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Freedom for Faith conference- Nov 6, 2023

I am pleased to share details of the Freedom for Faith annual conference- this should be a great day to consider religious freedom issues in Australia. (I am on the board of Freedom for Faith, and would encourage anyone interested in this area to support the organisation as it seeks to advocate for religious freedom for all!)

Freedom for Faith invites you to its annual conference, FREEDOM23, on November 6th at Village Church Annandale (Sydney) and live streamed.

FREEDOM23 will inform you about the current threats to religious freedom and their effects on families, churches and faith organisations, equip you to be ready for what lies ahead, and to advocate for religious freedom now, and encourage you in the knowledge that together, our voices can be heard.

The day will be particularly helpful for church and other religious leaders, those working in faith organisations, and anyone concerned about threats to religious freedom.

FREEDOM23 speakers include:

  • Max Jeganathan – Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity (CPX), former lawyer and policy advisor.
  • Mike Southon – Executive Director of Freedom for Faith
  • Dr Alex Deagon – Associate Professor of Law, QUT
  • Nick Jensen – Political liaison for the Australian Christian Higher Education Alliance (ACHEA)
  • Peter Fowler – CEO of The Anglican Schools Corporation

For in-person and streaming tickets: https://fff.org.au/f23.

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Religion and Private Law

I am presenting some brief comments on the background of private law, especially the law of torts, in the doctrines of Christianity, for a seminar organised by the law student association at my University. The paper can be downloaded here.

unlsa-law-and-religion-panel-fosterDownload
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The Ethics of Freedom: Religious Freedom in the Workplace

I am presenting a paper at the annual City Legal conference on August 25 on The Ethics of Freedom: Religious Freedom in the Workplace. It considers issues around religious freedom of employees and also touches on issues arising for Christian lawyers in particular. It can be downloaded here.

the-ethics-of-freedomDownload
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Vilification claims based on critique of drag queens event dismissed

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal, in its decision yesterday in Valkyrie and Hill v Shelton [2023] QCAT 302 (18 August 2023), has dismissed claims of vilification based on sexual orientation or gender identity, made against conservative commentator Lyle Shelton. The careful decision of Member Gordon reveals a number of uncertainties still surround the interpretation of this and other similar laws around Australia, but finds in the end that comments critical of the participation of the complainants in a “drag queen library event for children”, did not amount to the incitement of hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of the complainants on the ground of their sexuality or gender identity in contravention of section 124A of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld). There are a number of points in the decision worth noting.

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Academic conference on Theology and Jurisprudence, 2024- call for papers

On behalf of the organisers, I am happy to post (for academic, and academically inclined, readers!) a call for papers for a symposium to be held in Toowoomba, Queensland, in February 2024.

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Is taking over Calvary Hospital a religious freedom breach?

There has been a lot of controversy around the recent decision of the ACT government to compulsorily acquire Canberra’s Calvary Hospital. One question that is worth asking is this: could this move be an unlawful breach of religious freedom rights? In this post I want to consider the possibilities.

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Christian graphic designer not required to produce websites for same sex weddings

In a much anticipated decision, the US Supreme Court (by 6-3) in  303 CREATIVE LLC v. ELENIS 600 U. S. _ (2023) (30 June 2023) has ruled that a Christian graphic designer cannot be required by Colorado law to produce websites supporting and celebrating same-sex weddings, contrary to her religious beliefs. The ruling was based on the US First Amendment protection of free speech, and sets out a principle that the government cannot compel citizens to say what they object to saying, in an “expressive” business like web design, even if that business provides services to the public. It seems clearly correct, and will be helpful in protecting free speech on a range of issues, but in particular will support religious freedom. But, contrary to some comment, it is not a “license to discriminate”. The decision does not allow refusal of ordinary commercial services to same-sex attracted people. It only relates to the sort of artistic and expressive work engaged in by the designer.

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How I wish that God would speak!

The Newcastle Lawyers’ Christian fellowship is running another of our breakfast meetings for lawyers (and other interested folk!) in Newcastle, on Wednesday 14 June 2023, from 7:30-8:30 am.  Our venue will once again be the Moot Court with-the-best-views-of-a-harbour (aka Room X-703) in the NuSpace Building, the University of Newcastle (corner of Hunter St and Auckland St). We are glad to welcome David Robertson back to speak about what the ancient Hebrew Book of Job can tell us about wanting God to speak in the midst of suffering.

No matter what our occupation or where we’re from, we’re all familiar with suffering. The enigmatic 3,000 year old man Job & his story of suffering must rank as one of the most gut-wrenching, eye-watering tales in the great catalogue of human misery down the centuries. Join Newcastle City Legal presenter David Robertson as he brings this ancient story to life – and shows us the surprising comfort it offers.

More information is available here, where you can also register. Cost is $5 (which includes a coffee) or $10 for pastries for breakfast.

I should also mention that I will be speaking at the upcoming City Legal National Conference in Canberra on 24-25 August, on ‘The Ethics of Freedom: Religious Freedom in the Workplace’. This Seminar is one of the 2 CPD points on offer at the Conference in the areas of Ethics & Professional Responsibility along with Practice Management & Business Skills. See Conference Brochure here. There will also be great speakers like Max Jeganathan, John Bales, Dan Anderson & Wilbur Longbottom. More details and Conference Rego are available here.

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Volume 2 of Australian Journal of Law and Religion available

The second issue of the Australian Journal of Law and Religion is now available online here. There are a number of important issues covered. The Table of Contents gives an idea:

 Editorial i 

Articles 

May Australian States Impose Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Obligations on Religious Schools? A Rejoinder to Foster Nicholas Butler 1 

Reconciling Freedom and Equality for Peaceful Coexistence: On the Need to Reframe the Religious Exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act Alex Deagon 20 

The Position of Religious Schools Under International Human Rights Law Mark Fowler 36 

Legislating Gender Prejudice: Religion and the Overturning of Roe v Wade Rena MacLeod 56 

Conversion Practices Legislation in Victoria – A Potential Crisis for Church Authority? Rhett Martin 70 

Statements of Belief as Political Communication Timothy Nugent 81 

Book Reviews 

Law and Religion in the Commonwealth: The Evolution of Case Law edited by Renae Barker, Paul T. Babie, and Neil Foster Barry W. Bussey 90 

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye Jeremy Patrick 93 

Special Topic Forum: Religious Freedom, Sexuality, and Gender Identity 

Cherry Picking Human Rights Nicholas Aroney 95 

What Does Gender Identity Mean in the Sex Discrimination Act 1984? Patrick Byrne 101 

The Politics of Indonesia’s New Criminal Code Robert W. Hefner 104 

Of course each reader will have their own specific areas of interest. I was obviously very interested to see that one of the articles is a rejoinder to an article I had published in volume 1, dealing with the impact of differing discrimination laws applying to faith based schools (and other institutions) in Commonwealth and State laws (see Butler, from p 1.) Readers will have to make up their own minds as to whether Mr Butler’s critique of my position is valid or not. I was also pleased to see an encouraging review of the edited volume Law and Religion in the Commonwealth , of which I was a co-editor (see Bussey, from p 90).

I look forward to reading the other articles in due course! I very much commend the editors for their decision to make all the articles freely available for download.

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Chart a better course? Guest Post on an Australian Human Rights Charter- part 2

Recently the Australian Human Rights Commission has issued a Position Paper entitled A Human Rights Act for Australia . In a previous guest post, Dr Paul Taylor provided some preliminary comments on the proposals. I am pleased to have an opportunity to provide his more recent comments.

As noted previously, Dr Taylor is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the T.C. Beirne School of Law, a Fellow of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Law, The University of Notre Dame Australia. His principal academic interests are international human rights law and conflict of laws (private international law). He has held Visiting Fellowships at Wolfson College, Cambridge and at the Centre for International and Public Law, College of Law, Australian National University. He is the author of A Commentary on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: The UN Human Rights’ Committee’s Monitoring of ICCPR Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2020); and Freedom of Religion: UN and European Human Rights Law and Practice (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

Dr Taylor has provided the following comments as a guest blogger. The comments are of course written in a personal capacity, and do not reflect any views of any institution to which he is or has been affiliated.

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