In a Red Mass in late January, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher called on Australia’s legal professionals to protect and defend religious freedom in what he termed an age of “militant secularism.”
In his homily, Archbishop Fisher spoke of the growing threats to the expression or religious ideals in Australia today:
"The pressure is on to eradicate Judeo-Christian ideas such as the sanctity of life and love from our laws and customs, to inoculate people to faith or make them embarrassed or secretive about it, and to enforce a kind of practical agnosticism on the whole community."
According to Australia’s most recent census data, those who identify as having no religious affiliation has grown exponentially:
"The growing percentage of Australia’s population reporting no religion has been a trend for decades and is accelerating. Those reporting no religion increased noticeably from 19 percent in 2006 to 30 percent in 2016," the archbishop said. “The militant secularism in the air at the moment, like colonialism, sectarianism, racism and sexism in the air at other times, threatens to unravel Australian respectfulness in religious matters and historic balances between Church and state. Our lawmakers, judges, practitioners, teachers and students play an essential role in our community and rightly seek a higher wisdom to serve true justice and mercy.”
A Red Mass is one celebrated by the Catholic Church for judges, lawyers, law professors, government officials, and law students in Australia each year to guide legal professionals in their pursuit of justice.
The tradition, dating to the Middle Ages, has been celebrated in Sydney since 1931 and is partly organized by the Saint Thomas More Society, a society of Catholic legal professionals who take inspiration from the martyred English lawyer who strove to uphold justice at all costs.
From its beginnings, the Church of Scientology has recognized that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. In a world where conflicts are often traceable to intolerance of others’ religious beliefs and practices, the Church has, for more than fifty years, made the preservation of religious liberty an overriding concern.
From persecution of religious minorities to issues revolving around religious worship, beliefs, rites, expression, association, dress, symbols, education, registration and workplace discrimination, religious freedom issues have achieved a prominent place in global headlines.
The Church publishes this blog to help create a better understanding of the freedom of religion and belief and provide news on religious freedom and issues affecting this freedom around the world.
