Something for a Religious Freedom Commissioner to Chew On?

Scott Morrison's proposed legislation to 'protect' freedom of religion has The Australian's editorialist scratching his head:

"How would the new religious freedom commissioner (who must also defend those of no faith) deal with an arrogant, Richard Dawkins-like assault on Christianity? Could a Shia Muslim haul a Sunni before a tribunal for 'conciliation'? Would Scientology or Falun Gong qualify as religions? If a critic faults Islamism on political grounds, could a radical make a complaint of religious discrimination? Would a court ruling that a witness in a niqab or burka show her face come under challenge?" (Scott Morrison's big ideas and the problem of detail, 14/12/18)

These, of course, are all just hypotheticals. And yet, there on the front page of the same edition, The Australian featured a matter anything but hypothetical:

"Sending her three children to Leibler Yavneh College at Elsternwick, in Melbourne's southeast, is a form of 'life insurance' for Zoe Goodhardt. But this is an insurance policy like no other. It is the guarantee Ms Goodhardt says that her family's Jewish faith and way of life can continue untrammelled. So it is no surprise as rising secularism clashes with the beliefs and values of traditional faiths that Ms Goodhardt, 32, has rushed to support Scott Morrison's pledge to protect religious freedom... 'I think that it's our right, and the right of the school, to cultivate a community at the school in line with their ethos and values,' Ms Goodhardt says... At Yavneh College, that community is based around the modern orthodox school's mission to adhere to Jewish law (Halacha), ethical behaviour (Derech Eretz) and Zionist ideals." (Keeping religion alive lies at heart of family's values, Brad Norrington, The Australian, 14/12/18)

Since Zionism is the ideological driving force behind the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel, could this not be grounds for a Palestinian complaint to a future 'religious freedom commissioner' that the school's Zionist focus is aimed at producing students who, in one way or another, could conceivably go on to aid and abet, or even become directly involved in, the violation of Palestinian rights?

And if you think this is a stretch, keep in mind that "Modern Orthodox Jews form the core of the religious Zionist settlement movement in Israel." (See 5 key takeaways... from new survey of US Modern Orthodox Jews, Ben Sales, The Times of Israel, 30/9/17)

How typical of Murdoch's Australian to instance "Islamism", while ignoring political Zionism, with its blatant conflation of religion and politics, even when (on this rare occasion) it makes it to the front page.

(On this matter of Palestine/Israel in court, readers might like to trawl through my posts Sixteen Angry Men 1 (25/9/10), Sixteen Angry Men 2 (28/9/10), and Sixteen Angry Men 3 (29/9/10). These are well worth a re-read.)