Weekend Wrap for 15 May 2022

James Ley on Prime Minister Scott Morrison, 'an amen snorter who does not know the meaning of secularism': "The factual inaccuracies and contradictions of Morrison’s declaration of principle all follow from his use of 'secularism' as a euphemism for godlessness. He is positioning himself as an embattled believer, defending his religious faith against a hostile 'secular' society, unaware that he is battling his own incomprehension, claiming a 'freedom' he already possesses." (9 May 2022)
Read more at the Sydney Review of Books

Brett Worthington on Katherine Deves and the 'death of shame in politics': "The latest controversy came as Deves partially walked back an apology she made earlier in the campaign. Talking with Sky News, she said still believed trans children were "surgically mutilated and sterilised" — a term she claimed was accurate medical terminology (it's not) — though she apologised for hurting people's feelings. Morrison, when he faced questions, dubbed the language concerning but refused to distance himself from Deves." (10 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News

David Hastie on the aspects of religion in Australia’s History, Civics and Citizenship Curriculum: "Religion remains a contested topic in the upcoming federal election — and particularly religion in schools. Last year, when the then Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge rejected the proposed changes to the Australian History Curriculum because of — among other things — an unhistorical lack of reference to Australia’s Christian heritage, many disparaged him for launching a fresh “culture war”. Others agreed with Tudge’s concerns, insisting that the draft curriculum represented latest attempt at “woke” engineering in our classrooms." (12 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News

Niki Savva — Morrison’s strategy a political masterstroke or moral failure: "Senior Liberals fear Morrison has deliberately sealed the fate of a clutch of moderates already struggling to survive, thanks to the poor handling of the challenge from women independents as well as from Labor in inner urban seats, which now threatens to hollow out the party and could eventually split it in two." (12 May 2022)
Read more at The Age

Adam Wesselinoff — Whatever the outcome in this election, the religious freedom issue is not going away: "Religious discrimination is proving to be the dead issue that won’t stay buried, with both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese facing renewed queries about their intentions on the issue from journalists, and religious and LGBT interest groups." (12 May 2022)
Read more at the Catholic Weekly

Muriel Porter on the disunity on same-sex marriage in the Anglican church: "This week was the first opportunity for the diocese to prosecute its anti same-sex marriage agenda nationally, after COVID stopped the scheduled 2020-21 meetings of the triennial General Synod. The national church now stands on the brink of that rift, with General Synod – the church’s 'federal parliament' – this week refusing to endorse the Sydney position against same-sex marriage." (12 May 2022)
Read more at The Conversation

Archbishop Anthony Fisher on the need to protect faith based medical and aged care providers from 'Kill Bill': "It is incredible that the same NSW parliament that put our lives on hold for more than two years in order to protect the most vulnerable has now passed a bill that sanctions their killing. This 'kill bill' divides us into two classes of people: those whose lives are protected by the state with the resources of healthcare, social services and law enforcement, and those whose deaths are facilitated because their lives are deemed to be 'not worth living'." (13 May 2022)
Read more at the Catholic Weekly

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age spoke to leaders from several major faith groups to hear their opinions on Deves’ comments, which have been condemned by LGBT organisations as offensive and harmful. (13 May 2022)
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald

Lance Lawton — Real pro-life in a dying world: "It may come as a surprise to many Christians that “pro-life” has not been touted as a core Christian belief since forever. Certainly not among Protestants at any rate. It’s actually quite recent, a late-20th-century innovation. And one of the sad ironies is that those with the most to say about how evil abortion is, tend to be the ones who do the least to lower the abortion rate, to see fewer unborn children’s lives ended." (13 May 2022)
Read more at Eternity News

Jordan Baker — 'Goes against our beliefs': Parents and church clash over school values: an investigation into the reactions to recent rules set by the conservative, evangelical Sydney Anglican diocese, requiring agreement that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. (13 May 2022)
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald

Charlie Murphy on rights for sex workers: "For the Federal Election, the Bill is a cockroach that just can’t be killed despite being scuppered in the upper house earlier in the year. Since then, Albanese has promised his own version of it while Morrison has been contacting religious leaders promising to put it back on the table. Grassroots queer activists are sick of playing defence and trying to hold back bad laws, as are sex worker activists. But while both parties still hold this over our heads, we must unequivocally say that we accept no right to discriminate." (14 May 2022)
Read more at Star Observer

Paul Gregoire — Morrison Recommits to Legislating Discrimination Against Those Who Don’t Mirror Him: "The Pentecostal PM and others amongst the ever-growing Christian Right are promoting laws that legalise currently outlawed behaviours, as they concurrently claim the bill is all about protecting the altruistic values contained in faith doctrines, whether they be Judeo-Christian, Muslim or otherwise." (14 May 2022)
Read more at Sydney Criminal Lawyers