I was intrigued by a headline on the News Corporation website today .. it read “Publish and Perish”. The story went on to read ..
“Here at NEWS Corporation we know the business of publishing can be a tricky one. But cartoon violence has never been as real as the global reaction this week to the publication of images depicting the prophet Mohammed.”
As a result, this story became News Corporation’s second most important story of the week .. because of the violent backlash it brought.
You might recall that on Wednesday I spoke with Dr Helen Szoke of the Victorian Equal Opportunity Commission about how the Victorian position on the publication of the cartoons was seen as non-vilifying compared to the decision of the Tribunal that Catch the Fire Ministries seminar on Muslims was vilifying.
One of the things I didn’t get to discuss with her was the outcomes of each instance.
What I mean is this:
If the publication of these supposedly blashpemous cartoons does not constitute vilification on the grounds that they are simply an artistic presentation, and yet, their publication results in wide-spread riots around the world .. surely then, their publication MUST be considered vilifying because the outcome was to have stirred hatred and violence.
However, what Danny Nalliah taught in the seminar run by Catch the Fire Ministries has had no effect at all other than to bring insight and understanding to Christians about the ways that Muslims believe and operate. There has been no increased hatred, no increased ridicule, no acts of violence perpetrated on Muslims by those who attended the seminar.
If the Victorian Racial and Religious Vilification Act is intended to stop these very things, and none of them were clear and obvious outcomes from Catch the Fire Ministries seminar, then how on earth can the content of that seminar be considered vilifying?
Let’s continue to pray that this foolish and restrictive Act will be turned on its head at appeal or at the very least be turned back on those who have tried to test it at the potential expense of Danny Nalliah’s ministry.
Listen to the audio of this comment from the air program on Vision by clicking on the player below.
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