Subject: [Fwd: Thank you for praying!]
From: Richard Ashton
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 06:42:39 +1030
To: undisclosed recipients

a forward for your prayer about this situation...

Richard

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Thank you for praying!

Date: Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:04:49 +1030

From: Roslyn Phillips

9 November 2006

Dear Friends,

Thank you for all those who were praying for us at 11.30 am this morning!

We spent nearly one and a half hours with Equal Opportunity Commissioner Linda Matthews and the Attorney-General's Chief of Staff Peter Louca and three legal advisers.

They said the Equal Opportunity (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill (EO Bill) would be debated in the House of Assembly next week.

They expect it to pass with Liberal support - however some Liberal sources have indicated they are unhappy with several clauses in the bill. We thank God that South Australia has an upper house of parliament (the Legislative Council) and that all bills must pass both houses before they can become law. Please pray that the bill will not reach the Legislative Council until after our Briefing for Christian Leaders planned for Wed 22 November (phone 8223 6383 for details).

We raised many concerns, but Peter Louca said the bottom line is that the bill is ALP policy. David raised the scenario of a country doctor who writes a letter to the editor of a Mt Gambier newspaper, warning readers about the health risks of sodomy. What would happen if a homosexual activist lodged a complaint under this new legislation, saying that the letter incited hatred for homosexuals? Would such a complaint be promptly dismissed? The answer was - in effect, no.

Linda Matthews indicated that she would have to consider the complaint and hear both sides. She would be prepared to travel to Mt Gambier to "conciliate" the complaint, although she is not required by law to do so. Other Equal Opportunity Commissioners may require respondents to pay their own way to travel to a capital city for such sessions.

In other words a doctor can publicly tell the truth about the health risks of sodomy with no problems - today. But if the new EO Bill passes, anyone who makes a public statement about risks associated with homosexuality could be subject to complaints against them under the "victimisation" (= vilification) section of the law. Even if the complaint is later dismissed, they would have to go through the legal process of conciliation where the Equal Opportunity Commissioner acts as prosecutor, judge and jury; there is no presumption of innocence; the hearing is closed to the public and cannot be reported in the media; damages of thousands of dollars may be awarded if the complaint is upheld.

We complained about the injustice of this system. Peter Louca told us in effect, "Yes, we know you don't agree. But it is ALP policy, and this system has been operating with both Labor and Liberal support for 20 years. The government consulted with the public a couple of years ago and decided that this new law is needed for the good of society." We pointed out that the new EO bill would make the system much worse.

We also raised various other scenarios - including sermons on Bible passages which condemn divorce or homosexual behaviour, and the ability of Christian schools to choose staff with biblical standards of behaviour - and had little joy in the answers. Under the new EO bill, Christian schools would not be allowed to require staff to be chaste while single or faithful in marriage. Biblical sermons could be subject to complaints, and the Commissioner's finding on whether they broke the law or not would depend on what was said and how it was said. The complaint process would go ahead and the preacher would have to go through all the time and stress of the conciliation process.

The vast majority of SA Christians are unaware of all this. We need to get the message out, and we need much prayer. We need to contact our MPs, Premier Rann and Opposition Leader Iain Evans to let them know how strongly we oppose these unjust provisions. If you have lost the pdf of our action-alert sent yesterday, drop me a line.

Thank you, all those who sent messages of encouragement - they are greatly appreciated. Thank you too, those who have told me that your emails to me have been blocked in recent times. Our new super-dooper spam-blocker is far too enthusiastic! Please bear with us - our IT people are trying to work on the problem and need prayer for wisdom and understanding. At present all spam is coming through - so I am being deluged with ads for Viagra etc - but if your email does bounce, please phone and let us know.

God bless!

ROS

Mrs Roslyn Phillips, B Sc Dip Ed
Research Officer, Festival of Light Australia
4th Floor, 68 Grenfell Street, Adelaide SA 5000
Phone 08 8223 6383 Website www.fol.org.au