Baptist minister says there is no real risk of religious persecution in Australia compared with many other countries

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The social justice advocate Tim Costello has called on his fellow Christians to “calm down” about their alleged persecution, amid a brewing political storm over how the government should act to protect against religious discrimination.

Costello, speaking in his new role as a senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, also warned that the federal government should not try to legislate to cover “extreme” examples of competing rights, citing the high-profile Israel Folau case as an example.

The former chief advocate for World Vision Australia is backing the recommendations of the Ruddock review into religious discrimination, but has dismissed calls from conservative Coalition MPs for a religious freedom bill.

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He said he did not see any evidence of the persecution of Christians in Australia, and said they needed to “suck it up”, just like Jesus.

“I don’t think there is a risk of persecution – Christians need to calm down,” Costello said.

“I would say to Christians if you want to see persecution, let me take you to places where there is persecution of Christians and other religious groups – let me take you to Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, and I will show you persecution.

“And if they read their Bibles, Jesus said the world will hate you and misunderstand you for following me, but to go on following, loving, serving – so I would say, just suck it up.

“Jesus didn’t go around demanding legislation to protect his rights. Jesus didn’t advocate for freedom of religion legislation.”

Costello said that he was “troubled” that the debate about religious discrimination had been reduced to a debate about competing individual rights and the role of the state, saying it pointed to a “nihilism” in society that overlooked the importance of groups.

He said that he believed there was a need for the legislation to find the “middle road” on protecting people of faith, saying the current debate centred on the “extreme” case of Folau’s sacking.

“I would want less of a debate on rights and more of a debate on respect, because it is very difficult in law to cover what I call the extremes,” he said.

The attorney general, Christian Porter, has begun a series of workshops with MPs on the government’s proposed religious discrimination bill, which is due to be introduced to parliament sometime this year.

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Conservative MPs are calling for a religious freedom bill rather than just a “defensive” bill that protects against discrimination, while LGBTQI advocates are warning that a religious discrimination bill that included “indirect” discrimination could cause harm to minority groups.

While Costello said he believed people of faith should have protection from discrimination as recommended by the Ruddock view, he warned that politicians were exploiting anxiety among church groups.

“I do believe they (people of faith) have the right to say in a public square that these are their beliefs and there might be others who find that offensive,” he said.

“There is no question that the mark of our age is anxiety, people are feeling the fragility of life … and politicians play to that anxiety,” he said.