The Changing Face of Religious Freedom in Australia and the Contemporary Influences of Neoliberalism and Secularism

Abstract

The liberal concern for the individual consigns religion to the individual believer's private sphere of action and thus privatises religion. Studies of key liberal thinkers - Locke, Mill, Green, Hayek and Rawls - demonstrate that there is not one complete, cohesive and accepted exposition of liberal philosophy and, further, that there is no cohesive exposition of liberalism's response to religion and "Religion-State" relations. Social liberalism was a key influence on the shaping of the Constitution and polity of the Commonwealth of Australia at the start of the twentieth century. Social liberalism, combined with the political and religious culture of the time, meant that religious communities then had little concern for the protection of religious freedom. Neoliberalism became the dominant expression of liberalism through the last quarter of the twentieth century. Focussed on the individual and the market, and combined with secularisation, secularism, aggressive atheism and other social and political factors, neoliberalism reinforced the "buffered self" of the immanent world and remained distant from religious communities and their interests. Religious communities have found that recent governments have not only failed to engage with them but have also eroded their capacities and hampered their contributions to society. At the same time, government legislation has followed the liberal value of equalitarianism and increased the gap between polity and religious communities. Human rights laws, and agencies with a narrow focus on equality and individual rights, have further diminished the freedom of religious communities. As a result, the scope of religious freedom in twenty-first century Australia is considerably narrower than was the case at the start of the twentieth century. Also, it is clear that the nature of "Religion-State" relations is more complex today, and shaped by an increasing array of factors.