Christian groups support hate speech protections

Christian church groups have swung their support behind Labor’s proposed bans on extreme hate speech as part of a new federal religious discrimination act, in a move that adds pressure on the Coalition to back the measure.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has confirmed that Labor will include new measures to protect people from hate speech and vilification based on their faith when it seeks to legislate religious discrimination laws this year.

This approach is looming as a potential hurdle to bipartisanship in landing a federal religious discrimination act, with the federal opposition signalling its reluctance to use civil discrimination laws to crack down on vilification.

In a significant shift in their position, key Christian groups influential within Coalition circles say they are prepared to back Labor’s approach in a bid to build consensus among faith groups, providing the vilification provisions are drafted in a way that does not hamper their religious teachings.

Christian Schools Australia spokesman Mark Spencer confirmed a shift in the views of some Christian groups since the former Morrison government’s failed attempt to pass religious discrimination laws in 2022.

“Last time around [in 2022], Christian groups were not keen on vilification provisions. There is certainly more goodwill about trying to get that right than there was,” Spencer said.

He attributed this shift to extensive discussions between faith communities and a greater appreciation of the perspective put by Muslim and Jewish leaders in particular about the vilification their communities experienced.

This consensus position was laid out in a letter to Dreyfus in June 2022, which until now has not been made public. It was signed by about 20 leaders from varied faith groups including Anglican, Catholic, Presbyterian, Greek Orthodox, Baptist and Pentecostal churches, as well as Christian Schools Australia, the Australian National Council of Imams and the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

“We support in principle, the introduction of your proposed prohibition on religious vilification,” the letter, signed June 8, states.

“Christian faith groups on the whole do not seek these protections for themselves, and stress the importance of avoiding any drafting that could be used to restrict genuine religious teaching, or discussion or proselytising. But support them for the sake of other (especially Islamic and Jewish) faith groups.”

A renewed debate on a federal religious discrimination framework is expected to kick off when federal parliament returns in February, with faith leaders anticipating Dreyfus will introduce draft legislation into the parliament by July.

When the issue was debated during the last parliament, Christian groups did not join Muslim and other faith groups in urging vilification provisions to be included in the Morrison government’s proposed religious discrimination act, which was ultimately abandoned. At the time, the Coalition voted to reject Labor’s attempt to amend its proposed laws to insert provisions to make it unlawful to “threaten, intimidate, harass or vilify” a person based on their religious beliefs, citing concerns about limiting freedom of expression and creating inconsistencies with existing state and territory laws.

The debate around the need for stronger hate speech protections has intensified this year, fuelled by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in October. Responding to media reports in The Australian about alleged antisemitic sermons by Islamic clerics in Sydney, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton this month called for hate speech laws to be strengthened and offered the Coalition’s support to the federal government for doing so.

But Dutton did not make clear whether he supported this being achieved only through existing criminal laws or whether he would be prepared to back Labor’s plans to address the issue through a religious discrimination framework.

Coalition shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash has signalled concern about relying on civil discrimination law to address vilification, saying existing criminal laws should be the first recourse.

“We will of course consider the measures the government includes in its religious discrimination bill when it is released. But we don’t know what those laws might look like or how they might work in practice,” she said.

“In the meantime, current laws give us the capacity to take action against those who urge antisemitic violence right now. We should look to those existing tools first.”

Anglican bishop of South Sydney Michael Stead, who also chairs the Christian think tank Freedom for Faith and was one of the signatories to the letter, said a view had firmed among Christian groups that the criminal law should not be the only recourse for tackling vilifying speech or conduct.

“Part of the reason for the shift in our position is a realisation that the criminal law is a pretty blunt instrument to give community signals about what’s appropriate and inappropriate levels of religious speech,” he said.

But he said that faith groups had conveyed their concerns to Dreyfus that poorly drafted vilification laws that captured “insulting” or “offensive” speech would set too low a bar and risk creating a de facto blasphemy law that would constrain free expression.

“They need to be set at the appropriate level so they don’t restrict moderately expressed statements of belief. Where there are statements which are intended to threaten or intimidate or incite hatred, that kind of language, we think that’s a reasonable place to set the bar,” Stead said.