Morrison murky on religious freedom

In his first weeks in the job Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tried to distinguish himself by talking openly about his religious beliefs.

The Herald welcomes Morrison’s positive expression of his religious faith, which is shared by many of our readers. Morrison has waded into much murkier territory, however, in an interview with the Herald on Saturday where he promised that he would take a ‘‘pro-active’’ role in promoting ‘‘religious freedom’’. He gave as examples making sure that children could ‘‘do Christmas plays’’ and ‘‘talk about Easter’’ at school.

Morrison is right if he is saying that state schools do not promote the observance of Christianity or any other religion. But there is a simple reason: Australia is home to parents with many different sets of beliefs and state schools must make all their children feel welcome. He talks as though Australia has suppressed religion at school, but the opposite is the case. The government gives more support to religious education than in the US, where separation of church and state is written into the constitution. The Government gives billions of dollars to faithbased independent schools. Morrison sends his daughters to such a school.

Last week he said that he wanted all Australians to love one another. Rather than focusing on threats at the margins, he would do better to spread a positive message about religious tolerance.