There is a whole swag of people and groups in psychospace
clamouring for secularism. A logical part of this would be to stop Australia’s
elected “representatives” saying The Lord’s Prayer before each sitting day in
Parliament.
As an atheist, even I find it a little insulting to true
believers that these people recite the prayer and then proceed to act in such a
shameful fashion – hurling insults, bullying each other, and competing to see
which of them can sink lowest when it comes to inhumane or dehumanising
policies.
“God” – whatever that means to an individual – cops the
blame quite unfairly for the things people do when they do not want to accept
responsibility for their own actions.
Here’s what the Discussion Draft of the New Constitution has
to say on the topic of Religion, directly and indirectly:
91 – Religion
No Australian Government or its delegated authorities shall:
a) subsidise a religious organisation beyond
compensation for approved secular and charitable works
b) subsidise the promotion or practice of a
particular religion
c) subsidise that portion of an organisation’s
budget dedicated to instruction in a particular religion’s beliefs and
practices beyond that appropriate to teaching a curriculum of broad general
knowledge, or a course of a secular nature.
101 – Rights of Australian Citizens
Australian Citizens have a moral and legal right
a) …
b)
c)
d)
e) to express reasonable opinion or belief of
fact
f) to hold, discuss or reject religious beliefs
g)
h) to freedom from inferior treatment based
solely on
1.
2. race, ethnicity or culture,
3. gender or gender identity,
4.
5. sexual identity,
6. marital status,
7. religion,
103 - Limitations of Rights of Australian Citizens
The legal guarantee of
a right carrying with it moral obligations, the rights of Australian Citizens
are limited as follows;
a) the
b) the right to freedom of assembly, protest,
or expression of opinion shall not include the right to
1. knowingly promote hatred of members of a
group rather than abhorrence of specific behaviours or beliefs; or
2. incite the commission of a crime of violence
against person or property; or
3.
c)
d) Section 103 c) does not limit the right of
bona fide whistleblowers to speak, nor does it grant the right to punish
whistleblowers.
e) the right to freedom from discrimination
1. shall not include the right to inflict
psychosocial or physical violence on persons;
2. shall not justify a lesser standard for the
treatment of animals than that held by the community at large
3.
4. shall not justify non-compliance with
reasonable health and safety or security requirements;
5. shall not exempt any person from providing
clear and transparent personal identification for purposes including but not
limited to
a. health and safety
b. administration of Australian law
6.
7. should not impose an unreasonable burden on
any other citizen, natural or incorporated;
8.
9.
10.
11. shall not provide grounds for exempting any
organisation or citizen, natural or incorporated, from complying with the
provisions of Australian Taxation Law;
There is a further requirement in the draft that The Lord’s
Prayer be replaced with the Preamble of the New Constitution.
Ideally, the Preamble people finally approve will be a
statement of values upon which Parliamentarians might ponder before they get
down to business.
There is a great deal we might say about getting a whole new
constitution off the ground, but for this post it would be great to get
feedback about what’s wrong, missing or simply okay about the topic of
religion.
Thanks for dropping in!
You can read the text of the draft here or PM me through the facebook page and I will happily email you a more readable PDF. The draft DOES need everybody's input, it is just designed to start discussions.
Please join the discussion if you agree Australia needs a new and more democratic constitution. If you don't want to use blogger, you can discuss the idea via facebook.
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