Religious Freedom Week

Join with Churches and Faith Communities across Australia to Pray for and Protect Religious Freedom

On October 16-22, join with faith groups across the nation to pray for the globally persecuted and for the protection of religious freedoms in Australia. Religious Freedom is only weakly protected in Australian law, and those protections are rapidly eroding.

How can you get involved?

Learn about the challenges to Religious Freedom

 There are a number of recent and current issues that demonstrate that religious freedom is at risk:

• The proposal by the NSW government to ban practices that try to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity — which may include consensual counselling, prayer and sermons aimed at helping a same-sex attracted Christian to live out their religious convictions.
• The proposal from the Australian Law Reform Commission to strip religious schools of the right to select staff who believe and live out the faith of the school.
• The proposed Human Rights Act put forward by the Australian Human Rights Commission that subordinates religious freedom under other human rights rather than holding them as equal.
• The continued lack of a Religious Discrimination Bill means that people of faith can be discriminated against because of their religion. For example, the recent case of Andrew Thorburn’s forced resignation over his church’s religious teachings would not be illegal under Federal, NSW or SA law.

(click on the links to read more on each issue)

Pray for Religious Freedom

Join with faith groups across the nation to pray for the globally persecuted and for the protection of religious freedoms in Australia.

The link below has material to help churches participate in Religious Freedom Week. It includes prayer points, suggested prayers, media materials and a printable booklet.

Contact your MP

Talking to your local MP is the single most effective way to impact our political system. The button below has resources on talking to your Federal MP about religious freedom, including handouts and talking points.

Or, if you’re in NSW, this website has great resources to walk you through talking to your MP about conversion therapy legislation, the most pressing current issue in NSW.

Keep informed

Join our email list to stay informed about the state of religious freedom in Australia.