{"id":563,"date":"2013-03-12T18:04:50","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T07:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/?p=563"},"modified":"2013-03-12T22:51:56","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T11:51:56","slug":"rationalist-society-manifesto-for-a-secular-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/2013\/03\/12\/rationalist-society-manifesto-for-a-secular-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Rationalist Society manifesto for a secular Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rationalist Society of Australia is launching its own manifesto\u00a0for a secular Australia<\/a>. I can get behind most of this, perhaps all<\/em> of it. I also think that it would translate pretty well to other countries. Please feel free to offer your own plans for a truly secular country, applicable to where you live, or applicable generally.<\/p>\n

Would I have written exactly the same manifesto? Maybe not, as I have priorities that are not included here, perhaps because they go a step further and rely on political principles that I am committed to, such as freedom of speech, and so there are some reforms that I’d give a higher priority than some of these. But these are not a bad start. Kudos to the Rationalist Society.<\/p>\n

Here is the manifesto:<\/p>\n

Parliaments and Government<\/h3>\n

There must be clear separation between religion and the State.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 All Australian constitutions should be reformed to ensure clear separation between religion and the State, and all references to God removed.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Parliamentary prayers and religious references in statutory oaths should be removed.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No laws made by parliaments nor decisions of executive government should privilege or promote religion.<\/p>\n

The Law<\/h3>\n

There must be \u2018one law for all\u2019, with no recognition of parallel legal systems.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Religious institutions should not be permitted to exempt themselves from the law of the land. Canon law must not take precedence over Australian law.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sharia courts should not be officially recognised.<\/p>\n

\u2022 There should be mandatory reporting of serious crimes by all professionals, including religious functionaries.<\/p>\n

Religious organisations must be subject to the same laws as other organisations.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 The \u2018advancement of religion\u2019 should be removed from the statutory definition of charity, and religious organisations should not enjoy automatic tax exempt status.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Religious organisations should be subject to anti-discrimination laws in employment and service provision.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Government funding to religious organisations such as schools and hospitals should be subject to rigorous accountability to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination laws and the absence of proselytising.<\/p>\n

Education<\/h3>\n

Education must be strictly secular, not promoting any particular religion.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 National and state curricula should include the study of a range of religious and non-religious worldviews, taught by professionally trained teachers.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Government resources should not be used to support particular religious views, programs of religious instruction, or the employment of religious functionaries in educational settings.<\/p>\n

Sex and Sexuality<\/h3>\n

There must be no discrimination on the basis of a person\u2019s sex, sexuality or gender identity.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Australian governments should not impose a religious bias on the definition of marriage, or on the right to adopt.<\/p>\n

There must be freedom of reproductive choice, with no religious interference.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Termination of pregnancy should be decriminalised in all States and Territories.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Governments should make access to evidence-based sexual and reproductive health information and healthcare services universally available.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Age-appropriate sex and relationships education should be included in national and state curricula.<\/p>\n

Healthcare<\/h3>\n

Healthcare must be available to all regardless of the religious views of the provider.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Public hospitals must not be allowed to restrict treatment on the basis of religious worldviews.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Private hospitals must not refuse emergency treatment on the basis of religious worldviews.<\/p>\n

Children<\/h3>\n

Children must not suffer because of the religious views of their parents.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 Decisions about children\u2019s healthcare should be based on evidence-based medicine, not the religious worldviews of their parents.<\/p>\n

\u2022 No organisation, whether religious or not, should be allowed to restrict children\u2019s education or to isolate them within closed communities.<\/p>\n

Dying with Dignity<\/h3>\n

When facing the end of life, everyone must be guaranteed control over their own bodies, free from religious interference.<\/h4>\n

\u2022 \u2018Advance directives\u2019 should be given legal force.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Physician-assisted suicide, with appropriate safeguards, should be decriminalised.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Governments should fund non-religious palliative care services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rationalist Society of Australia is launching its own manifesto\u00a0for a secular Australia. I can get behind most of this, perhaps all of it. I also think that it would translate pretty well to other countries. Please feel free to offer your own plans for a truly secular country, applicable to where you live, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,18],"tags":[231,185],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law","category-politics","tag-rationalist-society-of-australia","tag-secularism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/hellfireclub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}