Yuyutsu; AMEN!

Foxy,

Classifying people according to race or gender and discriminating on this basis is racism or sexism, and what our parents fought against.

Identity politics is exactly what the Klan is about, and what the new left whingers are about. So in my view it is a blight on humanity.

I firmly believe that all Australians are equal under
the law. This means that nobody should be treated
differently from anybody else because of their race,
ethnicity or country of origin, because of their age,
gender, marital status or disability, or because of their
political or religious beliefs.

Most religious principles are respected in Australia,
as long as they don'g go against the laws - for example
you can't get married if you're a minor even though some
religions allow it - and so on.

I believe that schools should be able to expel student
and sack teachers for inappropriate behaviour - but
not for anything else. Religious schools are not entitled
to say - because we decide we're different than we need a
different set of laws. That the rules in our religious
community are different and therefore the law shouldn't
apply to us. It doesn't work that way - not in this country.

I have stated throughout this discussion that all Australians
are free to follow any religion they choose, so long as its
practices do not break any Australian law. Australians are
also free not to follow a religion.

Australia has a secular government and no official or state
religion. Governments are supposed to treat all citizens
as equals regardless of religion and religious laws have no
legal status in Australia. As it currently stands I
don't know of any religious school that does discriminate
against gay people - students or teachers so I suspect
that all this fuss is a storm in a teacup by the same sort
of fanatics who were against same sex marriage. The
government has not yet decided what it will do about
the rights of religious schools. We have yet to wait and see.

As for Dr Kerryn Phelps? She's always been a highly respected
medical practitioner in Wentworth. She's a former President of
the Australian Medical Association. Her behaviour has always
been above reproach and exemplenary. And apparently she had some
excellent policies to offer the voters in her electorate.
That's why they voted for her.

Dear Foxy,

Thank you for correcting your statement from "we" to "Australia".

Though better, I will keep pointing the inaccuracies in your statements:

«all Australians are equal under the law.»

Fortunately not: aboriginals have native-title rights and Jews are allowed not to vote on the Sabbath (compulsory voting is a great evil for many other reasons, but at least we have this).

«Most religious principles are respected in Australia,»

You still say this after seeing all the disrespect even in this very thread?

No matter what you do and what you believe, there will always be others who disrespect you. If you try to please everyone, you will become miserable but still unsuccessful.

«you can't get married if you're a minor»

You can and some do. Can you legislate against love?
(besides, in some cases courts are able to legalise certain underage marriages)
It is all too common grammatical mistake to claim that if something is illegal than you "can't" do it - you can!

«Religious schools are not entitled to say - because we decide we're different...»

Really? Have you ever heard about freedom of speech?

«the rules in our religious community are different...»

Thankfully the rules in each and every school are different, already! (uniform, etc.)

«all Australians are free to follow any religion they choose, so long as...»

This equals NOT FREE.

Have a nice day!

I would like to Thank everyone who contributed to
this discussion. For me it has now run its course.
I look forward to the next one.

Yuyutsu, thank you. You've hit a home run with that last post.
You've clarified the issue and corrected the 'hard heads', better than I could ever have.
I was fuming after reading another of Foxy's fairy tale stories, but came back to earth with a smile after reading yours.
It is comforting to see truth's based on common sense, and not stories of fantasies from some children's 'bed time' story book.
I can only hope, for their sake, that they come back to the real world some day, and sooner than later!
So, good for you.
BAZINGA!