Freedom of Speech

Message / Question

why do you say free speech is so important, and why is it christians want to see discrimination laws put on hold whilst we have the gay marriage plebiscite? doesn't that just show you the hate bro?

Response

I’m not sure that I know of any Christians who want “discrimination put on hold”.

Freedom of speech is supposedly a part of our political history and tradition. I think that the problem is that these days, we have become so “thin skinned” that we presume that anyone who says something that disagrees with what we believe, hate us and want to bring us harm. In a democratic society, we should be free to express our opinions and have free and open discussion /debate on issue that we, as a community, may face from time to time. To disagree with you is not to discriminate against you. Discrimination comes when you are, in some way, acted against directly – for example, you are denied employment because of your race, gender, religion or political opinion. You should be free to hold your opinion, but that opinion should not cause you harm – when it does, THAT becomes discrimination and discrimination is generally wrong (I say generally, because there are legitimate exceptions – e.g. if an Islamic school wants to employ a Principal, it is reasonable for them to be able to discriminate against any non Muslim applicants, because it is obvious that the position would require someone of that particular faith).

Re the “gay marriage plebiscite”, I fail to understand what is wrong with allowing the people to vote whether such a change in our view on marriage is acceptable to the majority of the community (that is surely how democracy should work). I must admit, I would prefer the result to be binding on the parliament rather than it simply being an expression of opinion, but either way, we should allow the public’s view to be expressed. According to the LGBTIQ community and the public media, the “yes” vote would win, but we’ll never know unless the issue is tested.

During the conduct of the plebiscite, people should be free to express their views on the issue, but should NOT be free to express hate or to engage in any actions intended to harm any person or any particular group of people. That would not ‘show you the hate”, rather it would simply allow both sides of the argument to be reasonable, fairly and freely presented before a vote is taken.