By Gary
Lane: CWNews
CWNews.org – Two Pastors in Australia face sentencing for
speaking out about Islam. In Western nations hate speech laws are being
enacted and used to protect religious minorities. But often these laws
are being used to punish Christians for sharing their faith.
A high profile case in Australia is rallying Christians
there against hate speech laws.
Melbourne , Australia is known to sports
fans around the world as the home of the Australia Open Tennis
Championship. It’s also known as the city of diverse cultures, with an
easygoing, permissive attitude.
Yet Christians now see it
as a restrictive society, where political correctness has run amok. One
where speaking openly about one’s Christian faith may send you to court
or worse—to jail.
Bill Muehlenberg is
spokesman for the Australia Family Association. Though he’s American,
he’s an outspoken voice in Melbourne urging lawmakers to do away with a
portion of Victoria 's racial and religious tolerance act.
Muehlenberg said, "It
seems to be open season on Christianity—there's a double standard here.
We should tolerate all world views, all religions, yet Christianity is
taking a hammering."
The law protects citizens
from ‘vilification’ of their race or religion—speech deemed offensive
by complainants. Those found guilty face hefty fines and jail time.
Muehlenberg suggests
Christians are the most likely targets of this law. Because: "To simply
proclaim the truth claims of Christianity,” Muehlenberg said, “the
Bible tells us that will offend those who do not accept the claims of
the Gospel.”
He went on, “We cannot
help that [their choice]. But when governments get into the business of
telling us which beliefs we can believe and which we cannot, when they
get in the business of being judges of religious questions and
opinions—we're all going to be in trouble for it."
Among those sued are two
Pastors: Danny Nalliah of Catch the Fire Ministries and Daniel Scott, a
Pakistani Evangelist.
A tribunal judge found
the men guilty of vilifying Islam following a lengthy trial that ended
late last December. A complaint was filed against them by the Islamic
Council of Victoria State after 3 Muslims said statements made by
Daniel Scott offended them. The Muslims attended a church seminar on
Islam conducted by Scott, sponsored by Catch the Fire Ministries in
March 2002.
Pastor Danny Nalliah says
the seminar featured a comparison of verses from the Bible with verses
from the Koran.
The complainants said
they especially felt vilified by a discussion concerning jihad—or holy
war. Nalliah says he and Scott were not allowed to read verses from the
Koran as evidence at their trial.
Nalliah said, "Our
question to the judge was, ‘Your Honor, how can I vilify a Muslim when
I read from his own text’?”
Then, the barrister
reminded the judge, ‘Your Honor, truth is not a defense in this law.’
And that was taken into consideration. Even if you speak the truth, and
someone is offended, you are guilty and they are not."
Muehlenberg said, "It's
bad law and bad law should not be in place. The terms are ambiguous.
What is it to offend somebody? Nothing’s clearly defined. So,
everybody's really at jeopardy, at risk, under the law, not knowing if
they are guilty."
The Islamic Council of
Victoria refused to grant CBN News an interview about the two men's
case or the vilification law.
Some Christian leaders
with several of Australia 's mainline denominations initially
supported the vilification law because it protects against racial hate
speech.
But some, like Anglican
Archbishop Peter Watson, now feel the law needs changing.
Watson said, "Not
everything that is offensive or upsetting to us should be outlawed."
Presbyterian leader Allan
Harmon complains that, "The law mixes racial and religious vilification
and they are not the same.
Again Archbishop Watson:
"Churches should have examined the law more closely whether the act was
an unnecessary curb on free speech."
Australians, like
Americans, value expressing their opinions—whether it's in newspaper
editorial columns or on talk radio. In The United States, our
Constitution guarantees us the right to free speech. So, isn't this
religious vilification really an issue of free speech? Here in Australia there’s no guarantee.
Nalliah said, "Our
constitution in itself has an implied notion of free speech, but does
not have a specific clause for free speech. And this case has now
caused all politicians and
government leaders to
rethink about where we are heading as a nation."
The vilification law
definitely caused Rob Wilson to rethink his state government's
commitment to free speech.
He's the former Mayor of
Casey—a large suburb of Melbourne . A complaint was filed against him by a
transexual witch, Olivia Watts—a former police officer—appearing on
Australian channel 10. She said she was vilified by Wilson when he implied in a
June 2003 press release that she was a Satanist.
Watts said, "Unless these
ignorant and untrue words like those put forward by this counselor are
challenged, they are stereotypes people will believe." The case was
resolved late last summer when Wilson issued a written statement acknowledging
that Ms. Watts was not a Satanist.
Wilson told CBN News, under
the vilification law, he was considered guilty before his side of the
dispute was presented to the tribunal judge.
Wilson said, "You're guilty
until you can prove yourself innocent. It really goes against the
natural British Justice which is that you're innocent until you are
proven guilty.
What is happening is:
people are going to be afraid to speak."
Pastors say, under the
religious vilification law, if they give a sermon against sorcery
denouncing witchcraft and a witch is sitting unannounced in the
congregation, the Pastor and church could have a vilification case
filed against them.
A growing number of
Christians and civil libertarians are joining a petition drive urging
the Victoria State government to rescind
the religious vilification portion of the racial and religious
intolerance act.
Lawmakers in the
Australian states of southern and western Australia have already voted to
exclude religious vilification from their hate speech laws. Legislation
resembling the Victoria racial and religious intolerance act was
recently dropped in Great Britain . Christians there
expect it to be re-introduced in Parliament if the Labor Party retains
its majority after new elections in May.
Muehlenberg said, "This
is simply the whole secular-humanist agenda being promoted throughout
the Western World. I mean, these people are quite clear—they do want to
clamp down on the preaching of the Gospel. They do not want the
Christian faith to be proclaimed."
Nalliah and Scott have
appealed the tribunal's guilty verdict against them.
Wilson warns that similar
religious vilification legislation could be coming soon to a state
government near you. He said, "Lawmakers across the world look at
different models of new laws that come in. And say, ‘Yeah, we could do
that’ and I would say to the American people--stand up for your freedom
of speech and don't allow any racial and religious intolerance act to
come into America ."
