid-fires-and-floods-kids-well-being-now-depends-on-better-support-184848">After years of COVID, fires and floods, kids' well-being now depends on better support</a>
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<p>The Howard Coalition government <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22media/pressrel/D7MV6%22">started the chaplaincy program</a> in 2006. It has continued, with some variations, ever since.</p>
<p>A “<a href="https://federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/sites/federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/files/2020-04/nat_school_chaplaincy_prog-19-22.pdf">project agreement</a>” signed by federal, state and territory education ministers governs the chaplaincy program. The states and territories receive federal funding to pay for chaplains in public schools.</p>
<h2>What do school chaplains do?</h2>
<p>Chaplains are not counsellors in the psychologist sense. They are more like youth workers in the social worker sense.</p>
<p>The project agreement says chaplains are responsible for providing “pastoral care services” and strategies that support the “well-being of the school community”. It gives examples of activities like “co-ordinating volunteering activities and support, breakfast clubs, lunchtime activities, excursions, school incursions, and parent/carer workshops”.</p>
<p>These activities look non-religious. Any qualified youth worker, regardless of their religion, could deliver them. However, the National School Chaplaincy Association <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/National%20School%20Chaplaincy%20Association.pdf">says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“While chaplains must have underlying qualifications in youth work, community work or equivalent, school chaplaincy is religious in nature.”</p>
</blockquote>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplains-may-be-cheaper-than-psychologists-but-we-dont-have-enough-evidence-of-their-impact-148521">School chaplains may be cheaper than psychologists. But we don't have enough evidence of their impact</a>
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<h2>How are school chaplains hired?</h2>
<p>The project agreement sets two key criteria for the appointment of chaplains:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>all chaplains must have minimum qualifications such as a Certificate IV in Youth Work</p></li>
<li><p>all chaplains must be “recognised through formal ordination, commissioning, recognised religious qualifications or endorsement by a recognised or accepted religious institution”.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Rather than being school employees like teachers or front-office staff, chaplains are employed by third-party providers that have contracts with schools. One provider is a Christian organisation called Generate, which <a href="https://generate.org.au/about/">says</a> its mission is:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“To bring God’s love, hope, and good news to children, young people, and families.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Job advertisements for school chaplains usually require applicants to be Christians. For example, to apply for school chaplaincy <a href="https://generate.org.au/positions/">positions advertised</a> through Generate, this organisation says “you need to have a committed Christian faith”.</p>
<p>Schools working with Generate have effectively decided they will not have Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or atheist youth workers working with students. Generate is currently advertising positions at more than 20 public schools, including schools in highly multicultural areas such as western Sydney.</p>
<p>There is no public information about the processes public schools use to choose the school’s favoured religion for the purpose of hiring a chaplain.</p>
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<h2>Isn’t religious discrimination unlawful?</h2>
<p>You might think refusing to hire someone for a job in a public school simply because that person doesn’t belong to a particular religion sounds like religious discrimination. Religious discrimination in employment is unlawful under anti-discrimination laws in every state and territory, except New South Wales and South Australia.</p>
<p>A number of state anti-discrimination commissioners have expressed concern about the National Schools Chaplaincy Program.</p>
<p>In 2020, Victoria’s Human Rights Commission <a href="https://hansard.parliament.vic.gov.au/search/?LDMS=Y&IW_DATABASE=*&IW_FIELD_ADVANCE_PHRASE=be+now+read+a+second+time&IW_FIELD_IN_SpeechTitle=Education+and+Training+Reform+Amendment+School+Employment+Bill+2020&IW_FIELD_IN_HOUSENAME=COUNCIL&IW_FIELD_IN_ACTIVITYTYPE=Second+reading&IW_FIELD_IN_SittingYear=2020&IW_FIELD_IN_SittingMonth=September&IW_FIELD_IN_SittingDay=2">told</a> a Victorian MP: “we agree that the program may be in breach of [Victoria’s] Equal Opportunity Act 2010”.</p>
<p>In 2021, in response to advocacy by the Rationalist Society of Australia, Western Australia’s Equal Opportunity Commission <a href="https://rationalist.com.au/commissioner-raises-concern-over-religious-discrimination-in-wa-school-chaplaincy-program/">said</a> it was concerned that restricting youth worker/chaplain positions to religious people was “prima facie religious conviction discrimination” under Western Australia’s Equal Opportunity Act 1984. In 2020, Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner <a href="https://rationalist.com.au/rsa-calls-on-minister-clare-to-reform-school-chaplaincy-program/">said</a> the practice involved “potential contraventions of the [Qld Anti-Discrimination] Act”.</p>
<p>A 2019 religious discrimination case in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/27/victoria-opens-the-way-for-secular-or-atheist-school-chaplains">settled</a> before the tribunal could rule on whether limiting youth worker/chaplain jobs in public schools to Christians breached state anti-discrimination laws.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-australia-a-secular-country-it-depends-what-you-mean-38222">Is Australia a secular country? It depends what you mean</a>
</strong>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>What exactly did the minister announce?</h2>
<p>Last Friday, Clare <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7780960/schools-choice-labor-to-put-secular-back-into-chaplaincy-program/">announced</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The government will open up the program to give schools the option to choose either a chaplain or a professionally qualified student welfare officer.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The fact it was the new minister’s first big decision suggests the issue is important to him. There’s no good reason to force a public school to hire youth workers on the basis of religion. It’s why the ACT <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-23/religious-chaplains-banned-in-act-government-schools/10842950">pulled out</a> of the school chaplains program in 2019.</p>
<p>However, there are three key problems with the minister’s announcement. </p>
<p>First, all chaplains are already required to have professional qualifications. There’s nothing new about that.</p>
<p>Second, the minister has not explained how a public school – which schools legislation says are secular in character – could ever justify “choosing” that Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and atheist youth workers should not be eligible for a pastoral care job at the school.</p>
<p>The third and most practical problem is that this announced change won’t actually enable schools to hire youth workers without reference to the person’s religious affiliation.</p>
<p>Existing third-party providers like Generate are in the business of hiring only Christians. Unless new providers come onto the scene, public schools will have little choice but to continue to engage existing providers who will continue to hire only Christians.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-chaplaincy-debate-ignores-what-secular-actually-is-30997">School chaplaincy debate ignores what 'secular' actually is</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s the solution?</h2>
<p>The minister said he will work with his state and territory counterparts to revise the project agreement so a new system is in place for the 2023 school year.</p>
<p>If the nation’s education ministers want to make sure school youth workers/chaplains are hired based on merit and not on religion, they could make one simple change: get rid of outsourcing.</p>
<p>Requiring schools to hire directly rather than through third-party providers will ensure job ads don’t include selection criteria about a person’s religion. Some public schools might well be happy to allow their third-party provider to refuse to hire Jewish, Muslim and atheist youth workers. However, a public school is rather unlikely to <em>itself</em> ever put out an ad like that.</p>
<p>Getting rid of outsourcing would also mean the public money now used to fund the administration costs of third-party providers can be redirected to putting more youth workers in more schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Beck is a member of the Australian Labor Party and is on the board of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. This article reflects only his personal views.</span></em></p>Schools currently rely on third-party providers that require all those who apply to do student counselling and community work as school chaplains to have a committed Christian faith.Luke Beck, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817562022-05-03T13:10:32Z2022-05-03T13:10:32ZSri Lanka’s protests show a fragile unity – for now<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460164/original/file-20220427-9662-i1tyk1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=75%2C88%2C8313%2C5244&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sri Lankan students march during a protest over the economic crisis outside the residence of prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo, April 24, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Sri%20Lanka%20Economic%20Crisis/3d3c6b6a0d0f4205a6b7a69ee194289e?Query=sri%20lanka&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46937&currentItemNo=10">AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sri Lanka is facing <a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lanka-teeters-on-economic-edge-from-pandemic-fueled-financial-crisis-and-ukraine-war-spillovers-179741">its worst economic crises</a> since winning independence from Britain in 1948. Inflation is at an all-time high and protests are <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-happening-in-sri-lanka-and-how-did-the-economic-crisis-start-181060">spreading around the country</a>. </p>
<p>Most public anger <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sri-lanka-crisis-thousands-of-protestors-ambush-sri-lanka-pm-mahinda-rajapaksas-home-over-economic-crisis-demanding-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-resig-2916111">is directed</a> toward President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Critics point to the Rajapaksas’ <a href="https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/04/24/years-of-policy-failure-and-covid-throw-sri-lanka-into-deep-crisis/">poor handling of the COVID-19 crisis</a>, and “Gota out” signs demanding their resignations are seen across the country.</p>
<p>Protesters <a href="https://www.news18.com/news/world/sri-lanka-an-island-adrift-fights-for-a-new-beginning-4953140.html">come from all ethnicities and all religions</a>. This seeming unity is notable in Sri Lanka, which has been deeply divided for decades. The country has a violent history of ethnic and religious conflict, and of scapegoating minorities. In recent years, that has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-sri-lankas-muslims-115825">particularly true of Muslims</a>, who make up about 10% of the population. As <a href="https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/andreas-johansson-3">a historian of religion</a> who focuses on Sri Lanka, I have studied Muslims’ precarious position in Sri Lankan society amid growing discrimination.</p>
<h2>Civil war</h2>
<p>Traditionally, Sri Lanka <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.lk/Population/StaticalInformation/CPH2011/PopulationAtlas">has been divided</a> into three <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2012Visualization/htdocs/index.php?usecase=indicator&action=Map&indId=10">major ethnic groups</a>: the Sinhalese, who make up 74% of the population and are mostly Buddhists; the Tamils, about 15%, most of whom are Hindu; and Muslims, who are descendants of Middle Eastern traders and mostly speak the Tamil language.</p>
<p>In 1983 a civil war broke out between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil separatists that lasted until 2009. Violent tensions between the island’s two biggest groups had existed for years, with the Sinhalese majority believing Tamils had received <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/">preferential treatment under the British</a>. After independence, the situation reversed: for example, Sinhala became <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6RSHzj2EU-cC">the only official language</a>, meaning that Tamil-speaking Sri Lankans lost jobs in the public sector.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf">constitution</a> assures the religious freedom of all, but Buddhism is also given a special status. It states, “The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster” the faith.</p>
<p>The war caused the deaths of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51184085">at least 100,000 people</a>, including <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2017/03/16/thousands-of-victims-of-sri-lankas-civil-war-remain-unaccounted-for">tens of thousands</a> of civilians, though estimates vary. As many as <a href="https://hrdag.org/srilanka/">100,000 Tamils</a> might still be displaced. Both sides were accused of war crimes, including <a href="https://nofirezone.org">at the end of the war</a>, when Mahinda Rajapaksa – now prime minister – was president, and his brother Gotabaya, now president, was secretary of defense.</p>
<p>Government officials deny abuses, and have tried to block <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/world/asia/sri-lanka-civil-war-un-investigation.html">the United Nations’ ongoing investigation</a>.</p>
<h2>New tensions</h2>
<p>After the war the country’s third-largest ethnic group, Muslims, became the new target for Sinhalese nationalists, who claimed that <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-sri-lankas-muslims-115825">Muslims</a> had both <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/sri-lanka-saudi-idINKCN1U00LZ">economic and ideological ties</a> with the Middle East. A hardline Buddhist group called the <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/%E2%80%9Cone-country-one-law%E2%80%9D-sri-lankan-states-hostility-toward-muslims-grows-deeper">Bodu Bala Sena</a> encouraged anti-Muslim sentiment, and accused halal food industries of sponsoring international terrorism.</p>
<p>During Easter 2019, local Muslim terrorists inspired by the Islamic State carried out an attack killing <a href="https://theconversation.com/sri-lankas-easter-sunday-attacks-were-meant-for-international-audience-but-have-local-consequences-117704">over 250 people</a> in several Christian churches and hotels. This was the worst attack in Sri Lanka against civilians since the civil war ended in 2009, and prompted more discrimination against <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/302-after-sri-lankas-easter-bombings-reducing-risks-future-violence">Muslim citizens</a></p>
<p>Buddhist nationalists supported Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election as president in 2019. Since then, the government has proposed plans to <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-religion-sri-lanka-51deeb417aefac87802917993825d9a6">ban full-face veils</a> in public and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/13/sri-lanka-to-ban-burka-and-close-1000-islamic-schools">to shut down many Islamic schools</a>. During the pandemic, the government <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220303-sri-lanka-ends-widely-condemned-muslim-burial-policy">forced people who died from COVID-19 to be cremated</a>, in violation of traditional Islamic funeral ceremonies. </p>
<p>In 2021, Amnesty International released <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ASA3748632021ENGLISH.pdf">an 80-page report</a> about anti-Muslim prejudice in the country. The researchers urged Sri Lanka’s government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/sri-lanka-on-hejaaz-hizbullah-and-the-prevention-of-terrorism-act/">to target</a> prominent <a href="https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/12/21/ahna-d21.html">Muslim activists</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Muslims stand while praying inside a structure with metal walls." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460182/original/file-20220428-16-tvhagx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this Nov. 14, 2019 photo, Muslims offer prayers inside a temporary mosque set up next to a mosque damaged by a mob during 2018 riots in the outskirts of Kandy, Sri Lanka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SriLankaMilitantMonks/2af61fca20834060b279dbdf301e0992/photo?Query=sri%20lanka%20muslim&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=954&currentItemNo=81">AP Photo/Dar Yasin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Muslims have also expressed <a href="https://www.pressenza.com/2022/03/redefining-identities-land-invasion-in-sri-lankas-eastern-province/">fear of land grabs</a>, which Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the largest <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-12789-3">Muslim political party</a>, the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, has called his community’s biggest concern. Land seizures by the army have been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/may/28/sri-lanka-army-land-grabs-tamil-displacement-report-oakland-institute">major concerns for Tamils</a>, as well.</p>
<h2>Unity or division?</h2>
<p>For now, ethnic tensions appear to be on hold. The common foe is the Rajapaksa family, as protesters demand that the president and prime minister step down. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sit on long blankets outside for a meal." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460181/original/file-20220428-16-25qmps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sri Lankan Muslims wait to break the Ramadan fast at a protest site outside the president’s office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 20, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SriLankaEconomicCrisis/15fa249db25d465ba1710c09c1f1c7e8/photo?Query=sri%20lanka%20muslim&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=954&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>An official spokesman from the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress, who requested to remain anonymous, told me that Muslims’ participation in protests has “surprised the government. Christians who came in thousands after Easter Sunday mass and the clergy of Buddhists in thousands all over the island came together under one banner as Sri Lankans. Not as Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or Christians.”</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/merchants-maidens-and-mohammedans-a-history-of-muslim-stereotypes-in-sinhala-literature-of-sri-lanka/24711B013ADDEF16680EB438B727657B">Muslims are often stereotyped</a> as wealthy. Given Sinhalese nationalists’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0262728014549134">past accusations</a> that Muslims have suspect economic ties with the Middle East, some, including contacts of mine inside the country, have <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/4/5/sri-lanka-gota-needs-to-go-but-so-does-the-ethnocratic-state">voiced concern</a> that leaders could channel ethnic tensions to blame minorities for the country’s economic downfall. Pro-government <a href="https://restofworld.org/2022/newsletter-south-asia-disinformation-campaigns-attempt-to-undermine-sri-lankan-protests/">social media campaigns</a> have frequently targeted minorities like Tamils and Muslims.</p>
<p>“The current protest movement’s focus on the commonality of experience, while understandable, does little to reassure Tamils and Muslims that they are safe from ethnic scapegoating for the country’s economic woes,” Mario Arulthas, a doctoral candidate studying Tamils and nationalism at SOAS University of London, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/4/5/sri-lanka-gota-needs-to-go-but-so-does-the-ethnocratic-state">wrote in a recent column</a>. Such scapegoating is “a tactic the state has historically used as a distraction during times of crisis, resulting in pogroms against these communities.”</p>
<p>As Sri Lanka goes forward, its citizens will confront not only the aftermath of the economic crisis, but these legacies of suspicion among ethnic groups.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Johansson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The country has a long history of ethnic and religious conflict, but the worst economic crisis in decades has brought protesters together.Andreas Johansson, Researcher at Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University, Senior Lecture at Karlstad University, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1769892022-02-11T09:06:52Z2022-02-11T09:06:52ZView from The Hill: Peter Dutton accuses Liberal rebels of breaking undertakings<p>It’s a bad sign when a government starts eating its own.</p>
<p>The backbench Liberal revolt that pushed a protection for transgender kids through the House of Representatives, and thereby inadvertently doomed Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination legislation, has bitten deeply with the PM and senior ministers.</p>
<p>It showed they’d lost control of their troops. Humiliatingly, it revealed they hadn’t known what was coming.</p>
<p>Figuratively speaking, they’d had been caught undressed, on the floor of the parliament in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>During the debate on the religious discrimination package, Trent Zimmerman, Bridget Archer, Katie Allen, Dave Sharma and Fiona Martin crossed the floor on an amendment to the sex discrimination act that would protect all children at religious schools.</p>
<p>This was in contrast to the government’s much narrower proposal to protect gay students from expulsion from these schools, but not cover transgender students.</p>
<p>Normally, senior ministers would just apply a big dollop of spin to the situation in explaining away the government’s loss. They’d say it was unfortunate but just stay with the line that Liberal MPs can exercise their consciences and cross the floor when they feel strongly about something.</p>
<p>But publicly and privately, ministers are in high dudgeon with the now-famous (or infamous, in their eyes) five, claiming treachery and betrayal. They allege people went back on their word, deals were broken, the PM was ambushed.</p>
<p>Defence Minister Peter Dutton holds the position of “leader of the house.” He has a lot of skin in the game when it comes to ensuring the government doesn’t lose votes.</p>
<p>Dutton told the ABC on Friday Morrison had been “misled”.</p>
<p>“There were undertakings that were given. The undertaking wasn’t honoured,” he said.</p>
<p>Dutton didn’t provide details or specify individuals. “But the government doesn’t go into a vote like that unless there’s been assurances given.”</p>
<p>“We had very clear statements from a number of people, including beyond the five. … The Prime Minister based his judgement, his actions, his decisions on a perfectly reasonable basis following discussion, and it’s difficult when you get to the floor of parliament and those undertakings aren’t honoured.”</p>
<p>Dutton added the obvious – in a parliament where the government only had a majority of one, individuals are empowered on issues they believe important to them. (He did not reference periodic threats – which admittedly often haven’t come to much – by Nationals MP George Christensen.)</p>
<p>To the five, the issue of transgender children was important, for reasons of principle, politics and in a couple of cases professional background (Allen is a former paediatrician, Martin a psychologist).</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrisons-religious-discrimination-package-couldnt-fly-on-a-wing-and-a-prayer-176892">Grattan on Friday: Morrison's religious discrimination package couldn't fly on a wing and a prayer</a>
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<p>Ministers argue that undertakings were broken. But if that was the case – and we can’t know without more information – it was a two-way street.</p>
<p>Morrison had undertaken that trans kids would be offered protection. This was documented in a letter to Anthony Albanese which the opposition leader tabled in the debate.</p>
<p>In his letter dated December 1, Morrison wrote: “in keeping with my Second Reading Speech, where I stated there is no place in our education system for any form of discrimination against a student on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity, the Government will move an amendment to remove the provision of the Sex Discrimination Act which was included in 2013 which limited the protections provided under this act.”</p>
<p>The same day, Allen posted on Facebook: “Proud that the Sex Discrimination Act will be modified to protect LGBTIQA+ kids in schools. This will help the lives of so many children- it’s a real win for tolerance and diversity. Thank you Angie Bell MP, Dave Sharma MP and Fiona Martin MP for your strength in advocacy.”</p>
<p>It was clear a comprehensive amendment was then expected by those Liberals involved with the issue. But by this week, the PM had narrowed what he was willing to do.</p>
<p>Whatever the ins and outs of the haggling, we do know that some of the five had given notice they would or could break ranks.</p>
<p>Archer went public opposing the religious discrimination package. Zimmerman told the Coalition party room he reserved his position (that is the formal way MPs declare to colleagues they may vote against something). Sharma had expressed concerns in media interviews.</p>
<p>While Dutton has been out with the stock whip publicly, it’s understood the Prime Minister’s office has been expressing its displeasure behind the scenes. Its approach is said to be heavy handed.</p>
<p>As he put his religious discrimination legislation in the freezer, Morrison was hit by yet another leak.</p>
<p>A story in The Australian claimed he had been overridden in cabinet when he proposed, as a way of trying to secure votes for the religious discrimination legislation, that the government “put a national integrity commission bill on the notice paper for debate”.</p>
<p>Ministers dispute the story, insisting the matter was canvassed in a much more low key manner as part of a general strategy discussion. But from Morrison’s point of view, most disturbing would be the fact of the leak and the way it had been cast to discredit him.</p>
<p>At what is both the fag end and the business end of the term, Morrison is living in an unnerving world where he doesn’t know what might turn up next.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The backbench Liberal revolt that pushed a protection for transgender kids through the House of Representatives, and thereby inadvertently doomed Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination legislation, has bitten deeply with the PM and senior ministers.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1764542022-02-08T19:12:50Z2022-02-08T19:12:50ZOnly 19% of Australians agree religious schools should be able to ban LGBT+ teachers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444731/original/file-20220207-23-1ml17d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dave Hunt/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/third-time-lucky-what-has-changed-in-the-latest-draft-of-the-religious-discrimination-bill-172386">religious discrimination bill</a> is finally being debated on the floor of federal parliament.</p>
<p>The bill has <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-parliament-returns-for-2022-the-religious-discrimination-bill-is-still-an-unholy-mess-176362">prompted disagreements</a> within political parties, within religions and across a wide variety of other stakeholders. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-parliament-returns-for-2022-the-religious-discrimination-bill-is-still-an-unholy-mess-176362">As parliament returns for 2022, the religious discrimination bill is still an unholy mess</a>
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<p>But what do voters actually think? </p>
<p>A new survey, soon to be published in the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/jos/0/0">Journal of Sociology</a>, shows a majority of Australians do not think religious organisations that provide government-funded public services should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. </p>
<h2>The religious discrimination bill</h2>
<p>The religious discrimination bill does two key things. First, it protects religious and non-religious people from being discriminated against on the basis of their faith or lack of it. This aim is widely supported. </p>
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<img alt="Scott Morrison holding a copy of the religious discrimination bill." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444733/original/file-20220207-23-13olf7j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The religious discrimination bill was introduced to parliament in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Second, it allows religious people and religious organisations to discriminate against other people where the conduct is backed by genuinely-held religious beliefs. </p>
<p>As part of this, the proposed bill would permit discrimination in government-funded services such as religiously-affiliated education, aged care, health care and welfare services. This has been hotly debated. </p>
<p>These parts of the bill give religious people <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/08/religious-discrimination-bill-will-not-protect-trans-students-from-expulsion-simon-birmingham-confirms">new rights to discriminate</a> and reduce protections already available to LGBTQ+ people, people with disability, single mothers, and unmarried couples. </p>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>Colleagues and I recently conducted a study of Australians’ views about the role of religion in government and public life. We included questions in the <a href="https://dataverse.ada.edu.au/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi%3A10.26193%2FC86EZG">Australian Survey of Social Attitudes</a> that ran from February to June 2021 with 1,162 respondents. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-debate-about-religious-discrimination-is-back-so-why-do-we-keep-hearing-about-religious-freedom-169643">The debate about religious discrimination is back, so why do we keep hearing about religious 'freedom'?</a>
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<p>First, we asked people a general question about whether they agree or disagree that, “the federal government should advocate Christian values”. About one third agreed (37%), one third disagreed (30%), and one third were unsure (32%). </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Christians were more likely to agree (57% of both Anglican and Catholic respondents), and those with no religion were less likely to agree (20%). Coalition voters were more likely to agree (62%) than those identifying with Labor (29%) and those with no party affiliation (31%).</p>
<h2>Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people</h2>
<p>We also asked how Australians regarded discrimination against LGBTQ+ people by or within faith-based service provision.</p>
<p>We asked whether people agreed or disagreed with the statement: “conservative Catholic, Anglican, Jewish, and Muslim schools should be allowed to refuse to employ a teacher because they are LGBT+”. </p>
<p>The vast majority (73%) of those surveyed disagreed, 19% agreed, and 8% were unsure. Only 17% of women agreed compared to 22% of men. </p>
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<p>Most respondents also did not see discrimination against LGBTQ+ teachers as a “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/why-we-as-christian-parents-cannot-sign-a-school-contract-that-condemns-gay-or-transgender-students-20220202-p59t68.html">Christian value</a>”. </p>
<p>Only 20% of Catholics agreed, 25% of Anglicans, and 35% of other Christians. Among Australians who attend religious services at least monthly, less than half (41%) support discrimination against LGBTQ+ teachers within conservative religious schools, and only 25% support discrimination against an LGBTQ+ homeless person by a religiously-affiliated welfare organisation.</p>
<p>Only one quarter (26%) of those who identify with the Coalition support discrimination against LGBTQ+ teachers, even though 62% want the government to advocate Christian values. This suggests that many see discrimination as inconsistent with Christian values. </p>
<p>A similar pattern appears among those who identify with Labor. While 29% want the government to advocate Christian values only 14% support discrimination. Only 19% of those with no party affiliation support discrimination. </p>
<p>Our analysis suggests support for discrimination is more influenced by whether a person has religious beliefs which justify discrimination rather than their political affiliation. </p>
<h2>Taxpayer funds are involved</h2>
<p>Religious organisations receive billions of dollars of public money. They also employ tens of thousands of people to provide services to the general population. For example, approximately one third of schools in Australia are <a href="https://theconversation.com/religion-in-australian-schools-an-historical-and-contemporary-debate-82439">faith-based schools</a> and <a href="https://www.anglicare.org.au/media/8470/anglican-community-services-financial-report-2021.pdf">Anglicare Sydney</a> alone received more than A$240 million in government subsidies in both 2020 and 2021.</p>
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<img alt="People marching in support of LGBTIQ+ rights." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=436&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444739/original/file-20220207-17-1jhpgt7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Key elements of the religious discrimination bill are strongly opposed by LGBTQ+ rights advocates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Other research <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajs4.195">demonstrates</a> permitting discrimination causes serious harm. For example, a 2006 Jesuit Social Services <a href="https://jss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NSS.pdf">study</a> found discrimination in Catholic schools toward same-sex attracted young people resulted in “increased rates of homelessness, risk-taking behaviour, depression, suicide and episodes of self-harm compared to young heterosexuals.”</p>
<p>Our research suggests the majority of Australians strongly reject the sections of the religious discrimination bill that would allow discrimination by government -funded bodies in the name of religion. This is true for Coalition voters and religious Australians. </p>
<p>As MPs debate this complicated and controversial bill – which has many, diverse stakeholders – they should also be considering the views of the broader Australian community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Douglas Ezzy receives funding from the Australian Research Council for projects on "religious freedom, LGBT+ employees, and the right to discriminate" and "religious diversity in Australia". He has also received funds from the Tasmanian government's LGBTI grants program in 2019 as well as Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for a project on "understanding non-religion". This article is based on a soon to be published paper co-authored by Prof Douglas Ezzy, Prof Lori Beaman, A/Prof Angela Dwyer, Dr Bronwyn Fielder, Rev Angus McLeay, Prof Simon Rice, Dr Louise Richardson-Self.</span></em></p>This week, we finally see religious discrimination debated on the floor of federal parliament. But what do voters actually think about the issues behind the bill?Douglas Ezzy, Professor of Sociology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1763622022-02-06T19:07:42Z2022-02-06T19:07:42ZAs parliament returns for 2022, the religious discrimination bill is still an unholy mess<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444624/original/file-20220206-27-1v3rqe4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C305%2C5654%2C3446&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The religious discrimination bill is due to be debated in parliament this week. This has been a long time coming – Prime Minister Scott Morrison first promised a religious discrimination bill before the last federal election, more than three years ago.</p>
<p>In large part, the delay stems from vast disagreement – both inside parliament and in the community – about what the bill should contain. There is broad agreement a person should not be discriminated against on the basis of their faith or lack of faith. However, the extent to which religion should be a licence to discriminate against others remains enormously contentious. </p>
<p>As MPs return to Canberra, who supports the bill? Who opposes it? What might happen?</p>
<h2>Two inquiries into the bill</h2>
<p>After Morrison introduced the bill into parliament in December 2021, it was sent to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Religiousdiscrimination/Report">legal affairs</a> and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/ReligiousDiscrimination/Report">human rights</a> committees. </p>
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<img alt="Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Michaelia Cash" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444617/original/file-20220205-25-p5ufts.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Attorney-General Michaelia Cash, here with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has the difficult job of trying to get the bill through parliament.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>On Friday, both <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/04/labor-offers-conditional-backing-to-coalitions-religious-discrimination-bill">recommended</a> the bill be passed – but only after a series of changes. In their reports, both committees said there were serious doubts about the constitutional validity of some elements of the bill. </p>
<p>Both committees chaired by government MPs. But any committee member can make additional comments or dissent from the main findings. </p>
<h2>Overriding state protections</h2>
<p>One of the key sticking points is a clause allowing religious schools to discriminate against staff members on religious grounds if the school has a written policy on its religious position. </p>
<p>This provision overrides also existing federal, state and territory protections against discrimination and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/steph-lentz-was-sacked-this-year-for-being-gay-it-was-perfectly-legal-20210809-p58gzv.html">permits schools</a> to sack LGBTIQ+ teachers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/third-time-lucky-what-has-changed-in-the-latest-draft-of-the-religious-discrimination-bill-172386">Third time lucky? What has changed in the latest draft of the religious discrimination bill?</a>
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<p>Attorney-General Michaelia Cash’s office has acknowledged discrimination against gay staff will be allowed, provided it is done <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/new-religious-freedom-laws-will-give-private-schools-right-to-refuse-to-hire-gay-teachers/news-story/9e55e286dc152b45d8da1d056f82bef2">under the guise of religious views</a>.</p>
<p>Parliament’s human rights committee <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/ReligiousDiscrimination/Report">said</a> this provision “is an important measure to […] maintain the religious ethos of the school” even though it “may limit the right to freedom of religion and equality and non-discrimination for others”.</p>
<h2>Statements of belief</h2>
<p>Another sticking point concerns statements of belief. This provision overrides every federal, state and territory anti-discrimination law to make “statements of belief” immune from legal consequences if they are based on a genuinely held religious view. </p>
<p>For example, statements of belief could include a male boss saying to a female employee, “women should not hold leadership positions” or a doctor saying to a patient, “disability is a punishment for sin”.</p>
<p>Parliament’s human rights committee <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Joint/Human_Rights/ReligiousDiscrimination/Report">said</a> this clause “operates, in the main, to give reassurance to people of faith that they are able to make moderately expressed statements of religious belief”. </p>
<p>But in extra comments to the legal affairs committee report, NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg,<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Religiousdiscrimination/Report/section?id=committees%2freportsen%2f024869%2f79131">warned</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Strong evidence has been provided to the committee that the statement of belief is unworkable and undesirable. Numerous employers, religious organisations, anti-discrimination groups and legal experts are against it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Australian Human Rights Commission is also concerned this statement of belief provision might make it more difficult to deal with cases of <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=cfd7b8e6-6420-460a-b6a4-b3df135a473c">sexual harassment at work</a>.</p>
<h2>No protection for gay and trans kids at school</h2>
<p>On Thursday, Morrison <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pm-flags-amendment-to-religious-discrimination-bill-to-protect-lgbtiq-students-20220203-p59tga.html">promised</a> he would amend the Sex Discrimination Act to take away the right of religious schools to expel LGBTIQ+ students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman holds a sign 'my love is not a sin'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444622/original/file-20220206-25-1iky6ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the major concerns about the bill is its impact on the LGBTIQ+ community.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darren England/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This promise was met with <a href="https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/scot-morrison-has-thrown-us-under-a-bus-campaigners-respond-to-citipointe-fallout/">fierce opposition</a> from conservative groups: FamilyVoice Australia called it a “betrayal”. Christian Democratic Party campaign director Lyle Shelton <a href="https://www.spectator.com.au/2022/02/did-scott-morrison-throw-freedom-of-religion-under-the-bus/">said</a> Christian parents had been “thrown under a bus”.</p>
<p>But even if Morrison delivers on this promise about expulsion, this will <a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-can-still-expel-lgbtq-kids-the-religious-discrimination-bill-only-makes-it-worse-172494">not stop religious schools discriminating</a> against gay and trans kids while they are at school, providing they aren’t expelled.</p>
<h2>Religious groups are divided</h2>
<p>It is important to note religious groups do not agree among themselves.
Conservative religious groups like the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=ac53eb89-59e1-4468-ba09-1db9e8086544&subId=719216">Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference</a> and the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=32d35cbd-8b65-4831-8988-4f558b7d9b89&subId=719111">Sydney Anglican Diocese</a> support the bill. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-debate-about-religious-discrimination-is-back-so-why-do-we-keep-hearing-about-religious-freedom-169643">The debate about religious discrimination is back, so why do we keep hearing about religious 'freedom'?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But other religious groups disagree. The broader Anglican Church opposes the bill in its current form. Its <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=636acb47-960c-45d7-b24d-b5abdb0a04f0&subId=718979">Public Affairs Commission</a> says the bill gives “too much unnecessary scope and encouragement for harmful discriminatory behaviour in the name of religion”. </p>
<p>Catholic welfare agencies feel the same. The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=af438e62-018a-490e-8058-de4db2d304e1&subId=718945">St Vincent de Paul Society</a> says “people will be hurt […] and will have no legal remedy”, while <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=7e76647b-48b7-408b-b614-7d9ad555900a&subId=718950">Sacred Heart Mission</a> says the bill “will exclude people from accessing essential services”.</p>
<p>Minority religious groups are also worried. The Buddhist Council of NSW <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=1d9412d2-a539-4a3f-b635-235a0253a24c&subId=718933">believes</a>, the bill “may worsen religious discrimination against people from minority faith groups”.</p>
<h2>The major parties are divided</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the bill’s path through parliament is still uncertain. Moderate <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/moderate-liberals-still-concerned-about-religious-freedom-laws-despite-pm-s-push-20220204-p59ty5.html?js-chunk-not-found-refresh=true">Liberal MPs</a> such as Dave Sharma, Trent Zimmerman and Bridget Archer are threatening to cross the floor unless the bill is watered down. Bragg <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Religiousdiscrimination/Report/section?id=committees%2freportsen%2f024869%2f79131">has called</a> for the statement of belief provision to be removed and for protections to be introduced to shield both students and teachers from discrimination by religious schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Senate divided over a vote." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444619/original/file-20220206-69470-1oec7gh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">MPs within both Liberal and Labor camps hold serious concerns about the bill. The Greens want Labor to help block the bill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Labor’s extra comments to the legal affairs committee report warned the bill <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/Religiousdiscrimination/Report/section?id=committees%2freportsen%2f024869%2f79132">should not</a> “remove existing protections Australians already enjoy against other forms of discrimination”. </p>
<p>But the opposition is trying to walk both sides of the street. Labor members on the parliamentary committees signed up to the main reports but added extra comments emphasising the need for amendments. This allows Labor to say it supports the bill and that it wants to change the controversial bits – depending on who it’s talking to. </p>
<p>If Morrison risks some of his own MPs crossing the floor and calls a vote on the bill as it currently stands, Labor will have to declare its hand. Labor is expected to finalise its position for this week’s debate at its regular parliamentary meeting on Tuesday. </p>
<h2>Where is this heading?</h2>
<p>There’s almost no time left before the election to make amendments (or at least properly thought out amendments) and pass the bill. The Senate sits for only five days before the election is expected to be called.</p>
<p>Following the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-03/qld-former-citipointe-christian-college-contract-withdrawn/100800748">Citipointe Christian College</a> scandal last week, it is not clear that passing laws to allow discrimination against gay and trans people is a vote winner for either the Coalition or Labor. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A steeple in front of the Parliament House flag." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444621/original/file-20220206-501-43e1gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Time is running out to pass the religious discrimination bill before the federal election, which could make it a hot-button campaign issue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seemingly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/05/citipointe-christian-college-pastor-brian-mulheran-brisbane-school-lnp-liberal-national-party-queensland">pre-empting the bill passing</a>, the Pentecostal school asked parents to sign “contracts” agreeing that being gay or trans is as “destructive to human relationships and society” as paedophilia, and trans kids would only be welcome if they did not attend as the gender with which they identify. A backlash from families forced the school to back down and the principal is now on “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-05/qld-citipointe-christian-college-principal-steps-down-leave/100807242">extended leave</a>”. </p>
<p>If Pentecostal families don’t support this kind of thing, it’s hardly likely families from more mainstream religious groups would either. But if the bill is passed without significant changes, we can expect to see many more situations like Citipointe’s.</p>
<p>The messy debate over religious discrimination in Australia continues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Beck made submissions to the parliamentary inquiries considering the Bill, is a member of the Australian Labor Party and is on the board of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. This article reflects only his personal views.</span></em></p>Religious discrimination is set to be debated in parliament this week - more than three years after Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised a bill.Luke Beck, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1661702021-12-22T21:05:06Z2021-12-22T21:05:06ZExtraordinarily, the effects of the Spanish Inquisition linger to this day<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437410/original/file-20211214-23-z1g712.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C435%2C1078%2C745&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pedro Berruguete Saint Dominic Presiding over an Auto-da-fe.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Pedro_Berruguete_Saint_Dominic_Presiding_over_an_Auto-da-fe_1495.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From Imperial Rome to the Crusades, to modern North Korea or the treatment of Rohingya in <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/myanmar-1674">Myanmar</a>, religious persecution has been a tool of state control for millennia.</p>
<p>While its immediate violence and human consequences are obvious, less obvious is whether it leaves scars centuries after it ends.</p>
<p>In a new study we have attempted to examine the present day consequences of one of the longest-running and most meticulously documented persecutions of them all – the trials of the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/33/e2022881118">Spanish Inquisition</a> between 1478 to 1834.</p>
<p>The records of 67,521 trials still exist, along with indicators of their locations and places of birth and residence of the people they tried.</p>
<p>We find that today – two hundred years after its abolition – the locations in which the inquisition was strong have markedly lower levels of economic activity, trust and educational attainment than those in which it was weak. </p>
<h2>Secret denunciations</h2>
<p>Charged with combating heresy, defined as deviation from Catholic doctrine, the Inquisition extended into every strata of Spain’s society and almost every corner of its global empire.</p>
<p>Trials originated with secret denunciations and lasted years. Penalties ranged from mild admonishments to burning at the stake. Sentences were usually handed down in large public ceremonies – ensuring widespread publicity.</p>
<p>The geographical distribution of inquisitorial intensity shows widespread variation over relatively small areas, but no broad geographical patterns.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=380&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437413/original/file-20211214-23-1runqwk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We set the geographical distribution of inquisitorial intensity against a modern-day measure of gross domestic product per capita constructed using nighttime luminosity captured by satellite photography. </p>
<p>In Spain, estimating GDP at the municipal level from administrative data is fraught with data availability and compliance problems. </p>
<p>Night light is highly correlated with per capita income and widely used as a proxy for economic performance in the development literature.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Nightlights across Spain and Portugal shown from above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434367/original/file-20211129-25-jzutzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Iberian Peninsula at night, showing Spain and Portugal. Madrid is the bright spot just above the centre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nasa.gov/content/iberian-peninsula-at-night">NASA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We find municipalities with no recorded inquisitorial activity as well those with inquisitorial activity in the lowest third have the highest GDP per capita today. </p>
<p>Those with persecution in the middle third have markedly lower incomes.</p>
<p>In those where the inquisition struck with highest intensity (in the top third) the level of economic activity is sharply lower. </p>
<p>The magnitudes are large. In places with no persecution, median GDP per
capita was €19,450 (A$30,100). In places where the inquisition was most active, it is below €18,000 (A$28,670).</p>
<p>Our estimates imply that had Spain not suffered from the inquisition, its annual production today would be 4.1% higher – €811 (A$1,290) for each man, woman and child.</p>
<h2>More persecution, less education</h2>
<p>To get an idea of why the inquisition continues to cast such a dark economic shadow centuries after it ended, we used data from the barometer surveys conducted by the <a href="http://cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/index.html">Spanish Centre for Sociological Research</a>. </p>
<p>Since the inquisition was particularly suspicious of the educated, literate middle class, its impact on Spain’s cultural, scientific, and intellectual climate was severe. (As was the impact of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/stasi-41518">Stasi</a>, or secret police, in East Germany.) </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/policing-the-berlin-wall-the-photos-taken-by-the-stasis-hidden-cameras-126264">Policing the Berlin Wall: the photos taken by the Stasi's hidden cameras</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Once we control for other variables, we find that going from a region which had no exposure to the inquisition to one which had mid-range exposure cuts the share of the population receiving higher education today by 5.6%.</p>
<h2>More persecution, less trust</h2>
<p>The inquisition also changed the way civil society functioned. The prospect of secret denunciations by acquaintances made it harder for residents to cooperate. It diminished trust. </p>
<p>A standard trust question asked in the Spanish surveys is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In general, would you say people on average can be trusted, or would you say that one can never be too careful?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We analysed responses from more than 26,000 Spaniards interviewed between 2006 and 2015 and (after adjusting for time-specific effects) found that greater inquisitorial activity is still associated with somewhat less trust today. Although small, the effect is robust to different methods of calculation.</p>
<p>We also measured the frequency of church attendance, and found a related effect on religiosity. The greater the persecution in a location, the greater the level of church attendance today.</p>
<h2>More persecution, less income</h2>
<p>An objection that could be raised to our findings is that the inquisition might have been more active in poorer areas.</p>
<p>Standard histories suggest this is unlikely. The inquisition was self-financing. It had to confiscate property and impose fines to pay for its expenses.</p>
<p>Its mission was to persecute heresy, but it had strong incentives to look for it in richer places. Its early focus on persecuting Jews and later Protestants led it to target populations with higher levels of education.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/history-repeating-toxic-masculinity-and-australias-convict-past-157881">History repeating: toxic masculinity and Australia's convict past</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The inquisition’s persecution of perceived heretics is only one example of authoritarian intervention in people’s private lives. Other institutions, such as Stalin’s People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs and Hitler’s Gestapo, instituted similarly intrusive regimes of thought-control.</p>
<p>While the suffering of the accused and convicted was the single most important result of persecution, our findings suggest its effects live on. </p>
<p>Even now, 200 years on from the Spanish Inquisition, the locations affected appear to be poorer, more religious, less educated, and less trusting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166170/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordi Vidal-Robert acknowledges support from Humanities and Social Sciences Research
Council of Canada Grant 435-2015-0285. He is affiliated with the School of Economics at The University of Sydney and CAGE, University of Warwick. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mauricio Drelichman acknowledges support from the Humanities and Social Sciences Research Council of Canada Grant 435-2015-0285.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hans-Joachim Voth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Even now, 200 years on from the Spanish Inquisition, the locations affected appear to be poorer, less educated, and less trusting.Jordi Vidal-Robert, Lecturer in Economics, University of SydneyHans-Joachim Voth, UBS Professor of Macroeconomics and Financial Markets, University of ZurichMauricio Drelichman, Associate Professor, Vancouver School of Economics, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1723862021-11-23T06:32:29Z2021-11-23T06:32:29ZThird time lucky? What has changed in the latest draft of the religious discrimination bill?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433372/original/file-20211123-15-ak3jx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Morrison government has finally provided details of the third draft of its religious discrimination bill. This prompted <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/liberal-mps-express-concern-over-religious-freedom-bill-20211123-p59bcw.html">heated discussion</a> in a meeting of Coalition MPs on Tuesday, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison still wants to see the bill introduced in this final sitting fortnight of 2021. </p>
<p>What is the bill trying to do? What has changed since the last time we saw it? And will it be enough to satisfy the critics? </p>
<h2>Why do we have this bill?</h2>
<p>When same-sex marriage was legalised in late 2017, conservative religious groups were promised a “religious freedom” review as a consolation prize. That <a href="https://www.pmc.gov.au/domestic-policy/taskforces-past-domestic-policy-initiatives/religious-freedom-review">review</a>, led by former Liberal MP Phillip Ruddock, found Australia does not have a religious freedom problem, but did recommend new legislative protections against religious discrimination. In <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/government-response-religious-freedom-review">response</a>, in December 2018, the Morrison government promised a Religious Discrimination Act.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-debate-about-religious-discrimination-is-back-so-why-do-we-keep-hearing-about-religious-freedom-169643">The debate about religious discrimination is back, so why do we keep hearing about religious 'freedom'?</a>
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<p>Former Attorney-General Christian Porter released a draft religious discrimination bill in <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/consultations/religious-freedom-bills-first-exposure-drafts">late 2019</a> and a <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/consultations/religious-freedom-bills-second-exposure-drafts">second draft</a> in early 2020. </p>
<p>Both were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/30/this-bill-is-friendless-chris-bowen-signals-labor-could-vote-against-religious-freedom-bill">roundly criticised</a>. Human rights groups complained the bill weakened other human rights protections and created a licence to discriminate. Conservative groups complained it did not give adequate protections to people of faith.</p>
<h2>What’s in the third draft?</h2>
<p>Current Attorney-General Michaelia Cash’s third draft is effectively in two parts. </p>
<p>The first part is a legal “shield” protecting people from being discriminated against on the basis of their religion or lack of religion. This isn’t really controversial, as it simply adds religious discrimination to the existing suite of federal race, sex (also covering LGBTQIA+ status), disability and age discrimination laws. All states and territories, other than NSW and South Australia, already have laws prohibiting religious discrimination.</p>
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<img alt="Protesters at an anti-religious discrimination bill rally in Sydney in 2019." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433374/original/file-20211123-19-xoguei.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">LGBTQIA+ advocates say the bill will lead to increased discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bianca De Marchi/AAP</span></span>
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<p>The second part of the bill is a more of a legal “sword” and is more controversial. </p>
<p>Some of the controversial features of earlier drafts, such as the ability of healthcare providers to <a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-religious-discrimination-bill-enshrines-the-right-to-harm-others-in-the-name-of-faith-131206">refuse to provide treatment</a>, are gone. But the current draft still includes a range of provisions overriding federal, state and territory anti-discrimination laws to allow people to be discriminated against.</p>
<h2>The right to be a bigot</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the bill is the “statements of belief” provision. This provision overrides overrides every federal, state and territory anti-discrimination law to make “statements of belief” immune from legal consequences under those laws. </p>
<p>Statements of beliefs are things like comments from a boss to a female employee that “women should not hold leadership positions” or comments from a doctor to a patient that “disability is a punishment for sin”.</p>
<p>In order to gain immunity, the statement has to be a religious belief that the person genuinely considers to be in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of that religion. For non-religious people, the statement has to be of a belief that the person genuinely considers to relate to the fact of not holding a religious belief.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-morrison-gives-religious-discrimination-bill-priority-over-national-integrity-commission-172166">Grattan on Friday: Morrison gives religious discrimination bill priority over national integrity commission</a>
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<p>There are three limitations. A statement of belief will not be protected if it is malicious, if a reasonable person would consider the statement would threaten, intimidate, harass or vilify a person or group, or if the statement would promote or encourage the commission of an offence punishable by at least two years’ imprisonment.</p>
<p>This is an extraordinary departure from standard practice in federal anti-discrimination law. Standard practice is to ensure state and territory laws are not overridden.</p>
<p>This provision is bad for everyone. It will protect those who are nasty to Christians, as well as those who are nasty to LGBTQIA+ people, women or people with disabilities.</p>
<p>One key change from previous drafts is statements that intimidate will not be protected. Earlier drafts only excluded “serious intimidation”.</p>
<h2>A mini Folau clause</h2>
<p>Earlier drafts of the bill also included the so-called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/16/coalition-waters-down-religious-discrimination-bill-by-scrapping-folau-clause">Folau clause</a>”, named after the incident in which Israel Folau parted ways with Rugby Australia as a result of comments he posted on social media about gay people. That clause would have made it unlawful for employers to have codes of conduct that limit a person’s ability to make statements of belief. This provision is gone in the current draft.</p>
<p>But there is still a mini Folau clause. Qualifying bodies (like a medical board) that licence professions and occupations are banned from setting professional conduct rules that prohibit making statements of belief, unless compliance with the rule is an essential requirement of the profession, trade or occupation. </p>
<p>So while an employer can discipline an employee for making a statement of belief, a professional association cannot.</p>
<h2>‘Preferencing’ with hiring</h2>
<p>The bill would mean it is not religious discrimination for bodies such as religious schools, hospitals or aged care facilities to seek to preserve a “religious ethos” among staff by making faith-based decisions in relation to employment. </p>
<p>For example, a Catholic hospital would be able to have a Catholics-only hiring policy. The bill simply requires religious bodies to have publicly available policies if they want to take advantage of this rule.</p>
<p>The bill specifically overrides state and territory anti-discrimination laws to ensure that such “preferencing” in employment is allowed in religious schools, even in those states where this is unlawful. </p>
<h2>Constitutional concerns</h2>
<p>There are some complex constitutional issues with the bill. Here are three of them:</p>
<p>First, federal parliament might not have constitutional power to enact all parts of the bill. The government says it is relying on the “external affairs power”, which allows federal parliament to pass laws implementing treaty obligations, like article 18 of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a> about the right to freedom of thought, conscience and belief.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://undocs.org/A/HRC/37/49">international human rights</a> law is clear that religious freedom cannot be used to interfere with other rights, which is exactly what some parts of the bill do. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Interior of Catholic cathedral." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433375/original/file-20211123-21-1v0dx6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some religious groups have been pushing for a stronger bill, warning they are left vulnerable to claims of discrimination through practising their faith.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tracey Nearmy/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Second, overriding state laws throws the state tribunal systems into an unholy mess. State anti-discrimination cases are usually heard by state tribunals, which are quicker and cheaper than courts. But for constitutional reasons, state tribunals cannot consider federal laws. </p>
<p>If the bill passes, many state anti-discrimination cases will now also involve the federal “statement of belief” exemption, which means these cases will need to be heard by a court. Because court cases are very expensive, it is likely many of these cases simply won’t happen and people who have been discriminated against will be left without a remedy.</p>
<p>Third, the “statement of belief” provision overriding state and territory laws appears to change definitions in those laws rather than simply overriding the operation of those laws. While federal parliament has the power to override the operation of state laws, it does not have power to amend or change the content of those laws.</p>
<h2>Where to from here?</h2>
<p>Recent indications are the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/23/scott-morrison-promises-senate-inquiry-to-calm-fears-over-religious-discrimination-bill">bill will be referred</a> to a Senate inquiry – as per the normal process for an important piece of legislation. </p>
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<img alt="Attorney-General Michaelia Cash." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433376/original/file-20211123-27-1ozxaa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has charge of the controversial bill.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>If that happens, there’s almost no chance of a vote on the bill this year and the heated debate will continue. </p>
<p>But given the ongoing complexities and far-reaching consequences of the bill a proper Senate investigation is essential.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Beck is a member of the Australian Labor Party and is on the board of the Rationalist Society of Australia Inc. This article reflects only his personal views.</span></em></p>The Coalition has provided details of the third draft of its controversial bill.Luke Beck, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1696432021-11-18T19:11:33Z2021-11-18T19:11:33ZThe debate about religious discrimination is back, so why do we keep hearing about religious ‘freedom’?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431871/original/file-20211115-15-zmii41.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The debate about religious discrimination in Australia is back. </p>
<p>Attorney-General Michaelia Cash is planning to bring the <a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/religious-discrimination-bill-set-to-return-to-parliament-folau-clause-scrapped/news-story/914e375bcab3f0db08ac7ca9d0fee38a">latest version</a> of the bill to parliament in the last two sitting weeks of the year, beginning next week. </p>
<p>We are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-reopens-religious-discrimination-can-of-worms-but-bill-divides-mps-20211104-p595xv.html">yet to see</a> the most current draft, but the bill <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/explanatory-notes-second-exposure-draft-religious-discrimination-bill-2019.pdf">seeks to</a> prohibit discrimination “on the ground of religious belief or activity in key areas of public life”, including employment and education. </p>
<p>Once again, religious groups and LGBT+ advocates are raising what look to be <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/christian-lobby-boasts-religious-freedom-laws-will-include-folau-clause-20211022-p592ea.html">competing concerns</a> about the legislation’s impact on their rights and freedoms. </p>
<p>It is notable that the federal bill is ostensibly about religious discrimination, but in public discourse we discuss “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/right-wing-backlash-church-group-to-make-religious-freedom-an-election-issue-20210602-p57xce.html">religious freedom</a>”. This confusion isn’t helped by their <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/consultations/religious-freedom-bills-second-exposure-drafts">labelling</a> on the attorney-general’s department website as “the religious freedom bills”. </p>
<p>Why the conflation between these terms?</p>
<p>What is at stake with the new bill very much depends on how discrimination is conceptualised – to be free from it, or to exercise it – and by whom it is claimed.</p>
<h2>Context is important</h2>
<p>This conflation between discrimination and freedom in the contemporary Australian context has been about ten years in the making. In 2011, there <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/10/583/htm">was a shift</a> from religious freedom being about the right to be free from discrimination because of one’s religion, to being about the “right” to discriminate against others in the name of one’s religion.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-religious-discrimination-is-on-the-rise-around-the-world-including-in-australia-141789">New research shows religious discrimination is on the rise around the world, including in Australia</a>
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<p>Context is crucial here. Around this time, the campaign for marriage equality began to gain increasing traction in public debate. For example, this was the year GetUp’s “It’s Time” video in favour of same-sex marriage <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/getup-australian-gay-marriage-ad-its-time-goes-viral-video-376216">went viral</a>, with more than two million views in five days. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_TBd-UCwVAY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">GetUp! released a video clip in 2011, promoting marriage equality. It quickly went viral.</span></figcaption>
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<p>It was also the year that the Australian Human Rights Commission released its <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/lgbti/publications/addressing-sexual-orientation-and-sex-andor-gender-identity">first report</a> on LGBT+ discrimination, finding</p>
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<p>significant gaps in the legal protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and sex and/or gender identity at the state and territory level and almost no protections at the federal level. </p>
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<h2>A backlash after the postal vote</h2>
<p>But as the rights of LGBT+ people gained more prominence, so too did fears religious freedoms would be harmed. While legislation for marriage equality in 2017 was a huge milestone for the LGBT+ community, there was a backlash among some religious groups. </p>
<p>Following the postal vote, then-treasurer <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/72ab0aa3-c3f2-48e1-b365-7e7ac525ceb6/0106/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Scott Morrison</a> said:</p>
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<p>There are almost five million Australians who voted no in this [postal] survey who are now coming to terms with the fact that they are in the minority. That did not used to be the case […] They have concerns that their broader views and beliefs are […] therefore under threat.</p>
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<p>To appease opponents of same-sex marriage, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull set up a <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-03/religious-freedom-review-expert-panel-report-2018.pdf">Religious Freedom Review</a>. The review, headed up by Liberal MP Philip Ruddock, “did not accept the argument, put by some, that religious freedom is in imminent peril”. But it nevertheless recommended new legislative protections:</p>
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<p>to render it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of a person’s ‘religious belief or activity’, including on the basis that a person does not hold any religious belief. </p>
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<p>The Morrison government took a religious discrimination bill to the 2019 federal election and regards it as a key election commitment. </p>
<h2>A (very) heated debate over the bill</h2>
<p>The federal government has been consulting with the community and experts, but it has been a rocky road - with criticism from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/30/this-bill-is-friendless-chris-bowen-signals-labor-could-vote-against-religious-freedom-bill">almost all</a> interested parties (saying the bill either went too far or not far enough).</p>
<p>The bill has already been through multiple iterations. Indeed, it was initially supposed to be passed <a href="https://theconversation.com/morrison-wants-religious-discrimination-act-passed-before-election-108755">before the May 2019 federal election</a> and an attempt to introduce it to parliament at the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-delays-religious-discrimination-bill-until-2020-20191130-p53fm1.html">end of 2019 failed</a>, amid pressure from some religious leaders to strengthen protections for Australians of faith. </p>
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<img alt="An Australian flag flies in front of a church steeple." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431879/original/file-20211115-25-e39840.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The religious discrimination bill was initially supposed to be voted on before the 2019 election.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span>
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<p>For example, some conservative Christian <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.utas.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/1031461X.2021.1898652">groups</a> want to be able to maintain the “right to discriminate” based on their beliefs. For example, the Presbyterian Church of Queensland is <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/Presbyterian%20Church%20of%20Queensland.pdf">concerned</a> with </p>
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<p>whether Christian institutions such as schools can [still] assert a traditional view that God made people male and female, gender not being fluid, but corresponding with their biological sex.</p>
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<p>Other Christian groups, such as the <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/the-christian-medical-and-dental-fellowship-of-australia-cmdfa-and-institute-for-judaism-and-civilisation.pdf">Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship</a>, want to be able to continue gay conversion therapies. </p>
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<p>[Religious texts] promote the stability of gender identity in accordance with chromosomal directive and would encourage psychological support for the confused […].</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>A ‘Folau clause’</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, religious groups continue to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/16/coalition-waters-down-religious-discrimination-bill-by-scrapping-folau-clause">raise</a> “freedom of speech” concerns – in part, linked to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/03/coalition-split-over-religious-discrimination-bill-with-one-mp-having-serious-concerns-over-folau-clause">treatment of Israel Folau</a>. In 2019, Folau lost his contract with Rugby Australia for social media posts about LGBT+ people. An <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-04/rugby-australia-israel-folau-mediation-settlement/11765866">undisclosed settlement</a> was reached later that year. </p>
<p>Legal academic Patrick Emerton highlights the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/israel-folau,-religious-freedom-and-the-limits-of-toleration/11272700">ongoing conflict</a> this incident raised: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>No doubt Folau’s views are sincerely held, and his adherence to his conception of the good is deep and genuine. But the lives of gay and lesbian people are lived sincerely and genuinely also.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At this point, it is important to emphasise Christians and the LGBT+ community are not locked in a zero-sum human rights game.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign promoting marriage equality outside a Uniting Church church in 2017." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431881/original/file-20211115-27-kvu30y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some religious groups, such as The Uniting Church, backed marriage equality and now have concerns about how the proposed laws will impact upon LGBT+ people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">James Ross/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There was <a href="https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/national-news/australian-christians-marriage-equality-launch-yes-campaign/161454">explicit Christian community support</a> for marriage equality, for instance. And, of course, <a href="https://about.unimelb.edu.au/news-resources/pride-in-action-ally-network/lgbtiqa-and-faith-communities">some LGBT+ people are religious</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, the Ruddock panel found “limited evidence that the fears of religious groups expressed during that [marriage equality] debate had come to pass in Australia”.</p>
<h2>What happens now?</h2>
<p>Where does this leave the debate as it heads towards the floor of parliament? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coalitions-approach-to-religious-discrimination-risks-being-an-inconclusive-wasteful-exercise-125486">The Coalition's approach to religious discrimination risks being an inconclusive, wasteful exercise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is possible for a tightly-worded bill to protect against religious discrimination and maintain the hard-won rights of LGBT+ Australians. As the <a href="https://www.ag.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/The%20Australian%20GLBTIQ%20Multicultural%20Council.pdf">Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council</a> notes, they support legislation which prevents discrimination against Australians “on the basis of faith and religion, or for not holding those beliefs”, with this caution:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Any new law should be a simple anti-discrimination bill without conferring the numerous special privileges and rights that the current proposed legislation provides for.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such legislation could ensure religious Australians - including members of minority religions - have avenues of protection if they are <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/publications/sharing-stories-australian-muslims-2021">targets of discrimination</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we need to ask whether the bill is about stopping discrimination, or <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14407833211022036">maintaining privilege</a> to act beyond ordinary standards of accountability.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Richardson-Self receives funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate Religious Freedom, LGBT+ Employees, and the Right to Discriminate (DP200100395). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elenie Poulos has received funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate Religious Freedom, LGBT+ Employees, and the Right to Discriminate and is an ordained minister of the Uniting Church in Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharri Lembryk receives funding from the Australian Research Council to provide research assistance on the project Religious Freedom, LGBT+ Employees, and the Right to Discriminate (DP200100395), and is on an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship through the University of NSW.</span></em></p>What is at stake with the new bill very much depends on how discrimination is conceptualised and who is doing the claiming.Louise Richardson-Self, Lecturer in Philosophy & Gender Studies, University of TasmaniaElenie Poulos, Honorary Postdoctoral Associate Macquarie Universit, Macquarie UniversitySharri Lembryk, PhD Candidate, Sessional Tutor, Research Assistant, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1667762021-09-13T12:15:26Z2021-09-13T12:15:26ZWho are the Hazara of Afghanistan? An expert on Islam explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/419910/original/file-20210908-24-80wscj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=29%2C0%2C4891%2C3172&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Hazara have long been targeted in Afghanistan, and many fear violence will intensify with the Taliban in power.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/afghan-community-in-greece-demonstate-in-central-athens-on-news-photo/1232877052?adppopup=true">Dimitris Lampropoulos/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The land we now call Afghanistan has been a place of constant migration through its mountainous passes. Its linguistic, cultural and religious diversity is a result of millennia of trade along <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=p4_it5yw9WsC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">the Silk Road</a>. More than a dozen ethnic groups are mentioned in <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2020/05/14/long-read-sowing-seeds-of-ethnic-division-afghanistans-constitution-and-electoral-system/">the country’s constitution</a>.</p>
<p>Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban means that some minorities are again at heightened risk of persecution.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=X3PKZLgAAAAJ">religion and politics scholar</a> focused on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khoja">Khoja</a> – Shiite Muslim communities originally from India but <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/25593">now scattered across the globe</a> – I have studied the precariousness of being a religious and ethnic minority in the region. </p>
<p>Among the Afghans who have the most to lose today, I would argue, are groups with a different interpretation of Islam – particularly the Shiite Hazara community, the nation’s <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghan-ethnic-groups-brief-investigation">third-largest ethnic group</a>, who have <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/hazaras-afghan-state/">faced discrimination</a> for more than a century.</p>
<p>In July 2021, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/08/afghanistan-taliban-responsible-for-brutal-massacre-of-hazara-men-new-investigation/">nine Hazara men were killed by Taliban fighters</a> in southeastern Afghanistan, according to a report by Amnesty International – echoing previous periods under the Taliban when the Hazara <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/1998/11/01/afghanistan-massacre-mazar-i-sharif#">were targeted</a>.</p>
<h2>Rich history</h2>
<p>The Hazara’s roots in South Asia go back centuries. Their ancestors <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3628602">are said to include Mongol troops</a>, and recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2019.06.018">genetic</a> analysis has confirmed partial Mongol ancestry. </p>
<p>Today, the Hazara comprise 10%-20% of the national population of Afghanistan, where their traditional homeland is in a central region <a href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/hazara-1">called Hazarajat</a>. This makes them an important minority in a country of 38 million.</p>
<p>There are also significant Hazara communities <a href="http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1277/1/2009CreasyMTh.pdf">in Pakistan</a>, as well as a
Western diaspora in such countries as the United States and the U.K. Many Hazara outside Afghanistan fled during the violence of the past five decades, from a coup in 1973 and the Soviet invasion <a href="https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1080/13504630601163353">to the Taliban’s rise</a> and the U.S.-led war.</p>
<h2>Frequent targets</h2>
<p>While most Hazara are Muslim, the majority belong to the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1353/isl.2014.0013">minority Shiite tradition</a>. Most Muslims around the world follow the Sunni tradition, which recognizes Muhammad’s companion Abu Bakr as his rightful successor. Shiite Muslims like the Hazara, however, believe that the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, should have succeeded Muhammad after his death in A.D. 632.</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, as elsewhere, tensions between the majority Sunni Muslim population and Shiite Muslims has been a source of steady conflict. The Hazara continue to be targeted and brutally murdered by the Taliban <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Racism/SR/Call/mhhasrat.pdf">in Afghanistan</a> and its associates <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/11/09/hazarajat-lost-when-a-city-refused-to-bury-their-dead/">in Pakistan</a>. <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/09/04/afghanistan-withdrawal-taliban-isis-k-hazaras-shia-minority-rights/">Islamic State-affiliated groups</a> have also targeted Shiite communities in South Asia, including the Hazara.</p>
<p>The community has long been among Afghanistan’s poorest and faces <a href="https://apnews.com/article/islamic-state-group-shootings-05612533bbcbfa2d836d46d84b82ee92">daily harassment</a>, including in finding jobs.</p>
<h2>Not just religion</h2>
<p>The Taliban idealize a particular vision of Islamic “purity” and <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/29970/1/WP022010_Brahimi.pdf">seek to impose it</a> through their strict rules. </p>
<p>To understand the Taliban only as Muslim extremists, however, is to miss the political and economic reality of why and how they operate in Afghanistan. Afghanistan produces the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1086/589673">vast majority</a> of the world’s opium, which is used to make heroin, and the Taliban <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-taliban-are-megarich-heres-where-they-get-the-money-they-use-to-wage-war-in-afghanistan-147411">control much of those profits</a>. Violence in the name of religion also helps the group expand its territory and <a href="https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_etd/send_file/send?accession=ohiou1319657998">enforce control</a>.</p>
<p>From this perspective, minorities like the Hazara pose a twofold threat to the Taliban. </p>
<p>First, their different traditions challenge the Taliban’s authority to claim religious truth. Their presence is a testament to an indigenous, pluralistic tradition of Islam that has accommodated multiple faiths over centuries, despite periods of brutal persecution. For example, the famous <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674503793">Bamiyan</a> Buddha statues in the heart of Hazara territory were respected for centuries by the surrounding community, until they were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. </p>
<p>Second, Afghanistan is a weak state where many tribes and communities cooperate or compete for power. Long-standing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.1998.10107842">ethnonationalist conflict</a> makes it in the Taliban’s interests to keep dissent to a minimum.</p>
<p>The Hazara’s security represents something bigger: the possibility of a pluralistic and multiethnic nation. Since the American withdrawal, however, thousands of Hazara who withstood years of hardship and violence have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/29/hazara-shias-flee-afghanistan-fearing-taliban-persecution">sought refuge</a> in Pakistan. For now, they and other minorities fear a period of increased oppression and dislocation under the Taliban.</p>
<p>[<em>This week in religion, a global roundup each Thursday.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-global-roundup">Sign up.</a>]</p>
<p></p><hr><p></p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418525/original/file-20210830-33-yznmc8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Read all six articles in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/understanding-islam-108919">Understanding Islam series on TheConversation.com</a>, or we can deliver them straight to your inbox if you <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/understanding-islam-79">sign up for our email newsletter course</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166776/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iqbal Akhtar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With the Taliban again in power in Afghanistan, minorities like the Hazara may have the most to lose.Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Florida International UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1657192021-08-31T12:28:42Z2021-08-31T12:28:42ZLessons about 9/11 often provoke harassment of Muslim students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418438/original/file-20210830-21-1p6zfzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim students report being teased and harassed when schools focus on 9/11.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/muslim-teenage-girl-thinking-for-travel-royalty-free-image/1136157808?adppopup=true">Jasmin Merdan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Near the start of each school year, many U.S. schools <a href="https://time.com/5672103/9-11-history-curriculum/">wrestle with how to teach about 9/11</a> – the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-events-united-states">deadliest foreign attack ever on American soil</a>.</p>
<p>In interviews I conducted recently in the <a href="https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/sections/2-1105.html">Washington, D.C., metropolitan area</a> – one of three places <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57698668">where hijacked planes crashed</a> on Sept. 11, 2001 – I found that Muslim students are often subjected to ridicule and blame for the 9/11 attacks.</p>
<p>“Even if they’re joking around, they’ll say ‘terrorist’ and stuff like that,” one student told me. “That used to trigger me a lot.”</p>
<p>Another student told me: “9/11, every single year, is so awkward. The administrators would be like ‘On this fateful day, this happened’… then the Muslim jokes would come up, like ‘Don’t blow us up.’ When I was younger it bothered me, but now I’m just desensitized to it.”</p>
<p>“There’s so much tension, just being even this color and then being a Muslim, period,” yet another student told me. “It’s really strange, like, you feel it, they’re not saying it … ’You don’t understand this question because you’re Muslim,‘ which is the strangest thing, but it’s definitely the tension that these teachers give off sometimes.”</p>
<p>These students are among the 55 Muslim students, ages 12 to 21, whom I interviewed in the Greater Washington, D.C., area from 2019 through 2021 about their experiences in school during <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00377996.2011.585551">classroom lessons</a> about 9/11. Their experience is part of a larger pattern of Muslim students being <a href="https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2020-amid-pandemic-and-protest/#summary">targeted and bullied in U.S. schools</a>.</p>
<h2>Increase in harassment</h2>
<p>A 2020 poll found that <a href="https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2020-amid-pandemic-and-protest/#summary">51% of American Muslim families</a> reported that their children experienced religious-based bullying – insults or physical assaults – in school. That’s nearly twice the rate reported by parents among the general public, the same poll found. Perhaps more disturbingly, <a href="https://www.ispu.org/american-muslim-poll-2020-amid-pandemic-and-protest/#summary">30%</a> of those incidents reportedly involved a teacher or school official – the same people whom students ought to be able to turn to for support.</p>
<h2>Effects on learning</h2>
<p>When Muslim students experience these kinds of challenges at school, it is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12238">higher levels of psychological distress</a>. Students can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/290495197_Race_and_belonging_in_school_How_anticipated_and_experienced_belonging_affect_choice_persistence_and_performance">learn better</a> when educators foster a sense of emotional safety and belonging.</p>
<p>Observers might conclude that it’s no big deal when students merely <a href="https://doi.org/10.18848/2327-0136/CGP/v28i01/45-57">subject their Muslim classmates to jokes</a> – that the teasing is all in good humor and a normal part of high school.</p>
<p>My research – which is ongoing and unpublished – suggests that this sort of cavalier attitude can be found among teachers and administrators. A few students in my study noticed their teachers would dismiss their concerns or make excuses for students who teased Muslim students about 9/11 by suggesting the other student “didn’t mean it” or “was misunderstood.”</p>
<p>But calling Muslim students “terrorists” or telling them “don’t blow us up” repeats deeply ingrained <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716203588001011">stereotypes that vilify</a> Muslims as prone to extremist violence and should be considered <a href="https://islamophobiaisracism.wordpress.com/">anti-Muslim racism</a>, I believe. </p>
<h2>Opposition from the top</h2>
<p>Beyond having their concerns about harassment dismissed, Muslim students sometimes must deal with school administrators who block their efforts to form identity groups. For instance, a 2018 study found that at a high school where the principal suspended meetings for a Muslim Student Association, Muslim students felt as if their school was “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-01-2018-0009">characterized by exclusion and racialized surveillance</a>.” Muslim students also report that their commitment to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11smkkj">democratic values</a> is often called into question.</p>
<p>Despite the animosity that Muslim students face, scholars who specialize in Muslim student issues, such as <a href="https://www.dom.edu/directory/suhad-tabahi">Suhad Tabahi</a> and <a href="https://www.bu.edu/ssw/lecturers-mahlet-meshesha-and-dr-layla-khayr-join-bussw/">Layla Khayr</a>, argue that schools can do more to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cs/cdaa033">combat anti-Muslim racism</a>.</p>
<p>Much of that work can be done in the classroom – and school-based 9/11 observances and lessons represent a prime opportunity.</p>
<p>As a teacher trainer who partly works in developing <a href="https://www.contemporaryislam.org/9-11-teaching.html">culturally responsive 9/11 teaching resources</a>, I offer three strategies educators can use to reenvision how they deal with the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath.</p>
<h2>1. Teach culturally diverse stories</h2>
<p>Although it’s common for people to recall how “<a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks">Islamic extremists</a>” carried out the 9/11 attacks, it’s also true that Muslim immigrants, such as Mohammed Salman Hamdani, lost their lives serving as <a href="https://storycorps.org/stories/talat-hamdani-and-armeen-hamdani/">first responders</a>. Those stories can help counterbalance the negative sentiments that arise from Muslim-blaming narratives that sometimes accompany lessons about 9/11.</p>
<h2>2. Examine the social and political effects of 9/11</h2>
<p>Teach students how immigration policies became <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/human_rights_vol38_2011/human_rights_winter2011/9-11_transformation_of_us_immigration_law_policy/">linked to national security</a>. Introduce students to how 9/11 gave rise to the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm">USA Patriot Act</a>, which authorized the broad use of federal surveillance to counter violent extremism, led to the formation of the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/history">Department of Homeland Security</a> and informed the so-called “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/proclamation-ending-discriminatory-bans-on-entry-to-the-united-states/">Muslim ban</a>.”</p>
<p>Discuss how 9/11 led to <a href="https://scholars.org/contribution/targeting-muslim-americans-name-national-security">“no-fly” lists</a> and disproportionately affected the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aeq.12136">surveillance</a> of Muslim Americans. Recount how the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/war-on-terror-timeline">wars</a> in Afghanistan and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3689022">Iraq</a> were linked to 9/11.</p>
<p>Show students how Muslims, and <a href="https://storycorps.org/stories/remembering-balbir-singh-sodhi-sikh-man-killed-in-post-911-hate-crime/">people assumed to be Muslim</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-islam-idUSKBN16T1TL">feared for their personal safety</a> because of all the backlash that followed 9/11.</p>
<p>This can help students better understand contemporary events, such as why <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/americans-prepare-to-welcome-thousands-of-afghan-refugees-even-as-political-rhetoric-heats-up/ar-AANxFS6?ocid=uxbndlbing">Afghan refugees</a> are coming to America, or why <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-potential-terrorism-threats-911-anniversary/">airport security</a> increases around Sept. 11 each year.</p>
<h2>3. Keep students safe</h2>
<p>As the United States prepares for <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-potential-terrorism-threats-911-anniversary/">potential terror threats</a> on the anniversary of 9/11, educators bear a responsibility to maintain a safe learning environment. Teachers should pay attention to the conversations between students to ensure that they are not repeating harmful words and actions that target Muslims. </p>
<p>Respond to students who express fear for their personal safety. Educators should consult their state’s <a href="https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/laws">anti-bullying policies</a> to get up to speed on how to handle harassment.</p>
<p>But by offering a broader perspective of 9/11 and its aftermath, educators can create a safer learning experience for students as they reflect on 9/11 and how it forever changed Americans’ lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165719/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amaarah DeCuir does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Comments made during class discussions about 9/11 often put Muslim students on edge, according to a researcher who interviewed 55 Muslim students in and around the nation’s capital.Amaarah DeCuir, Professorial Lecturer of Education, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1656812021-08-19T08:54:33Z2021-08-19T08:54:33ZIndonesia’s obsession to maintain social order hinders equal treatment of minority faiths<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/416730/original/file-20210818-15-17fbihz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C251%2C3988%2C2407&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aprillio Akbar/Antara Foto</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few weeks ago, Religious Affairs Minister Cholil Yaqut Qoumas became a target of public <a href="https://en.tempo.co/read/1489204/religious-freedom-group-lauds-ministers-greetings-for-bahais">criticism and praise</a> for congratulating followers of the minority Baha'i faith in Indonesia on celebrating their Nowruz holiday.</p>
<p>Nowruz is the <a href="https://bahai-library.com/walbridge_encyclopedia_nawruz">first day</a> of the Bahaʼi calendar year. It is one of nine holy days for Bahaʼi adherents.</p>
<p>Indonesian state and government officials extending holiday greetings to the followers of majority faiths is a common practice in Indonesia. It is often seen as the practice of tolerance. </p>
<p>But expanding it to the community of minority faiths, especially those who are not officially acknowledged by the state, is still considered a serious political and social sin. </p>
<p>For decades, the Indonesian government has recognised only six major religions – namely, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Protestant Christianity and Roman Catholicism.</p>
<p>Cholil’s holiday greeting to the Baha'i is not his first “progressive” move as the religious minister. Soon after he was installed as minister at the end of last year, he vowed to affirm the rights of Ahmadiyah and Shia, two minority faiths with sizeable followings in Indonesia. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, he requested prayers that <a href="https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2021/04/08/18015461/soal-doa-dari-semua-agama-menag-salahnya-doa-ini-apa-sih-orang-disuruh-doa">address all major religions</a> – not only Islam – be read out at events organised by his ministry.</p>
<p>Despite his more progressive, liberal leaning, it is unlikely Cholil will succeed in bringing in major reforms promoting equal treatment of minority faiths. </p>
<p>The minister faces a culture among state officials that tends to preserve “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0967828X18769393">majoritarian social order</a>”. This means the majority (either by religion, ethnicity, social class, or other identity) of the population holds certain powers or can make decisions for the entire society.</p>
<h2>Social order</h2>
<p>The inclination to preserve social order has been developed since the establishment of the Indonesian state and began in the Dutch colonial era. </p>
<p>Scholars found that this <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0967828X18769393">culture</a> survived through various eras, although the degree of implementation varied from time to time. </p>
<p>Under the authoritarian regime of Suharto, the state excessively emphasised harmony in the community. This resulted in the repression of dissent. </p>
<p>The regime often accused dissidents of being a destructive force against the country’s social order. </p>
<p>In the post-Suharto era, all branches of the state, including the judiciary, continued this culture. The majority faiths were privileged, at the expense of people who subscribed to minority faiths. </p>
<p>One example is the trial of Tajul Muluk, a Shia leader, who was <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/07/13/convicted-shiite-cleric-i-am-not-infidel.html">convicted</a> of having blasphemed Islam and disrupting social harmony. </p>
<p>Shia is a minority Islamic sect within the country’s Muslim-majority population, which is dominated by Sunni Muslims.</p>
<p>The East Java district court sentenced him to two years in jail in 2013. He appealed but, in the end, the Supreme Court doubled his sentence to <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/09/19/mk-rejects-tajul-muluk-s-request-a-judicial-review.html">four years</a> in jail. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/02/28/religions-name/abuses-against-religious-minorities-indonesia">Numerous</a> other Indonesian religious figures have been jailed for blasphemy charges after trying to introduce new religious practices or habits that were said to have deviated from religious rituals practised by followers of the majority faiths. </p>
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<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-competition-for-religious-authority-breeds-islamist-militancy-in-java-146919">How competition for religious authority breeds Islamist militancy in Java</a>
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<h2>Monotheism</h2>
<p>The founding ideology of Indonesia, called <em>Pancasila</em> (literally, “five principles”), comprises monotheism, civilised humanity, national unity, deliberative democracy and social justice. </p>
<p>The first principle, “Belief in One God”, is an important factor that hindered the establishment of equal treatment. </p>
<p>Indonesia’s founding father created the ideology during a series of meetings leading to independence. According to political scholar B.J. Boland, it was later used by the Ministry of Religious Affairs as an “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctvbqs4mn">operative principle</a>” to support the Muslim majority. Non-mainstream faiths have been repressed since the early years of the Indonesian state.</p>
<p>This value, which promotes both monotheism and the establishment of a more religious country, inspires and influences the formulation of laws and regulations in Indonesia. These regulations include <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/_index-_asa_210182014.pdf">the 1965 blasphemy presidential decree</a>, which has often been used to repress minority faiths. </p>
<p>President Sukarno issued the decree in 1965 to prevent conflicts between the followers of mystical beliefs or folk religions and the followers of mainstream faiths such as Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. </p>
<p>The decree became law four years later. To this day, state apparatuses often use this law to curb faiths that are claimed to be deviant sects and to criminalise their leaders.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Baca juga:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-daily-lives-of-indonesian-youth-can-tell-us-why-they-become-more-conservative-132019">How the daily lives of Indonesian youth can tell us why they become more conservative</a>
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<h2>Uphill battle</h2>
<p>These cultural and ideological values are so well entrenched in the practices of the Indonesian state that any efforts to reform certain discriminatory laws and practices will be destined to fail. </p>
<p>For example, Indonesians have to state their religion in identity documents – one of the six religions recognised by the state for decades. </p>
<p>Followers of minority and native faiths have faced <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2017/11/13/native-faith-followers-survive-decades-discrimination.html">discrimination</a> for failing to comply with this requirement. They are often barred from receiving public services such as getting a marriage certificate.</p>
<p>It was not until <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/02/faith-optional-e-id-card.html">2012</a> that the Indonesian government allowed citizens, especially subscribers to nondenominational faiths, to forgo declaring their religious beliefs on the identity card. Indigenous faith followers have only been able to cite their religious preferences on identity cards since <a href="https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/20/indigenous-faiths-allowed-id-card.html">2015</a></p>
<p>Despite such progressive measures, and although the current religious affairs minister has shown some progressive impulses, more fundamental reforms are needed to abolish the discriminatory laws and practices. The process of reform requires major overhaul of the discriminatory cultural and ideological values behind these laws and practices. </p>
<p>Failure to do so will be harmful for freedom of religion in Indonesia, particularly in regard to ensuring equal treatment of minority faiths.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165681/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A'an Suryana tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas.</span></em></p>To put an end to discriminatory laws and practices, more fundamental reforms are needed.A'an Suryana, Visiting Fellow, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647222021-07-21T12:57:37Z2021-07-21T12:57:37ZHijab ruling presents the thorny problem of legislating for all EU member states<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/412397/original/file-20210721-17-1qohif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C23%2C5168%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-british-muslim-women-texting-outside-588829172">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A top EU court is again wrestling with the contentious issue of religious freedom and discrimination, ruling that <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/top-eu-court-says-headscarves-can-be-banned-work-under-certain-conditions-2021-07-15/">employers can restrict religious symbols</a>, such as hijabs, in the workplace.</p>
<p>The EU court of justice held that such rules are potentially discriminatory, but can be justified if the employer shows they are necessary and are consistently applied to all symbols of religion or belief.</p>
<p>The ruling came in response to two cases concerning Muslim women in Germany. The German courts had asked the EU court for advice on interpreting EU legislation that prohibits discrimination in employment. </p>
<p>In the first case, a childcare worker was disciplined for wearing a hijab at work in violation of her employer’s policy that those dealing with children and parents should abide by a strict requirement of religious and political neutrality in order to guarantee the “free development” of children.</p>
<p>The court noted that the employer required neutrality only from staff dealing with parents and children, so the rule did not appear to go beyond what was necessary. The employer also required a Christian worker to remove the crucifix she wore, indicating that the rule was consistently applied. </p>
<p>In the second case, a sales assistant was disciplined for wearing a hijab at work in violation of a rule against “conspicuous, large-sized signs of any political, philosophical or religious beliefs”. Her employer said this was necessary to avoid workplace conflicts that had arisen in the past.</p>
<p>Here, the court had more doubt. It noted that only banning “large and conspicuous” symbols risked the rule targeting specifically those whose beliefs require them to wear items such as headscarves. A rule targeting the symbols of one faith, it advised the national court, could only be acceptable in exceptional circumstances where neutrality is absolutely indispensable to doing the job.</p>
<p>The court noted that while EU law permits employers to uphold a policy of religious neutrality, it does not prevent individual member states from adopting rules that are more protective of religious freedom at work, restricting the right of employers to impose such duties on their workers. The German courts, which will now have to apply this ruling in the individual cases, are therefore free to give additional protection to religious freedom if they feel that this is what the German constitution requires.</p>
<h2>Religion and the workplace</h2>
<p>There are two contrasting approaches for people of different religious identities and viewpoints to share a workplace. One is to protect the right of everyone to be fully themselves at work and to wear symbols of religion or belief if they so choose. The second way sees coexistence as best achieved by requiring everyone to refrain from expressing their beliefs at work by adhering to a policy of visible religious neutrality.</p>
<p>Restricting religious symbols at work curtails the religious freedom of employees. Furthermore, what is considered to be “neutral” in any society will bear the imprint of that society’s history and culture. Complying with a “neutral” standard is likely to be more difficult for minority groups. </p>
<p>Still, encouraging religious expression at work is controversial. Most mainstream religions have teachings on matters such as gender and sexuality that people can legitimately find offensive. </p>
<p>Commentators have expressed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/turkey-says-eu-headscarf-ruling-grants-legitimacy-to-racism">disappointment</a> in the EU court’s ruling, accusing the court of failing to take religious discrimination seriously – and even pandering to prejudice.</p>
<p>Regulating religion brings particular difficulties. Religion is both a matter of what you believe and who you are. It is hard to protect religious identity without appearing to privilege religious over other forms of belief. If a religious employee can wear a crucifix or a hijab at work, can an atheist employee wear a “There is no God” t-shirt? Can a vegan employee wear a sticker saying “Meat is murder?” </p>
<h2>Ruling for the whole EU</h2>
<p>In cases like these, the EU court faces the delicate task of interpreting legislation that applies to 27 member states, all with different values and approaches to religious freedom. As EU anti-discrimination legislation can only be amended with the agreement of every member state, if the court gets it wrong, the EU is likely to be stuck with its interpretation indefinitely.</p>
<p>In France, the approach has often been to pursue coexistence by pushing people to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/i24757129">hold back on expressing religious identity</a> in shared contexts. In the UK, by contrast, the approach has been to facilitate religious expression. Each approach has its detractors on both the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-12371994">right</a> and the <a href="https://www.thepixelproject.net/2017/07/30/inspirational-interview-pragna-patel-part-i">left</a>.</p>
<p>Many in France see the French way of doing things as oppressive and as exclusionary towards minorities, and tainted with elements of colonialist thinking. On the other hand, some in the UK feel that cohesion has been poorly served by approaches that emphasise religious differences. </p>
<p>Statistics on which approach is better at producing mutual respect, friendship across religious lines and religious beliefs <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/librarydoc/the-gallup-coexist-index-2009-a-global-study-of-interfaith-relations">compatible with liberal democratic values</a> are mixed.</p>
<p>With such different views among nations and no historical precedent, it would have been wrong for a multinational court to decide it had identified the ideal approach and impose it on all 27 member states.</p>
<p>The EU court was right to allow states to continue to experiment with different ways of managing this situation. States that want to encourage religious reticence in shared contexts can do so. Those that wish to provide greater protection for religious expression at work may also do. </p>
<p>It was also right to impose some limits by ensuring bans cannot target one faith. Too often in Europe, secularist principles have been cynically embraced by those with exclusionary agendas. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, for example, appeared to only discover a love for secularist principles after realising they could be <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316433073_Exclusionary_secularism_the_Front_national_and_the_reinvention_of_laicite">used as a stick</a> with which to beat French Muslims.</p>
<p>For a multinational court, dealing with virtually unamendable legislation and a rapidly changing and unpredictable situation, that is about as much as it was prudent to do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronan McCrea does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An EU court’s ruling on religious freedom in the workplace demonstrates the perils of legislating for 27 member states.Ronan McCrea, Professor of Constitutional and European Law, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1637122021-07-02T12:16:07Z2021-07-02T12:16:07ZReligion at the Supreme Court: 3 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/409328/original/file-20210701-17-1ui7qcm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C24%2C8171%2C5415&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illuminating recent Supreme Court rulings.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/supreme-court-royalty-free-image/1250962188?adppopup=true">Geoff Livingston via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court wrapped up its latest term on July 1, 2021, with <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/01/politics-live-updates/">a couple of final opinions</a>.</p>
<p>It was the first session with Justice Amy Coney Barrett sitting on the bench. Her appointment – replacing Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruth-bader-ginsburg-helped-shape-the-modern-era-of-womens-rights-even-before-she-went-on-the-supreme-court-95705">died in September 2020</a> – tipped the balance further in favor of conservative-leaning justices, who now hold a 6-3 majority in the highest court of the land.</p>
<p>Religion proved a throughline for the session. Legal arguments over the extent to which First Amendment rights <a href="https://theconversation.com/amy-coney-barrett-sizes-up-30-year-old-precedent-balancing-religious-freedom-with-rule-of-law-149600">protect faith-based groups in the public sphere</a> were among the first heard back in November, with a ruling on the matter coming down in mid-June. In between, the justices were called upon to decide whether <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-11-26/supreme-courts-conservatives-lift-covid-restrictions-on-new-york-houses-of-worship">religious freedoms should trump health concerns</a> during the pandemic, among other issues.</p>
<p>These rulings tended to fall in favor of religious liberty. Legal experts writing for The Conversation were on hand to help explain what it all means. </p>
<h2>1. A verdict that hints at more to come?</h2>
<p>Getting a unanimous verdict on a contentious issue is no mean feat. But it was achieved in the case of <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/19-123">Fulton v. City of Philadelphia</a>, in which the justices agreed 9-0 that the city was wrong to end its relationship with a Catholic adoption agency that refused to work with same-sex couples.</p>
<p>It was a narrow ruling that, initially at least, only affects the specific case brought to the court. To the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-cheer-for-the-supreme-court-on-religious-liberty-11623970233">disappointment of some conservatives</a>, it didn’t deliver an immediate, dramatic expansion of religious rights. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.uml.edu/fahss/political-science/faculty/marietta-morgan.aspx">constitutional law expert Morgan Marietta</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-unanimously-upholds-religious-liberty-over-lgbtq-rights-and-nods-to-a-bigger-win-for-conservatives-ahead-161398">argues it is nonetheless consequential</a>. “It means that any unequal treatment of religious groups will be regarded as a violation of the First Amendment, even if it comes at the expense of the dignity of LGBTQ citizens,” he writes.</p>
<p>And, Marietta adds, it could nod toward a greater victory for the religious right further down the track: “It suggests that when the broader question of whether religious groups have the right to discriminate does come before the justices, they will likely uphold religious liberty over gay rights.”</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-unanimously-upholds-religious-liberty-over-lgbtq-rights-and-nods-to-a-bigger-win-for-conservatives-ahead-161398">Supreme Court unanimously upholds religious liberty over LGBTQ rights – and nods to a bigger win for conservatives ahead</a>
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<h2>2. Continuing a winning streak</h2>
<p>The verdict in the Fulton case should come as no real surprise. As <a href="https://willamette.edu/law/faculty/profiles/green/index.html">Steven Green, professor of law at Willamette University</a>, writes, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-supreme-court-found-its-faith-and-put-religious-liberty-on-a-winning-streak-158509">Supreme Court has tended to look favorably on faith-based arguments</a> in recent years. He notes that since George W. Bush appointed John Roberts as chief justice in 2005, “the justices have ruled in favor of religious claimants 81% of the time.”</p>
<p>This winning streak extended into the pandemic with majority <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-courts-ruling-blocking-cuomos-covid-19-order-could-influence-other-cases-11606428800">rulings in which</a> <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/02/divided-court-allows-indoor-worship-services-to-resume-in-california/">the Supreme Court struck down</a> restrictions on religious services imposed to lower the risk of COVID-19’s spread.</p>
<p>Green points out that the court is essentially saying religious entities have to be treated as favorably as the most essential service in the pandemic when deciding if they should remain open. At the same time, such entities have been given the go-ahead to “discriminate against customers or employees in a way the essential services cannot,” according to Green.</p>
<p>“It is,” Green concludes, “the legal equivalent of having your cake and eating it, too.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-supreme-court-found-its-faith-and-put-religious-liberty-on-a-winning-streak-158509">How the Supreme Court found its faith and put 'religious liberty' on a winning streak</a>
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<h2>3. Religious identity and ideology</h2>
<p>The backdrop to these rulings is a shift to the right – both religiously and politically – in the makeup of the Supreme Court in recent decades. <a href="https://gould.usc.edu/faculty/?id=312#:%7E:text=Nomi%20M.,liberalism%2C%20and%20law%20and%20literature.">Nomi Stolzenberg, professor of law at University of Southern California</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-identity-and-supreme-court-justices-a-brief-history-146999">took a deep look at the history of religious identity</a> at the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>She explains that religion has “always played a strong role” in shaping the composition of the Supreme Court. But the nature of that influence has changed over time. Whereas until the 1980s it was denominational in nature – that is to say, focus was on the faiths that justices ascribe to – it is now ideological: </p>
<p>“In recent decades it has been shaped by conservatives of different faiths, construed as part of a mythical Judeo-Christian tradition, coalescing around a common agenda,” Stolzenberg writes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/religious-identity-and-supreme-court-justices-a-brief-history-146999">Religious identity and Supreme Court justices – a brief history</a>
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<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163712/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Religion was a common theme in some of the cases to come before the nine justices in the recently concluded Supreme Court term. Three experts help explain what is at stake.Matt Williams, Senior International EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1583402021-05-16T12:17:17Z2021-05-16T12:17:17ZWhy the West must challenge Iran on human rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400688/original/file-20210514-15-y7pjho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4608%2C3449&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The skyline of Tehran.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The eyes of the world have once again turned to Iran as the prospects of renegotiating the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/JCPOA-at-a-glance">Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal</a> <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/15/iran-nuclear-deal-biden-talks-vienna/">appear to have improved</a> with the election of U.S. President Joe Biden.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/irans-leaders-signal-interest-in-new-nuclear-deal-but-u-s-must-act-soon-154912">Iran's leaders signal interest in new nuclear deal, but U.S. must act soon</a>
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<p>In recent months, however, Iran has taken alarming new steps to reinforce <a href="https://en.radiofarda.com/a/31000631.html">a legal framework of persecution</a> that threatens its most vulnerable populations. </p>
<p>Its actions highlight the pressing need to include human rights in any bilateral and multilateral negotiations over the JCPOA. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany need to insist on human rights discussions with Iranian officials.</p>
<p>The Iranian Parliament recently added two new provisions to Iran’s <a href="https://www.article19.org/resources/iran-parliament-passes-law-to-further-choke-freedoms-and-target-minorities/">Penal Code</a> that are intended to target a range of marginalized groups with the threat of arbitrary arrest and detention. </p>
<p>One provision takes aim at “anyone who insults Iranian ethnicities or divine religions or Islamic schools of thought recognized under the Constitution,” saying they can be subjected to harsh punishments. Another says that “any deviant educational or proselytizing activity that contradicts or interferes with the sacred law of Islam” can lead to a prison sentence of two to five years.</p>
<p>These new measures were first proposed in 2018 and were passed into law this year. They constitute yet another weapon to be wielded by the Iranian state <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/irans-ongoing-war-against-its-religious-minorities/">in its campaign of persecution against unrecognized groups</a>, <a href="https://www.bic.org/focus-areas/situation-bahais-iran">especially Baha’is</a> — Iran’s largest non-Muslim minority whose faith advocates for racial unity, gender equality, universal education and harmony of science and religion — but also <a href="https://www.biblioiranica.info/religious-traditions-of-the-yarsan/">Yaresan</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mandaeanism">Mandaeans</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/dervish">dervishes</a>, Christian converts, atheists and followers of <a href="https://www.ecoi.net/en/document/2047907.html">Erfan-e Halgheh</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dervishes pray" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400666/original/file-20210513-13-1gh7vd9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dervishes, followers of Sufism — a mystical form of Islam that preaches tolerance and a search for understanding — pray during a ceremony in southern Kosovo in March 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>At odds with legal obligations</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.article19.org/">ARTICLE 19</a>, a human rights organization dedicated to defending and promoting free expression, has warned that these legal changes contradict Iran’s international legal obligations. They create “an even more expansive set of repressive laws to further choke freedoms and crackdown on the already persecuted individuals and groups solely for exercising their human rights,” <a href="https://www.article19.org/resources/iran-parliament-passes-law-to-further-choke-freedoms-and-target-minorities/">said Saloua Ghazouani, director of ARTICLE 19’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.</a></p>
<p>If this weren’t alarming enough, the International Federation for Human Rights <a href="https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/iran/iran-leaked-document-reveals-plans-to-intensify-suppression-of-baha">recently released</a> <a href="https://www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/doc-eng.pdf">the minutes</a> of a “top confidential” government meeting held in September 2020 that indicates a renewed intensification of state efforts to eradicate its Baha’i community. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-are-the-bahais-and-why-are-they-so-persecuted-84042">Who are the Baha'is and why are they so persecuted?</a>
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<p>The high-level government commission, attended by representatives of 19 government security and intelligence organizations, called for new measures “to rigorously control” the movements of Baha’is and dervishes, and “to adopt a detailed plan in regard to cultural and educational institutions.”</p>
<p>An especially chilling aspect of the leaked document is the direction it provides for teachers to “identify and oversee” Baha’i schoolchildren in order to “bring them back” to Islam.</p>
<h2>Confiscated land</h2>
<p>The Iranian state’s ongoing persecution efforts are aimed at isolating, intimidating, impoverishing and destroying the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. Soon after the circulation of this memo, <a href="https://iranbahaipersecution.bic.org/archive/final-verdict-provincial-court-appeal-mazandaran-confiscate-properties-bahais-ivel">Iranian courts ordered</a> the confiscation of land owned by 27 Baha’i farming families in the village of Ivel, Mazandaran.</p>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://iranbahaipersecution.bic.org/archive/letter-general-prosecutor-sari-province-prosecutors-all-towns-mazandaran-stop-closure-bahai">a similar security directive</a> was issued by the Mazandaran Province Commission on Sects and Religions, which led to the government-enforced mass closure of Baha’i-owned shops. Legal appeals of this decision were eventually denied by the highest levels of the government.</p>
<p><a href="https://iranbahaipersecution.bic.org/archive/ahmad-jannati-closing-bahai-shops-not-against-islamic-sharia-law">Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati announced</a> the opinion of the powerful Guardian Council that the directive was consistent with Shariah law.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati is seen in a crowd of people" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/400664/original/file-20210513-12-1nu9ob3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, centre, arrives at Iran’s parliament for a debate on a bill declaring the U.S. military’s command at the Pentagon in Washington and those acting on its behalf terrorists subject to Iranian sanctions in January 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking further back to 2005, the Chairman of Command Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces <a href="https://iranbahaipersecution.bic.org/archive/army-commanders-instructed-ayatollah-khamenie-produce-comprehensive-report-all-bahaii">called on all Iranian police and intelligence services</a> to “identify” and “monitor” Baha’is. And in 1991, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei <a href="https://www.bic.org/sites/default/files/pdf/iran/1991%20Bahai%20Question%20Memo%20ENG.pdf">signed a memorandum</a> that declared government policy to deal with Baha’is “in such a way that their progress and development are blocked.”</p>
<p>There is growing evidence that the Iranian government, with direction from its highest levels, is constructing an expanding system of surveillance and control over the Baha’i — with the purpose to destroy the community. The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Srebrenica-massacre">disturbing historical precedents</a> for such sinister government actions make it impossible to ignore.</p>
<p>Iran appears to be buoyed by the hope that a new U.S. administration will give it what it so deeply desires: international standing and an end to sanctions. But western democracies must ensure that this opportunity for engagement includes clear demands that Iran dismantles the rapidly expanding legal apparatus it’s creating to oppress and impoverish some of its own citizens.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyle Matthews receives funding from Heritage Canada. He is also a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.</span></em></p>Iran’s ongoing legal campaign to persecute marginalized groups highlights the pressing need to include human rights in any bilateral and multilateral negotiations over the nuclear deal.Kyle Matthews, Executive Director, The Montréal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1442332020-09-17T09:26:19Z2020-09-17T09:26:19ZMayflower 400: the science of sailing across the ocean in 1620<p>It is July 1620 in Southampton, England. Arriving into port is the Speedwell, a ship carrying a small religious group from the Netherlands. Anchored just off of the west quay of the town is the Mayflower, a larger ship with more passengers aboard, which is loading for a transatlantic voyage with the Speedwell. The passengers have permission and funding to start a trading settlement in the Colony of Virginia (which at the time extended far further than the modern state of Virginia), under the control of the Virginia Company.</p>
<p>Despite the historical significance of the Mayflower, we know very little about the ship and its voyage. We only know its name from a <a href="https://archive.org/stream/storyofpilgrimfa00arbe#page/326/mode/2up">document written three years after the voyage</a>. At the time the Mayflower was not notable or special and – because some of the passengers faced persecution for their religious activities – they probably kept a low profile. </p>
<p>Evidence suggests that it was “<a href="https://archive.org/stream/storyofpilgrimfa00arbe#page/330/mode/2up">burden about nine score</a>” or 180 tons. “Burden” was a term for cargo capacity, while a “tun” was a large cask of wine. The ship could therefore carry the equivalent of 180 tuns of wine. </p>
<p>There are unfortunately no illustrations or plans of The Mayflower from the time, so we don’t even know for certain what the ship looked like. We do know, however, that ships around this time were built to a series of similar rules (outlined in Swedish shipbuilder Fredrik Henrik af Chapman’s <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/14021345/">Architectura Navalis Mercatoria</a>, published in 1768). We can therefore begin to estimate the proportions for the cargo carried, but with a caution that the rules varied between shipwrights, with many details not recorded and drawings not made. </p>
<p>In fact, the famous 17th-century diarist <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1qe9AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT123&lpg=PT123&dq=depended+on+their+eyes%E2%80%A6+%5Band%5D+never+pretending+to+the+laying+down+of+a+draught,+their+knowledge+lying+in+their+hands+so+confusedly&source=bl&ots=KWNj9FYef9&sig=ACfU3U3uHHOYB-8palwIFsU3VtJyFYVqhw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjj8fz9v5PrAhXXPsAKHTa4BooQ6AEwCXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=depended%20on%20their%20eyes%E2%80%A6%20%5Band%5D%20never%20pretending%20to%20the%20laying%20down%20of%20a%20draught%2C%20their%20knowledge%20lying%20in%20their%20hands%20so%20confusedly&f=false">Samuel Pepys tells us</a> that shipwrights “depended on their eyes … never pretending to the laying down of a draught, their knowledge lying in their hands so confusedly”. Based on typical proportions from the time we could expect that The Mayflower would have been around 30 metres in hull length and about 7.5 metres in breadth. </p>
<p>English merchant vessels were also expected to form a navy to protect the country if required. From similar vessels of the time, we can therefore reasonably assume that The Mayflower had raised “castles” at the bow and stern. A height advantage from the castles would have been useful in battle to fight and resist boarding. </p>
<p>The ship would also have carried a small number of cannon – mainly for self-defence. These would have been on a cramped gun-deck (where the passengers would also live) with gun-ports. </p>
<h2>The voyage</h2>
<p>On August 15 1620, the two ships sailed for the New World from Southampton, but as soon as they departed, the Speedwell started leaking badly (despite some repairs already having been made in Southampton), requiring a diversion to Dartmouth to make repairs. </p>
<p>In mid-September 1620, they again departed England, but around 300 miles west of Land’s End the Speedwell leaked badly again, with the ship’s master <a href="https://archive.org/stream/historyplymouth01socigoog#page/n188/mode/2up/search/nine+score">complaining that</a> “his ship was so leaky, as he must bear up, or sink at sea”. They returned to Plymouth, transferred as many passengers and stores as possible to the Mayflower, and set sail west again on 16 September. At the time it was suggested that the <a href="https://archive.org/stream/historyplymouth01socigoog#page/n192/mode/2up/search/nine+score">leaks were a plot by the captain and crew</a> of the Speedwell to avoid a long and dangerous voyage.</p>
<p>Navigation in the 1600s was comparatively more advanced than many other sciences at the time. Sailors could measure their heading with magnetic compasses, and their speed with a log that was trailed behind the ship. </p>
<p>By measuring the height of the North Star above the horizon with instruments that were the forerunners of sextants, sailors could determine their position north of the equator (known as the “latitude”). However, on a rolling ship under cloudy skies taking accurate measurements and finding accurate positions was far from easy. </p>
<p>Knowing your position west or east of a point (“longitude”) was far more complicated. It could be found from measuring the local time when the sun reached its highest point in the sky, and comparing it to the time at a known point on land, as the local noon occurs four minutes later for every degree of longitude travelled west around the world. </p>
<p>Sadly clocks at the time were nowhere near accurate enough to measure this, and accurately measuring the height of the sun was difficult. Instead, sailors at the time used a combination of the compass, hourglasses and a log to record direction, time and speed, calculating a resulting position based on “<a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/dead-reckoning-navigation">dead reckoning</a>”, which would become more inaccurate as the voyage progressed. </p>
<p>Despite some treacherous storms that nearly destroyed the vessel, The Mayflower arrived in North America after 66 days’ sailing. The ship was, however, just off Cape Cod, slightly north of the Colony of Virginia (which at that time extended north to Long Island Sound) where the colonists had permission to settle. </p>
<p>They tried sailing south, but encountered treacherous reefs and breaking waves and, low on provisions, they wisely headed north again, coming ashore initially at Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 21. But having landed outside of the Colony of Virginia, they had no contract to settle, or laws to follow. </p>
<p>Their solution was to draw up a democratic agreement (known as the <a href="http://mayflowerhistory.com/mayflower-compact">Mayflower Compact</a>), which governed them independently from England until they could obtain permission to settle where they landed. This was the first western example of a consensual government without a monarch. If their navigation had taken them just 65 miles further south, they would have landed in the Colony of Virginia, and history may have been different.</p>
<p>The Mayflower itself returned to England the following year, but sadly her Captain died in 1622. Left on the riverbank of the Thames, she fell into disrepair and was in such a poor condition that she was sold for parts in 1624. Ironically the Speedwell lasted far longer, sailing from Southampton to Virginia and back in 1635.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Ridley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When a shipload of puritan colonisers set sail for the New World, maritime science and navigation were fairly unsophisticated.Jonathan Ridley, Head of Engineering, Faculty of Creative Industries, Architecture and Engineering, Solent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417892020-08-06T01:00:16Z2020-08-06T01:00:16ZNew research shows religious discrimination is on the rise around the world, including in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349016/original/file-20200722-16-1n50fdb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C0%2C5957%2C3884&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a theory that despite all the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-needs-a-religious-discrimination-act-105132">commotion</a>, religious freedom faces no significant threat in Western democracies like Australia. Therefore, the argument goes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-does-not-need-a-religious-discrimination-act-99666">we do not need</a> a federal Religious Discrimination Act. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-prejudice-still-high-in-australia-but-many-people-seeking-to-promote-social-inclusion-127792">New research shows prejudice still high in Australia, but many people seeking to promote social inclusion</a>
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<p>A major international study challenges this idea. Bar-Ilan University’s <a href="https://politics.biu.ac.il/en/node/978">Jonathan Fox</a> has undertaken a painstaking analysis of the incidence of religious discrimination around the world. His analysis is based on the most detailed and comprehensive data set on the topic ever compiled.</p>
<p>Fox, a professor of religion and politics, recently published the results in a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/thou-shalt-have-no-other-gods-before-me/D6E81BE696A66494A28320D4480172DB">new book</a>, Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me.</p>
<p>His conclusions are startling. They are also very concerning. And Australia is not exempt from his penetrating analysis. </p>
<h2>Liberal democracies and religious discrimination</h2>
<p>Fox writes that while many assume the liberal democracies of the West are the strongest bastions of religious freedom in the world, the evidence simply does not support this claim.</p>
<p>For a start, he points out Western democracies such as France, Germany and Switzerland engage in more government-based religious discrimination than many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Inside a church, with glowing stained glass windows" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349026/original/file-20200723-26-jr46vh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Western democracies are not bastions of religious freedom, according to new research.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tracey Nearby/ AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He also singles out Australia as a clear example of the recent rise of “socially-based” discrimination against religious minorities in Western democracies, especially against Jews and Muslims. </p>
<p>Jews in particular have been the victims of literally hundreds of instances of vandalism, harassment and threats of violence reported each year.</p>
<p>Last November, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/fears-of-a-new-breed-of-hate-as-sydney-survivors-mark-75-years-since-auschwitz-20200127-p53v74.html">similarly warned</a> of a steep rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Australia. </p>
<h2>Religious discrimination is growing</h2>
<p>Fox bases his conclusions on a data set recording the treatment of 771 religious minorities in 183 countries between 1990 and 2014.</p>
<p>The data set distinguishes 35 types of government-based religious discrimination. These include restrictions on the construction of religious buildings, controls on religious literature and prohibitions on chaplaincy services in prisons.</p>
<p>He found that in 162 countries, government-based religious discrimination was perpetrated against 574 of the minorities at some point during the study period.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three Muslim women standing next to a harbour." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349027/original/file-20200723-34-13algku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Muslims in Australia experience harassment, vandalism and violence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keri Megelus/AAP</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Fox also found the prevalence of all these types of government discrimination increased globally by almost 25% over the study period.</p>
<p>The data set also identifies 27 types of socially-based religious discrimination. These include discrimination in employment, vandalism of places of worship, harassment on public transport and outright violence. Jews are the minority most likely to suffer from these sorts of discrimination, but religious minorities of all kinds are subjected to it in particular countries.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-anti-semitic-stereotypes-from-a-century-ago-echo-today-106451">How anti-Semitic stereotypes from a century ago echo today</a>
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<p>From 1990 to 2014, the prevalence of social discrimination increased globally by almost 30%. Outright violence, which is the most shocking form of social discrimination, tragically increased by more than 50%.</p>
<h2>What is causing this?</h2>
<p>Fox says it is difficult to identify the underlying causes because there are multiple, crosscutting factors. And these play out differently from one country to another.</p>
<p>In Western democracies, he identifies several causes, such as fear of Islamic terrorism and outright anti-semitism. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/islamophobic-attacks-mostly-happen-in-public-heres-what-you-can-do-if-you-see-it-or-experience-it-127807">Islamophobic attacks mostly happen in public. Here's what you can do if you see it or experience it</a>
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<p>Increasingly, particular religious groups are also being singled out as supposed cults. These include Scientologists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Hasidic Jews, Seventh-day Adventists and Pentecostals. Belgium, France and Germany all have explicit anti-cult policies. </p>
<p>Secularist policies are also increasingly being adopted by Western governments which place religious believers under mounting restrictions and regulations, such as controls on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/headscarves-and-muslim-veil-ban-debate-timeline">religious dress</a> or restrictions on <a href="https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/03/religion-in-the-public-schools-2019-update/">religious speech</a>.</p>
<h2>Which states discriminate? Who is at risk?</h2>
<p>Fox says it is important to identify which types of states are most likely to engage in religious discrimination, and which minorities in those states are most likely to be subjected to it.</p>
<p>While it appears that Muslim-majority states on average engage in the highest levels of government-based religious discrimination, there is also a wide diversity. There is a cluster of Muslim-majority states in West Africa that are among the most tolerant in the world.</p>
<p>Among Christian-majority states, the data suggests it is important to distinguish between Christian Orthodox-majority states and the others. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Orthodox Jewish man at Western Wall." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349028/original/file-20200723-34-nazb7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Religious and secular ideology can both lead to religious discrimination.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Orthodox-majority states are the second most likely type of state to engage in government-based religious discrimination. Catholic and Protestant-majority states are much less likely to do so. Fox speculates one cause of this may be developments in particular strands of Protestant and Catholic thought that are strongly supportive of religious freedom.</p>
<p>Ideology plays a strong role in causing government-based religious discrimination. However, it is not just religious ideology. Secular ideologies are very capable of causing religious discrimination, too.</p>
<p>This largely explains why Western democracies are not the paragons of virtue we readily assume them to be.</p>
<p>As Fox puts it, “thou shalt have no other gods before me” is still practised by many governments across the world. But to be clear, the “god” who will tolerate no competition is “often a secular one, or the state itself”.</p>
<h2>Secularism and discrimination</h2>
<p>Fox argues it is important to distinguish between types of secularism. Some secular states are relatively neutral and tolerant towards religion. But others are anti-religious and have a tendency to restrict religious expression, sometimes very repressively.</p>
<p>However, these two types of secularism don’t come in neat packages. There is a sliding scale and every Western democracy exhibits characteristics of both.</p>
<p>Many democratic states with officially neutral religious policies may still be influenced by secularist ideologies. And these can motivate the state to be intolerant of religious practices and religious speech.</p>
<p>For these and other reasons, there is more government-based religious discrimination in secular Western democracies than in many of their Asian, African and Latin American counterparts.</p>
<h2>The threat in Australia is real</h2>
<p>Fox’s analysis helps to explain why threats to religious freedom in Australia are very real. Elements of anti-religious hostility are already present in this country and manifest from time to time, especially in socially-based religious discrimination such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-18/muslim-women-enduring-most-islamophobia-in-australia/11708376">harassment</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/brisbane-mosque-vandalised-with-christchurch-references/11501684">vandalism</a> and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2718029/Jewish-children-threatened-throats-slit-gang-teenagers-board-school-bus-unleash-torrent-anti-Semitic-abuse.html">threats of violence</a>. </p>
<p>And, as Fox shows, government-based discrimination can develop, even in secular societies. This is especially when a religious minority is seen as a threat. Or its practices are deemed incompatible with the dominant ideology. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-needs-a-religious-discrimination-act-105132">Why Australia needs a Religious Discrimination Act</a>
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<p>Fox’s research highlights why an Australian Religious Discrimination Act is <a href="https://pmc.gov.au/domestic-policy/religious-freedom-review">needed</a>, to help address these issues in a principled manner, premised on the standards articulated in the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx">International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights</a>.</p>
<p>The Morrison government says it is still proposing to introduce a religious discrimination bill, even if progress has <a href="https://theconversation.com/grattan-on-friday-pandemic-kills-indigenous-referendum-delivers-likely-mortal-blow-to-religious-discrimination-legislation-140079">stalled due to COVID-19</a>. This cannot be something that conveniently falls off the to-do list because of the pandemic. </p>
<p>Religious discrimination is a reality in Australia. Fox’s work warns us it is a reality that is not going away anytime soon.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Aroney has received funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate issues related to the protection of freedom of religion in Australia. He was also a member of an Expert Panel appointed by the Prime Minister to examine whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to freedom of religion. </span></em></p>COVID-19 has delayed progress on a religious discrimination bill. A new study warns countries like Australia are not the bastions of religious freedom we think they are.Nicholas Aroney, Professor of Constitutional Law, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1403712020-06-16T12:48:31Z2020-06-16T12:48:31ZSouth Africa’s failure to legislate on religious marriages leaves women vulnerable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340643/original/file-20200609-21219-k9a9s8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Hindu bride on her wedding day.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Shaizaib Akber</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Until the end of apartheid in 1994, only civil marriages concluded under the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201505/act-25-1961.pdf">Marriage Act</a> were legally recognised in South Africa. Post 1994, the new <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/SAConstitution-web-eng-02.pdf">Constitution</a> enabled the recognition of different forms of marriages, including traditional and religious marriages.</p>
<p>But these rights haven’t been translated into law for all marriages. To date, apart from civil marriages, only customary marriages and same-sex unions are <a href="https://justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1998-120.pdf">legally recognised</a>. Laws have not been passed to recognise religious marriages <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/legis/num_act/cua2006139.pdf">as legally valid</a>.</p>
<p>There was some hope that progress had been made in 2010 when the <a href="http://pmg-assets.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/bills/110117muslim-marriages-bill.pdf">Muslim Marriages Bill</a> was approved by Cabinet. But it’s never been passed into law. </p>
<p>Two years ago the state’s failure to legally recognise Muslim marriages was challenged in the Western Cape High Court.</p>
<p>The Court <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2018/109.html">held</a> that by not having legislation that recognises and regulates the marriages, the state violated several constitutional rights. These included the rights of Muslim women to equality, dignity and freedom of religion.</p>
<p>The Court found that the state abdicated its constitutional obligations to “respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights in the Bill of Rights”, and to perform its constitutional obligations “diligently and without delay”.</p>
<p>The Court ordered the state to prepare, initiate, enact and bring into operation legislation to recognise and regulate Muslim marriages by 31 August 2020. But, the judgment is being appealed in the Constitutional Court. The deadline imposed by the High Court is thus suspended pending the outcome of the appeal.</p>
<p>The arguments raised in the judgment are arguably also relevant to other minority religious marriages, including Hindu and Jewish marriages. </p>
<p>The failure of the state to recognise religious marriages is a major omission in a country that boasts a constitution that promotes diversity. In particular, the failure to have laws recognising – and regulating – religious marriages leaves women, in particular, vulnerable. </p>
<h2>The missing marriages</h2>
<p>Nonrecognition of religious marriages undermines the dignity of spouses. For instance, those who do not also have a civil marriage continue to be regarded as unmarried. When they die, their death certificates reflect that they were never married. This confirms that their spousal relationship had no legal significance. </p>
<p>Secondly, by not affording legal recognition to religious marriages, the right of spouses in those marriages to equal treatment and protection of the law is undermined.</p>
<p>Thirdly, women in religious marriages are unfairly discriminated against on the basis of gender and sex. For example, women in Muslim, Hindu and Jewish marriages have difficulty exiting religious marriages. Legal recognition – and regulation – of their marriages could assist them in doing so. </p>
<p>Hindu and Jewish spouses tend to enter into civil marriages in addition to their religious marriages. But most Muslims don’t. That’s mainly because civil marriages do not allow polygny and are, by default, in community of property. These are deemed by many Muslims to be unIslamic. </p>
<p>But even spouses who enter into civil marriages need their religious marriage to be legally recognised. This is so that features specific to the religious marriage, such as religious divorce, can be recognised, regulated and enforced by law.</p>
<h2>Parallel processes</h2>
<p>There are two parallel law reform processes underway to consider amendments to the country’s marriage laws. One is managed by the South African Law Reform Commission, and the other by the <a href="http://www.dha.gov.za/index.php/notices/1286-the-consultative-stakeholder-engagements-for-the-development-of-the-marriages-policy">Department of Home Affairs</a>. Both appear to want to draft overarching legislation to afford recognition to all forms of marriages.</p>
<p>Home Affairs has not yet produced written documentation for consideration. The Commission has published <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/ipapers/ip35_prj144_SingleMarriageStatute.pdf">a paper</a>, in which it proposes the drafting of a single marriage statute. </p>
<p>It’s not clear why there are two parallel processes to achieve the same result.</p>
<p>The Commission indicates that a single marriage statute could take the form of a single (unified) marriage act or an omnibus (umbrella) legislation. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/ipapers/ip35_prj144_SingleMarriageStatute.pdf">single marriage act</a> “would comprise a unified set of requirements (and possibly consequences) for all marriages”.</p>
<p>An omnibus legislation “would contain different chapters” for the recognition of different kinds of marriages such as civil marriages, civil unions, customary marriages and religious marriages.</p>
<p>A single marriage act and omnibus legislation could afford recognition to all types of marriages, including civil, religious and customary marriages, and same-sex unions. While a single marriage act would achieve this by pursuing a one-size-fits-all approach, an omnibus legislation would incorporate several chapters, each purporting to recognise a different type of marriage. </p>
<p>The inclination to want to afford legal recognition to all types of marriages is welcome. But the devil will be in the detail.</p>
<p>Recognition of all marriages will promote formal equality by ensuring that all marriages are legally recognised and treated as legally valid. But, if a single marriage act or omnibus legislation affords only legal recognition to religious marriages, the regulation of the marriages will still be left to religious communities. </p>
<p>This leaves the door open for gendered discriminatory religious rules and practices to be maintained. For example, polygyny in Muslim marriages could continue to be practised in a manner that discriminates against women. Husbands could still get away with not treating their polygynous wives equally. </p>
<p>It is, therefore, not good enough for the state to only recognise different forms of marriages. It needs to also regulate them. By regulating features that are specific to a religious marriage, such as polygyny and divorce, substantive equality can be promoted. Each type of marriage, the way in which it is practised within communities, and the consequences for especially marginalised members of those communities such as women, must be considered.</p>
<p>If the state is serious about affording sufficient protection to marginalised people in society – including women in minority religious communities – it should go beyond simply recognising all forms of marriages. It must also regulate them – in a nuanced way. </p>
<p>The state could do so by enacting separate legislation to recognise and regulate a particular type of marriage, such as the Muslim Marriages Bill. It could also enact an omnibus legislation that contains different chapters, which recognise and regulate the specific features of different types of marriages. For instance, the Muslim Marriages Bill could be incorporated into the omnibus legislation as a chapter. And existing legislation, such as the <a href="https://justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/1998-120.pdf">Recognition of Customary Marriages Act</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/civil-union-act">Civil Union Act</a> and Marriage Act, could be amended where necessary and included as separate chapters.</p>
<h2>What needs to happen next</h2>
<p>The state must consult all relevant stakeholders, including religious law and gender experts; members of affected communities, including women; and broader civil society. This is the only way that marriage laws in the country can be appropriately responsive to the lived realities of all, especially women. </p>
<p>The consultation processes could reveal that some marriages require more or less regulation than others. The outcome of the consultation processes must then be incorporated into legislation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Waheeda Amien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To afford sufficient protection to marginalised people in society - such as women in minority religious communities - the state must recognise and regulate religious marriages in a nuanced way.Waheeda Amien, Associate Professor in Law, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.