Never Trust the Activists – Nor “Exemptions”
All over the West draconian laws are being put into effect granting special rights to tiny minority groups such as the homosexual militants. The various activist groups will lie to your face, insisting that all these special rights will not impact on anyone else.
They will claim that no one will be adversely affected if things like homosexual marriage are enacted. They say it is just fear-mongering to suggest that the freedoms of others will be put at risk. Well, as I have documented time and time again, this is pure baloney.
Everyone is impacted by things like homosexual marriage. Almost always these new laws take away basic rights of ordinary citizens. Faith-based groups especially end up being heavily discriminated against, with various freedoms whittled away.
Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of conscience are all being hammered as the activist groups push through restrictive legislation. Calling it equal opportunity legislation, or anti-discrimination law changes nothing.
At the end of the day it is often biblical Christianity that is being targeted. Indeed, in so many of these secular left laws there are discussions about whether religious groups should be granted “exemptions”. Most often the radicals want no exemptions whatsoever, but allowances may be made to simply get a bill voted through.
We see a perfect example of this occurring in Victoria with a homosexual adoption bill just being passed. As one report puts it:
Legislation to allow same-sex couples to adopt has passed the Victorian Parliament, after the Government decided to accept amendments made in the Upper House. The bill originally did not allow religious organisations to refuse an adoption to gay couples, but the Upper House amended the bill last month to give religious exemptions.
The Government had been considering whether to reject the amendment and withdraw the bill all together. Earlier this year, Victorian Equality Minister Martin Foley labelled the suggestion to allow faith-based exemptions to same-sex adoptions “rubbish”. But the Government accepted the changes, in order to enact the bill.
Sadly we once again have some Christians and Christian groups patting themselves on the back, claiming they got some religious exemptions in. This is nothing to be proud about. Indeed, it is simply a case of not clearly thinking through what all this means.
The truth is, there are all sorts of problems with these exemptions. For one, they are usually far too restrictive. While they may sound good in theory, usually they only apply to a select few individuals, such as paid professional clergy. A myriad of other religious folks who should also be exempt usually are not, be they Sunday School teachers, church staff, religious school personnel, workers in parachurch groups, and so on.
There are numerous Christian workers who will never qualify for these “exemptions”. So they really are useless from day one. But even more worrying is this simple truth: whenever a government has a right to grant religious bodies exemptions, it of course has the same right to snatch them away.
This is tyranny at work. The government should not be in the business of “granting exemptions” to religious groups in the first place. If a law is that bad that it will harm the majority (and the majority is still by and large religious) then it is not a law worth pursuing in the first place.
Once a government tells religious groups what it will allow them, it can just as easily tell them what it won’t allow them. And we find this happening far too often. Some lousy bill is debated, a few lame exemptions are allowed, clueless Christians think it is all peachy and go back to sleep, and the next thing you know, the exemptions are watered down further or simply taken away.
There are cases of this occurring regularly around the West. I document nearly 200 such cases of Christians losing their freedoms when pro-homosexual legislation goes through in my recent book, Strained Relations. Plenty more cases can be mentioned. Here are two more very recent ones.
Earlier this year homosexual marriage was legalised in Ireland. The same assurances were given that no one would be impacted by this, and religious bodies would all be just fine. Yeah right, it did not take long at all to show what lies those were. Consider this rather expected news:
The Irish Parliament has passed a bill forcing publicly-funded Catholic institutions, including schools, to employ open homosexuals. The bill, which extends the ban on discrimination in the “equality law” to religiously-based institutions, affects the 90 percent of the country’s schools that belong to the Catholic Church. While homosexual groups and media pundits hail the new law, defenders of the Catholic schools and teachings say the law is unconstitutional.
“This bill is the key piece of the legislative map that will allow LGBT people to be themselves, get married, and have a family without a threat to their job if they work in a religious-run institution,” said Sandra Irwin-Gowran, director of education policy with the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network.
Until last week, Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act exempted religious employers from the general ban on discrimination based on sexual behaviour, when the behaviour conflicted with the school’s religious “ethos.” It affected homosexuals, divorcees, co-habiters, etc.
The Iona Institute, a non-profit organization set up to defend the Catholic faith, believes that the exemption is supported by Section 44.2.1 of the Irish Constitution which states that “Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen.”
In a brief to the government, the Institute noted that the exemption had been “upheld by the Supreme Court in Re the Employment Equality Bill 1996 on the grounds that it strikes a proper balance between the right of free profession and practice of religion on one hand and the right to equality before the law and the right to earn one’s livelihood on the other.”
Freedom smeedom. Once homosexual activists get the heavy hand of the law on their side, religious and other groups always suffer. “Equal rights” in this case simply means special rights for some, while the rights of the majority are stripped away.
And consider England, which has had legalised homosexual marriage since 2013. I have documented scores of cases of anti-Christian bigotry and persecution since this law went through, and another shocker has just been reported. As one media outlet says:
Police are investigating an allegation of hate crime against world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury. Greater Manchester Police received a call earlier after comments made about homosexuality on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme. “We take every allegation of hate crime extremely seriously and we will be attending the victim’s address to take a statement,” a GMP spokeswoman said.
Yep, here we go again: simply voice in public an opinion that differs in the slightest from the reigning gaystapo orthodoxy, and you will be investigated for a “hate crime”. We find this Orwellian clampdown on freedoms all over the Western world. Simply pass some pro-homosexual law, and every other person in the land who dares to differ may be guilty of “hate speech”.
Welcome to the Brave New World of homosexual totalitarianism. While too many Christians have not defended this brother in Christ, we did have one brave non-believer stating the obvious. Once again, Brendan O’Neill cuts to the chase on this madness:
If you were in any doubt that Britain is skating perilously close to tyrannical territory, get this: the boxer Tyson Fury is being investigated by police over his comments on homosexuality. Fury, a Manchester-based boxer who became the heavyweight champion of the world at the end of last month, is a born-again Christian. He thinks homosexuality is sinful. In a recent newspaper interview he compared it to paedophilia. And now, after receiving a complaint from a member of the public at 10.30 this morning, Greater Manchester Police will put him under the spotlight to determine if his words constituted a hate crime.
To put this another way: in 2015, in a nation that claims to be liberal and democratic, a nation which just last week launched missiles attacks on ISIS to demonstrate its love for liberty against ISIS’s desire to traduce our enlightened values, a man is being investigated by the authorities over his beliefs; his convictions; his deeply held faith. The police are opening a file on Fury, not over any physical act he carried out, not for robbery or assault or affray, but because he thought and said something that many people disagree with.
British politicians wring their hands over Saudi Arabia’s arrest of blasphemous bloggers or ISIS’s severe punishment of those who doubt the Prophet. Yet at the same time they give the nod as police investigate a man who dares to hold to Biblical scripture on homosexuality. In fact, they wrote the very hate-speech laws that allow those judged to be overly Godly, too Biblically literal, to be investigated for ‘hate crimes’. Is this not religious persecution, too? The potential punishment of someone for believing in God in a particular way? Sure, Fury won’t be flogged or even jailed, but the principle is the same here as it is in Saudi Arabia: officialdom presumes it has the tyrannical authority to question and punish individuals for what is inside their minds and hearts.
Yep, this is the new nightmare of homosexual “tolerance” in action. This tolerance is all one-way traffic: you must tolerate, endorse, approve of and promote the homosexual agenda, or the heavy hand of the law will come crashing down on you. No dissent will be tolerated.
Yep, this is the utopia of homosexual fascism. And it gets worse every passing day. So next time you hear the activists telling you a new pro-homosexual law will not affect you, don’t believe a word of it. And the next time you hear politicians talking about “exemptions” for religious groups, head for the hills.
Freedom and democracy in the West are quickly dying out – all thanks to the pink tolerance brigade.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-09/same-sex-adoption-passes-victorian-parliament/7013502
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-irish-law-forces-catholic-schools-to-employ-open-homosexuals
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-35046629
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/tyson-fury-falling-victim-to-pc-tyranny/17713#.VmjjMvl95hE
[1685 words]
I remember reading 1984 as a teenager and being relieved that Thought Crime was not real in the Western World yet. Sadly only a few decades later and it’s already starting.
2 Timothy 3:12 – Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
With Rudd’s proposed homosexual marriage law changes there were exceptions for religious marriage celebrants but not civil marriage celebrants and the line pushed by one group was that a civil celebrant could not refuse to do a wedding if asked.
Our Pastor’s unanswered question to our local parliamentry rep. was “Will that exception still exist in 10 years time?”
The Victorian parliament’s promised exemptions are not a permanent reprieve for Christians: they are only a temporary stay of execution.
Thank you Bill !!! For saying it LOUD and keep SAYING it maybe some lovely Christians will wake up and seek God for the power to proclaim Jesus “If the SON shall make you free – you shall be free in ACTION.” Apart from Him there is only slavery to this present evil age. Galatians 1:4
Here is a joke, only it’s not a joke.
Two male sodomites walked into a Christian adoption agency and said give us a baby to put in our house of sodomy sex, don’t hate don’t discriminate!
http://www.piac.asn.au/legal-help/public-interest-cases/same-sex-discrimination-ov-ow/same-sex-discrimination-ov-ow
That’s the case law – OW and OV vs Wesley City Mission’s adoption wing in NSW. The case dragged on for 8 years until the court ruled only with Gay Marriage legal could the sodomites demand their rights to free Christian Supplied babies, as the church had the right to discriminate against “unmarried” couples.
Now also in NSW they have made 60 year old with 16 year old gay boy sex legal, whilst the 60 year old passes on the AIDS virus also legal. Still legal if the 60 year old doesn’t tell the 16 year old looking boy he has the AIDS virus.
They are marching in Melbourne last year to make 60 year old gay man + 16 year old boy + surprise AIDS sex legal just like in NSW. If they can march for that they can march for anything including polygamy pedophilia or bestiality. That’s what the lowered age of consent laws without exemption for gay teachers and gay police having sex with students (like QLD has) is the greatest achievement of the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby.
http://glrl.org.au/history-of-the-lobby/
http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/aids-2014-decriminalisation-prevention-human-rights/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/aids-conference-told-legalizing-prostitution-a-simple-way-to-curb-hiv-1.2714423
It’s literally a crime to criticize acts of pedophilia according to to the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board – but only if the convicted pedophile identifies as gay before their arrest and guilty plea to sodomy 1 of a 22 month old Russian Infant. (the case of Mark Newton and Peter Truong and those accused in case law of linking to “tinyurl.com/abcplugspedos” – and the comments of those on that youtube video exercising free speech to vilifying those gay pedophiles, because @NODISCRIM / @NCATNSW ruled homosexuality is inclusive of pedophilia and to vilify a gay pedophiles like Newton and Truong vilifies all gays as they are one and the same)
Thanks for the warning, Bill. Let’s wait patiently for the first Christian to be penalised under these laws. It’s not a matter of if, but when.
Such warnings have been ignored since the 70’s, why do you think so called Christians will listen now? But according to Ezekiel 33 God will punish them for not heeding the warnings given.
Great article, Bill… thank you.
We need to encourage one another to be loving, humble, and yet boldly proclaim that God’s kingdom is at hand. His law is written in heaven, and upon every blade of grass. All power belongs to Jesus, and judgment is being revealed against his enemies.
Psa 91:8 Only with your eyes you shall look and see the reward of the wicked.
Bill,
Allert Alert Alert! Those Queer Greens are going after ALL RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS IN VICTORIA!
Proving your article’s conclusions was correct. These adoptions exemptions wont last, especially with the more general anti-disicrimination laws being amended to remove all religious exemptions whatsoever.
The Greens want a young gay boy kissing on the playground subculture in every Catholic / Christian School that can’t be asked politely to take it somewhere else.
The want to remove all religious exemptions.
I’m suprised section 25 of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act wasn’t targeted too, the section that can make sacking gay teachers legal if they come out and indoctrinate your K-12 children (in a private school).
http://www.samhibbins.com/equality_bill
Here’s the draft bill.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/agv/pages/4382/attachments/original/1449790772/Consultation_draft_Equal_Opportunity_Amendment_(LGBTI_Equality)_Bill_2016.pdf?1449790772
And how I was tipped off:
http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/lgbt-advocates-question-whether-greens-19862.html
http://www.samhibbins.com/greens_vow_to_continue_adoption_equality_fight
These Victorian Greens aka the “Sodomy Party” are not just going for Christian Supplied babies to be given for gay dads. They are going for Christian ordained “gay marriages”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQgAm0rasWY
Due to Wayout Cobram Youth Services vs Christian Bretheren in the high court (see my youtube channel) with the High Court of Australia ruling a Christian youth conference centre isn’t a place of worship where children pray, so gay men must sleep over there with minors in bunk beads and teach them how to do gay sex on church land – Only places of worship apply to religious exemptions.
When you remove all religious exemptions you are only targetting one thing – what goes on in places of worship, and that is marriage services.
“GREENS VOW TO CONTINUE ADOPTION EQUALITY FIGHT
POSTED ON DECEMBER 09, 2015
Victorian Greens LGBTI spokesperson Sam Hibbins has welcomed the passing of adoption equality legislation, but criticised the Coalition’s amendment to maintain discrimination.
“The Greens welcome the passing of adoption equality legislation which will strengthen families and protect children of same-sex couples,” Sam Hibbins said.
“We’re disappointed the Liberal National Coalition broke their promise of a free vote and forced amendments to the bill that will allow for discrimination against same sex couples.
“The Greens will continue fighting to achieve adoption equality in full. We will shortly be launching an exposure draft of a private members bill which will remove exemptions in the Equal Opportunity Act for religious organisations and schools, including adoption agencies,” Sam Hibbins said.
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