Religious Freedom Under Siege

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
12 Mar 2010

A leading US expert on constitutional law, and law and religion, says a Charter of Human Rights is a bad idea and warns Australia against adopting one.

"Whatever is written into the charter is of secondary importance to the way the courts will interpret it," says Gerard Bradley, Professor of Law at Notre Dame University, Indiana, pointing out that the Bill of Rights enshrined as part of the American constitution, which was written back in 1791, has had a checked history.

"If Australia adopts a Charter of Rights it is difficult to predict with any certainty on how it will be interpreted in a year's time, in five years' time or in 20 years' time," he says, convinced after talking with religious leaders, academics and everyday Australians, that we have no need for such a charter and that our rights under current laws seem to be adequately protected. "Even those I spoke to who were for a Charter of Rights, agreed there was not a desperate need for one."

Professor Bradley believed that if the people of Australia were confronted by real injustices and found themselves in a political system incapable of being able to solve such injustices, he would be one of the first to suggest a Charter of Rights as one way to remedy the situation.

"But in my short time in Australia, no one I have spoken to or met with seems to think there are any big injustices in the country. Which is not to say everything is perfect. But from what I have seen, read and understand about your country, there doesn't seem to be any need for a Charter, which due to various ways it is interpreted could severely restrict freedoms you already have, including religious freedom."

On his first visit to Australia at the invitation of the Ambrose Centre for Religious Liberty, Professor Bradley who arrived in Sydney on Sunday 7 March and will fly back to the US on Friday 12 March, has spent the week conferring with Australian leaders in law and theological matters, including the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell.

He has been keynote speaker at two public meetings held in Sydney and Canberra, where he stressed the importance of Catholic voices being heard in public debate and the formation of public policy.
"Catholics have an invaluable contribution to make," he insists and explained that while governments in the US and Australia adhere to the separation of church and state principle, this does not mean the only alternative is secularism.

"Secularisation is how separation of church and state has been interpreted for the past 40 years by the courts as well as academics, opinion-makers and others in and outside of political life. But I do not believe separation of church and state means secularisation and I do not think secularisation is a good influence either in public debate or the forming of public policy."

Such an interpretation limits religious freedoms and according to Professor Bradley not only means Catholics as well as those from other religions are forced to put their fundamental and deepest beliefs to one side when debating public policy, but is a very real attempt to privatise religion.

"Catholics should not be asked to cease being Catholic when they are asked to make policy when their religion is fundamental to who they are and how they live their lives," he says and believes the absence of God and the absence of religion of any kind in public debate "on the whole is a bad thing."

"Many religions, and most certainly Christianity, are a public phenomena. To be fully Christian, one has to engage in public affairs," he says and points out that Catholic teaching from Vatican II onwards, make it very clear the laity as well as the clergy are called on "to penetrate and perfect the temple with the spirit of the Gospels."

"Arguments in the public sphere should be based on reason and civilised arguments and counter arguments on the issue at hand. But to judge Catholics as people of faith and to stigmatise them for this and insist that in public debates they secularise themselves and their arguments, is an attempt to privatise their religion and is not only wrong-headed but unjust."

Professor Bradley emphasises the importance of evangelisation among Christians and stresses that spreading the Word is one of the key tenets of Catholic faith.

"Everyone who is baptised shares in this evangelical mission," he says, adding that evangelising is not limited to the clergy but involves every one of us.

The restriction of religious liberty as a result of secularism as well as the current fashion for political correctness which supports the rights of individuals rather than those of society should be of concern to all faiths and all religious, he says.

To hear an audio of Professor Bradley's address at the public meeting in Sydney click here.