Yesterday the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of the Australian state of Victoria decided Fletcher v. Salvation Army and CMC Australasia, strongly rejecting as frivolous a claim under Victoria's controversial Racial and Religious Tolerance Act. (See prior posting.) Prisoner Robin Fletcher, a Wiccan, claimed that a course offered by the Salvation Army caused hatred of Wiccans, occultists and pagans.
In a strongly worded opinion, Judge Stuart Morris said: "In recent months there has been community concern that Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 impairs legitimate free speech about racial and religious matters. This is not the case. The Act is reserved for extreme circumstances: such as where a person engages in conduct that inflames others to hate a person or persons because they adhere to an idea or practice or are of a particular race. The present proceedings, in which a person who says he practises a religion that involves nature worship and witchcraft has made a claim that certain Christian teaching amounts to religious vilification, come nowhere near the mark. In short, the claim is preposterous."
Today's Victoria Herald Sun reports on reactions to the decision.
