The establishment of a religion, or tests for public office and so on, at the national level is precisely the sort of extreme that the framers feared – where religious pluralism and, indeed, freedom from religion – are smothered. The framers of Australia’s Constitution worked with the knowledge and historical memory of religious conflict and religious persecution. Even the most devout among them acknowledged that religion and government occupied separate spheres. The historically well-educated also understood the dangers of ‘entanglement’ between religion and state. We are, I think, beginning to understand this again in the 20th century, at least with respect to other countries. We may yet want to reconsider our own constitutional protection against such entanglement, and may find ourselves grateful for the foresight of our founders.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:21:56 +0000
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