Persecution and the courage of Julian Porteous
Our choice as Christians will be compromise or honour Christ’s definition of marriage and be punished by an intolerant government. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Hobart, Julian Porteous, is now the subject of an official complaint to the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission.
He will now undergo a mandatory process to answer the allegation made against him. He could end up in court. If found guilty, he could be fined. His alleged crime? He promoted Catholic teaching on marriage to the parents who enrolled their children in Tasmania’s Catholic schools.Entitled Don’t Mess with Marriage https://www.sydneycatholic.org/pdf/DMM-booklet_web.pdf, the booklet he distributed respects the dignity of same-sex attracted people while talking about the goodness of man-woman marriage and why children are affected if they miss out on their mother or father.
It is an entirely innocuous document. But because it upholds the right of children to wherever possible have their mother and father, same-sex marriage activists have taken great offense.Under Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Act, even the mere suggestion of offence is grounds for complaint. Clearly any law which allows a legal process to be instigated on the basis of mere offense is deeply flawed and a chilling brake of free speech.
Archbishop Porteous’ accuser is the transgender Greens Party candidate for the federal seat of Franklin, Martine Delaney. Silencing dissent is the modus operandi of some of the loudest proponents of same-sex marriage.
But Archbishop Porteous is a courageous leader and is not backing down. Here is some of what he had to say this week.This represents the rise of a new intolerance against Christianity in Australian society, and more generally a threat to freedom of speech. It is important in a democratic society like Australia that every person is free to present what they believe to be true. There should not be threats or intimidation against anyone who expresses a view in favour of traditional marriage.
ACL, like several other Christian and family groups, today issued a media release supporting Archbishop Porteous.It is so important we do not leave people alone on the battlefield.Instead of recognising the points we made about free speech, some media people openly mocked ACL on social media.
Rick Morton, the social affairs writer at The Australian tweeted this to his 10,000 followers: If the media are not taking freedom of speech concerns seriously, our democracy has a big problem.
All this on a day when the Sydney Anglicans went public with their concerns for freedom of conscience, should same-sex marriage be legislated.
But Christians’ fears about freedom of religion are subsidiary to the real issue at stake in changing the definition of marriage which is the injustice to children of legally institutionalising motherlessness and fatherlessness. This is perhaps why the same-sex marriage lobbyists are especially keen to silence discussion.
Delaney’s complaint is that by saying same-sex marriage messes with children, that this is somehow offensive to same-sex attracted people and those of them who have children.
ACL, and I’m sure Archbishop Porteous, does not question whether or not same-sex attracted people or couples can be good parents. Clearly they can. But we have to be able to discuss the ethics of requiring children to miss out on their parents through same-sex parenting. If same-sex marriage lobbyists can stop this, they have effectively silenced their opponents.
They don’t want ordinary Australians to rise up and demand a fair go for kids. Perhaps that is why the leader of the movement to change the definition of marriage, Australian Marriage Equality’s Rodney Croome, urged people like Delaney to report Porteous to the commission. The persecution of those who dare to speak in the public square for the timeless definition of marriage has officially begun.
