Well reasoned Greg. I pray that a Religious Discrimination Bill will be passed in the NSW Parliament and in the federal House of Representatives and Senate. We desperately need them.

Too often Aussies think of discrimination or persecution overseas when they are happening in our own backyard.

Religion Is persecution !

individual,

<<Religion Is persecution!>>

To the contrary, religion is belief or beliefs. Please explain how religion IS persecution.

"Freedom of religion is a universal human right to be protected for the benefit of all – but particularly those of the Christian faith."

Freedom of religion is not only a universal human right, but a universal principle that ought to be cherished by all lovers of God. Neither should it be limited to humans, nor only to those of the Christian faith.

Religion can be found everywhere, religion makes the world go round, thus it cannot be limited to established institutions and doctrines.

The danger with any laws that supposedly favour religion, is that they would only favour such large and powerful institutions which claim to be religious and have the financial/legal resources to "prove" it in court.

Religiosity and spiritual alignment with God can never be proven in court because courts can only be furnished with material evidence: it is easy to foresee how courts could mistakenly classify certain beliefs and expressions that may be culturally-established but not truly religious as "religious", while refusing protection to other true religious beliefs and expressions that are private or limited to small groups thus not as culturally common.

If the author wishes to provide strong legal powers only to Christianity (and possibly also Judaism), then that is their political pursuit, which is well within their democratic right, but has little to do with Glorificetur Deus.

Bar having [true] prophets employed in the public service (which is not feasible in this era), secular authorities have no way of telling religious expressions from other mundane expressions, thus the way to support freedom of religion, should one truly value it, must pass through supporting maximal freedom for everyone, humbly acknowledging that only God is to judge what indeed aligns with His ways and what does not.

There are aspects of Christian teaching that give over to bigotry, vilification and hate. That was most evident during the "gay marriage" debate when some Christians were fear mongering and vilifying gay people. Is Greg suggesting that Christians are a special case, and deserving of exemption from laws that the rest of the community are subject to. Does Greg want carte blanch rights for Christians to say and do as they please supposedly base on some biblical interpretation.

religion is belief or beliefs.
OzSpen,
Yeah, that's what they try to make people think but reality perpetually proves otherwise.
It's akin to saying people are inherently good !
Faith or belief are an effective control mechanism for the conniving & comfort for the decent !
It's a good-evil see-saw !