A recent discussion on Vision Radio about the Australian Christian Freedom Index (ACFI) report’s finding that the majority of the nation’s Christians are hesitant to publicly discuss their faith, prompted an aged care worker to phone in and tell her story about how her beliefs cost her at least two jobs.
The caller who we’ll refer to as Carol to protect her identity, began: “I was very moved with the way that you’re talking about how Christians and Christianity are attacked.”
“I worked in a multicultural family organisation helping all the migrants who were mainly non-Christians,” explained the heavily accented Carol who sounded like a migrant herself.
“I am a carer and I used to have a lady who is also non-Christian, looking after her for a long time, and I dedicated every single minute of my life with her and did more than enough. “
CARER WAS SACKED BECAUSE SHE’S A CHRISTIAN
Because I’m a Christian, I rarely, rarely mentioned my Christianity, but she knows that I’m Christian.”
“If I talk to someone who is a Christian and talk about Christianity, she gets irritable.”
“After one year, she went to my boss who’s a Christian and she told him that I am talking about Christianity.”
“And they sacked me.”
CHRISTIAN BOSS LISTENED TO MUSLIM CLIENTS’ COMPLAINTS
“The Muslim ladies, they were complaining for no reason, and unfortunately, the boss who’s Christian, he listened to them.”
“He didn’t even ask me or had a conversation with me to resolve anything to see if they are right or wrong.”
“Because I am a casual, he immediately dismissed me without any cause, without any wrongdoing.
CHRISTIAN CARER FORCED OUT OF A SECOND JOB
That was not the only job Carol lost because of her faith:
“I was working in another aged care facility and because I expressed who I am and my Christianity, they came against me.”
“I can see from their body language. They don’t want to communicate with me. And then I had to leave.”
CHRISTIAN FREEDOM INDEX AUTHOR SAYS IT’S A FAMILIAR STORY
One of the authors of the Australian Christian Freedom Index report Kurt Mahlburg was on the line listening to Carol’s story.
He responded: “I’m really sorry to hear that happen to you. It’s very unfair, very, very unfortunate.”
“And unfortunately, your story sounds very familiar.”
“There are a lot of other stories that we’ve featured in the report that are really quite similar in many ways.”
CHRISTIANS PRESSURED TO SIDE WITH ANTI-CHRISTIANS
“Your boss was a Christian, but even so, he complied with, I guess, the pressure and decided to sack you,” said Mr. Mahlburg.
“That’s certainly a pattern that we identified.”
“Unfortunately, one of the features of the style of persecution we’re seeing in Australia is that there are allies, sadly, even within the church.”
“They’re Christians who think that they’re doing the right thing by society, maybe trying to protect their own reputation, they might have other motivations.”
CHRISTIANS GOING ALONG WITH SECULAR MANDATES
“They are nevertheless complying with secular mandates and even pressure that doesn’t even exist in law, it’s just perceived.”
“They’re going along with it and the upshot of it is that other Christians suffer the consequences.”
“This is not just secular Australians versus Christian Australians.”
“In many cases, the allies for this style of persecution are within the four walls of the Church, and that’s a very sad reality, but it’s certainly something that we tracked.”
ANOTHER LISTENER LAMENTS THERE IS NO PROTECTION FOR CHRISTIANS
Another listener called Rob wrote into the program: “I can tell you from my angle we are well and truly in the attack stage in Australia.”
“Me and my family have been threatened and even stalked, abuse hurled at us because of our faith.”
“From my experience the extreme problem is that there is no protection.”
“Don’t even bother reporting it to authorities because they view you as the problem and the process is the punishment.”
“It’s a spiritual war and we can only call on Jesus for help. “
W.A . iS LEAST RESTRICTIVE STATE , BUT CHRISTIAN RESIDENTS STILL PERSECUTED
The ACFI report ranked Western Australia as the least restrictive jurisdiction in the country with no conversion practices ban, no vilification laws targeting religious speech, and no impositions on Christian hiring.”
But the report still documented multiple cases of persecution of Christians in the West.
Wedding photographer Jason Tey was reported to the Equal Opportunity Commission by a same-sex couple for disclosing his Christian convictions, just in case they wanted a different photographer who shared their values.”
He faced seven months of proceedings and thousands of dollars in legal costs before the complaint was withdrawn.
ANTI-CHRISTIAN INCIDENTS IN W.A.
Byron and Keira Hordyk were rejected as respite foster carers because of their Christian beliefs on sexuality.
Five years later, the finding was removed from their record and they were awarded $6,000 in damages.
Margaret Court’s food relief charity which supplies tonnes of food each week was unanimously rejected by Lotterywest for a vehicle grant because Ms. Court’s public statements on sexuality and marriage were “incompatible with Lotterywest’s sponsorship of the WA Pride Festival”.
AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN LOBBY VENUE BOOKING REFUSED
The Australian Christian Lobby was blocked from booking Perth Theatre Trust venues under a policy barring groups whose views “did not represent the views of the West Australian Government.”
The booking was eventually accepted “after sustained public pressure”.
When Christians Party MP Maryka Groenewald asked whether the WA government was aware of the ACFI report and whether it would commit to protecting Christians, she was told “Yes, it was aware,” but gave no pledge on protecting Christians.
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