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Scott Morrison during his first question time as Prime Minister.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Legitimate concerns about fostering diversity have led Australian parliaments to pass far-reaching human rights legislation to eliminate discrimination based on race,gender and sexual orientation.

But arguably the most important aspect of diversity in the historical evolution of Western society has been hard-won protections for diversity of faith of all kinds.

By achieving civil equality for all religions,the aim was to enable the community to live together peacefully despite doctrinal and theological differences that,historically,had caused bitter social division and strife.

This achievement - and the truly civil society it underpins - are now under threat.

There is a growing constituency arguing actively for the elimination of religious anti-discrimination exemptions that allow,for example,a Catholic school to discriminate in order to hire teachers supportive of the Catholic traditions.

These provisions are not about giving"a special right to be bigots"to the Christian or any other religion. They are better understood as a mechanism that balances the right to non-discrimination with other fundamental human rights,such as freedom of religion,conscience,and association.

The ability of Catholic schools to hire teachers in accord with Catholic teaching is under challenge.

As such,religious exceptions do not exist for the pejorative purpose of"excluding"people,but rather to enable religious communities to operate in accordance with their defining beliefs.

Such communities must have the right to select leaders and employees appropriate to the community’s world view and practices;and to teach members and raise their children in that particular understanding of the world.

The real test of religious freedom today is whether we will give space to those who have different views;even if those views may cause offence to some group,at some point,in any diverse,modern society.

The bigger question is whether the civil compact - the equal protection of religious liberty for all - that has enabled liberal democracies to minimise religious conflict,will be broken in a manner that could risk religious groups having no recourse other than to politically mobilise around these issues;a result that will ultimately leave us as a more divided community.

A proposal worth considering is a federal act that guarantees protection of the religious freedoms that are vulnerable under the existing anti-discrimination exemption regimes.

We are at a crucial moment in Australia’s history. The Ruddock inquiry into religious freedom has opened a door for bipartisan federal action to secure the nation’s existing religious freedom for the future - which could settle the matter for decades without religion becoming unduly politicised.

How the issue is dealt with will be a test of Australia’s political maturity,and its capacity as a liberal democracy to let us all live together harmoniously despite our differences of belief,thought,speech,and action.

Robert Forsyth is a senior fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies,former Bishop of South Sydney,and author of the paper A Test of Maturity:the liberal case for action on religious freedom.

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