MEDIA RELEASE 23 April 2010
IsaiahOne believes some of our Christian leaders have let the wider church down in the debate over human rights reforms.
Commentators have noted that the church campaign against a Human Rights Act is a key reason why the federal Government rejected the reform, despite a majority of the community being in favour.
But some of the argument promoted by Christian leaders was seriously flawed. Rather than relying on evidence about how human rights instruments operate in Australia, horror stories were used in church debates to scapegoat human rights tools. Problems with a proposed Human Rights Act were based on outlandish examples such as the former Soviet Union, present-day Zimbabwe and myths from other countries, often circulated on email lists. Such comparisons between the Australian proposal and international situations were misleading or based on discredited information. Likewise, local examples were irrelevant or inaccurate. Victoria’s Charter was held guilty for a law (the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act) passed 5 years before the Charter existed.
Christianity is under increasing scrutiny as people question the role of faith in society at large. In this climate, Christians must be heard to be advocating clearly for the welfare of others. Christians should ask why those who campaigned against reform failed to discuss local cases where Charters have helped families, the elderly, the disabled, asylum seekers and others. As Isaiah 1:17 states, “seek justice, encourage the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow”. Christians should ask why our leaders have concentrated so heavily on our own rights, with little concern for the message this may have sent to the community.
IsaiahOne celebrates the enormous contribution Christians make to the welfare of others. This would be strengthened by better engagement with human rights. Hopefully the church will recall again its heritage of engaging with human rights for causes like the abolition of slavery, suffrage for women and racial equality. The church needs to pursue a more constructive and biblically incisive approach to human rights in days to come.
IsaiahOne
You guys are SERIOUSLY misguided. We should be thanking God that he did not allow this horrific rights charter business to succeed. The church can now continue its mission to save the lost; if Mr Brennan had gotten his way, Christ’s witness would have been severely hindered. You should be ashamed that you have joined forces with the secularists and sodomites to undermine freedom of religion in this country. It is deplorable that you are working against your own brothers and sisters in the Catholic and bible-believing evangelical churches. I pray that you will repent of your error and stop propagating these uninformed opinions.