Rainbow Report on Freedom of Speech.
February 21st 2012 00:39
Ryan Moore the ALP candidate for Glass House
LIMITS TO FREEDOM
Freedom of speech is one of those things we all believe in, but everyone also acknowledges that it has its limits. But deciding exactly where those limits are, especially in relation to religion, can raise all sorts of problems.
MONASH UNIVERSITY & THE RABBI
The issue came to the fore last week with the exposure of Rabbi Shimon Cowen’s address to the Australian Family Association, in which he went to great lengths, using not only theology and philosophy (which are his specialities) but the full spectrum of discredited pseudo-scientific sources normally trotted out by the far-right Christian movement, to attack the Safe Schools Coalition.
That prompted a group of Monash academics to publish a letter calling on the university to disassociate itself from Rabbi Cowen and his views.
Tonight we're joined by one of them, Dr Mary Lou Rasmussen, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and an expert in the fields of sexuality and schooling.
MARDI GRAS & THE RAELIANS
Mardi Gras has been accused of stifling freedom of speech: first there was the row with the Polyamory group, now happily resolved. Then it was the turn of the Raelians.
I think it is safe to say they are a fringe religion: they believe an advanced extraterrestrial race called Elohim created life on earth; the Elohim also resurrected of Jesus Christ through a scientific cloning process (which includes memory transfer) by the Elohim; they also believe in sexual self-determination, sex-positive feminism and are anti-war.
They have marched in Mardi Gras for the last 12 years but have pulled out after Mardi Gras wanted to censor their banner. I’ll be talking to Luke Roberts aka Pope Alice.
MUSLIMS IN MARDI GRAS
You can see a bit of a theme developing here, can’t you, where freedom of speech runs head on into religious freedom. Nowhere is that clash more stark than in the Muslim world. Yet this year, for the second time, there’ll be a Queer Muslim group marching in Mardi Gras, and they say that the Muslim community here in Australia is starting to grips with the issue. We’ll talk to Alyenah Muhamadally.
THE QUEENSLAND CANDIDATE
And finally: the Queensland candidate. No, not Kevin Rudd. No, not Peter Watson, either – the young ALP candidate discovered the limits to free speech when he was caught out posting tweets equating homosexuality with paedophilia and Catholic brainwashing – no, we’ll talk to Ryan Moore, the young out gay ALP candidate for Glass House.
SHOWTIME/CONTACT
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