David Farrar has been very busy today on his blog, quite a few political posts. Probably something to do with the upcoming election here in New Zealand. Here is the beginning of his post on the Labour Party's Interfaith Policy:
I've bolded the parts I want to come back to before I take a slight meander into a related topic - the increasing clash between religion and gay rights in the developed world.
I felt the need to point out that in the Western world there is now growing serious clash between religious discrimination and gay rights. Because Labour have traditionally been the champions of gay rights here in New Zealand, it's a bit rich that they talk about protecting communities of faiths when they are behind setting up systems which will allow these rights to come into conflict. It's not bad here yet, but people of faith in other countries in the West, mostly Christians, are increasingly not able to practice their beliefs or even in some cases talk about them without fear of persecution, because of this clash with gay rights.
Here are some of the more recent cases of in one of the more extreme Western countries, Britain, that I could remember off the top of my head, that I searched on and listed as comments on Kiwiblog.
Gay couple wins discrimination case against Christian hoteliers, who refused to give the men a double room in their hotel because they weren’t married. Were ordered by the courts to pay the men compensation.
Last British Catholic adoption agency closes, because Catholic agencies were going to be forced to adopt children to same-sex couples.
Judges ruling against devout foster couple, banned from fostering any more children because of their views on sexual morality. The Equality and Human Rights Commission had argued during their trial, “that children risk being ‘infected’ by Christian moral views.”
And then there was the most recent thought crime in Britain, which was covered by ZenTiger in his recent post, Intolerance, I’ll give you Intolerance. He wrote about a man who was demoted and given a 40% pay cut, because he dared to utter the following words, which could not be read by the general public, on his private FaceBook page, :
And then the irony is that a commenter starts comparing sexuality with race, which was David's whole point on religion and race that I bolded above. The problem with that is (as I said on Kiwiblog), sexual orientation and religion is something that is learned, something that a person chooses to act upon. When a baby is born, they have no sexual orientation, nor do they have a religion, but every single person on this earth has a genetic structure which links them to particular racial groupings. Race is a physical characteristic and cannot be changed, your sexual preferences and your religion are not physical and [therefore] can be changed.
Could what is happening in Britain happen here in New Zealand as well? Can't see why not. The only way to stop it is for New Zealanders to be aware of what has been happening in the world, no matter how insane sounding and realise that we too are not immune from idiocy. Think of this issue as the canary in the coalmine for freedom of opinion and expression - if the Christians go down, how long until you are next? And looking at the policy above, could Labour be thinking about ensuring only particular religions that are more tied to particular ethnicities have preference over other rights as well?
Related link: Labour's interfaith policy ~ KiwiBlog
Labour’s interfaith policy is mainly harmless platitudes such as:
Labour will commit to building harmonious relationships between communities of different faiths as intrinsic to ensuring strong, healthy and safe communities of understanding and tolerance in Aotearoa, New Zealand.Hard to disagree with that!
I did appreciate the irony that the policy sites approvingly the ratification of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, considering Labour in Government refused to ratify it!
But one section grates with me:
Labour will work collaboratively across all government sectors to ensure that New Zealand’s diverse cultures and communities of faiths will be protected from racism, discrimination, prejudice and injustices.First of all Labour conflates race with religion. You can not be racist against a religion. You do not choose your race but you do choose your religion. One can have a negative view of a particular religion, and this does not make you racist. Labour’s policy suggests that people who do not like certain religions are racists.
I've bolded the parts I want to come back to before I take a slight meander into a related topic - the increasing clash between religion and gay rights in the developed world.
I felt the need to point out that in the Western world there is now growing serious clash between religious discrimination and gay rights. Because Labour have traditionally been the champions of gay rights here in New Zealand, it's a bit rich that they talk about protecting communities of faiths when they are behind setting up systems which will allow these rights to come into conflict. It's not bad here yet, but people of faith in other countries in the West, mostly Christians, are increasingly not able to practice their beliefs or even in some cases talk about them without fear of persecution, because of this clash with gay rights.
Here are some of the more recent cases of in one of the more extreme Western countries, Britain, that I could remember off the top of my head, that I searched on and listed as comments on Kiwiblog.
Gay couple wins discrimination case against Christian hoteliers, who refused to give the men a double room in their hotel because they weren’t married. Were ordered by the courts to pay the men compensation.
Last British Catholic adoption agency closes, because Catholic agencies were going to be forced to adopt children to same-sex couples.
Judges ruling against devout foster couple, banned from fostering any more children because of their views on sexual morality. The Equality and Human Rights Commission had argued during their trial, “that children risk being ‘infected’ by Christian moral views.”
And then there was the most recent thought crime in Britain, which was covered by ZenTiger in his recent post, Intolerance, I’ll give you Intolerance. He wrote about a man who was demoted and given a 40% pay cut, because he dared to utter the following words, which could not be read by the general public, on his private FaceBook page, :
I don’t understand why people who have no faith and don’t believe in Christ would want to get hitched in church. The Bible is quite specific that marriage is for men and women. If the State wants to offer civil marriages to the same sex then that is up to the State; but the State shouldn’t impose its rules on places of faith and conscience.
And then the irony is that a commenter starts comparing sexuality with race, which was David's whole point on religion and race that I bolded above. The problem with that is (as I said on Kiwiblog), sexual orientation and religion is something that is learned, something that a person chooses to act upon. When a baby is born, they have no sexual orientation, nor do they have a religion, but every single person on this earth has a genetic structure which links them to particular racial groupings. Race is a physical characteristic and cannot be changed, your sexual preferences and your religion are not physical and [therefore] can be changed.
Could what is happening in Britain happen here in New Zealand as well? Can't see why not. The only way to stop it is for New Zealanders to be aware of what has been happening in the world, no matter how insane sounding and realise that we too are not immune from idiocy. Think of this issue as the canary in the coalmine for freedom of opinion and expression - if the Christians go down, how long until you are next? And looking at the policy above, could Labour be thinking about ensuring only particular religions that are more tied to particular ethnicities have preference over other rights as well?
Related link: Labour's interfaith policy ~ KiwiBlog