The sentiments behind the push to exempt churches from having to perform same sex marriages, if they are legalised, may be welcomed by some but it is clear from the global experience that any such sentiments, legislated, codified or otherwise, will not withstand the ongoing march of Christophobia that is occurring throughout the West.

Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is supposed to codify religious liberty.

It states:

Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion… (including the) freedom… in public … to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching and

No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom...

And yet in Great Britain the situation is that intolerable for Christians that in recent years, the Archbishop of York of the Church of England, the Rt Rev John Sentamu was moved to say that there are:

Those who … argue that they operate in pursuit of policies based on the twin aims of 'diversity and equality'.

Yet … 'diversity' … means every colour and creed except Christianity… and 'equality' … excludes anyone … with a Christian belief in God.

And it is no wonder when we see recent headlines such as: “Tory MP calls for churches to be banned from holding marriages if they refuse gay couples” from gay media outlet PinkNews, September 2, 2011.

A Conservative MP, in August last year, lobbied British Prime Minister David Cameron to compel churches to register civil partnerships, pointing to a precedent where Catholic adoption agencies were compelled to provide adoption services for same-sex couples.

In Canada, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal declared “unconstitutional” a proposed legislative amendment allowing Saskatchewan’s marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ on religious grounds.

In the US, just last week, a New Jersey judge ruled against a Christian retreat house that refused to allow a same-sex civil union ceremony to be conducted on its premises, saying the Constitution allows ‘some intrusion into religious freedom...”

Outside of the marriage issue, we’ve seen Christian pastors locked up for speaking on the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality.

In Sweden, Pastor Ake Green was sentenced to a month in prison for having offended homosexuals in a sermon.

In Ontario, Canada, the Liberal State government has attacked the Catholic church for failing to allow for clubs for homosexual students in its schools. The courts are now ruling against the church and ordering they provide them.

And it may be news to the secularists but church buildings are not where Christians check-in and check-out the practice of their beliefs.

Christianity is a lived experience and Christians are called to remain true to their faith in all aspects of their lives.

But, despite the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, nation-states throughout the West have effectively outlawed public observance of Christian belief.

In November last year, Dutch MPs voted to prevent Christian civil servants refusing to conduct gay marriages.

In 2004, Mitt Romney, then Governor of Massachusetts, ordered Justices of the Peace to perform homosexual marriages when requested or to be fired.

Again in November last year, it was reported that a Christian baker in Iowa who politely declined to provide a wedding cake for two lesbians will now have legal action commenced against her.

Last week, the British Court of Appeals ruled that a Christian couple who own a bed and breakfast in Cornwall and who refused to allow a gay couple to share a bed in their establishment, must pay $5,700 in damages to the gay couple.

Another Christian, a café owner in England, in September last year, was warned by police to stop showing DVDs of the New Testament in his café after a customer complained about its passage against homosexuality.

This Christophobia, this systemic denial of Christians to follow their conscience, is happening all around the world and it will too occur here in Australia unless the law remains steadfast on the issue of marriage.

It has already begun to some extent. The Australia Education Union in its policy paper on GLBTI people states that they “will develop strategies to counter homophobia at an institution level” including in “religious institutions” which they say “are to be condemned for their discriminative attitudes and approaches”. Presumably, these strategies will take place in classrooms and we will have the children of Christians, Christian children, being told that their church is to be condemned.

At the government level, the Attorney General has released a discussion paper on proposed federal anti-discrimination changes. That paper suggests some exemptions be offered to religious organisations, except, I note, from those connected with “sexual orientation”.

I note Archbishop Barry Hickey of the Roman Catholic Church has already flagged his Perth archdiocese will simply surrender its marriage license if they’re compelled to perform same sex marriages. Maybe this is the end result that the Christophobes are pushing for?

Because despite cleverly concocted exemptions that seek to dull the Christian voters’ concerns over proposed same sex marriage laws, if we redefine marriage nothing will stop the advance of the Christophobes, a march that, in Australia, is done to the beat of the Greens’ and now Labor’s drum.