New Australian Christian Freedom Index Sounds Alarm on Erosion of Civil Liberties

"Australia’s cherished freedoms, poorly protected by assumption rather than hard constitutional law, can no longer be treated as immune to infection."

Australia’s Christian freedoms are under quiet but measurable threat — and a landmark new index is sounding the alarm with evidence, urgency, and a 42-point blueprint for action.

Launched last week, the Australian Christian Freedom Index (ACFI) is a much-needed precision smoke detector signalling alarm.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

What the ACFI report does is prove that Australia’s Christians are the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

As the impressively compiled index shows, the slow erosion of civil liberties isn’t a “far-right” conspiracy. It’s a fact grounded in reality.

Australia’s cherished freedoms, poorly protected by assumption rather than hard constitutional law, can no longer be treated as immune to infection.

The luxury of assuming that the reign of terror witnessed elsewhere “could never happen here” no longer exists.

For this reason, ACFI’s content is sharply relevant and articulately well-argued.

Particular standouts included the way the ACFI team utilised Floyd Brobbel’s persecution metre to state that there’s something a little off in what is still a relatively free society.

The first report of its kind also reminds readers of Australia’s Christian history.

This includes a refreshing contribution from Indigenous Australians, without the grievance politics endemic to the far-left’s Marxian Woke industrial race-baiting complex.

When the Process Is the Punishment

By far the most shocking example of the downgrade to freedoms is the persecution of former ADF member and dedicated Christian Bernard Gaynor.

He was left with a $1 million bill because of vilification accusations from LGBTQ+ activists, who misused Australia’s laws in a culture war of attrition.

Gaynor fought and won against every accusation. Yet, because the process is the punishment, the litigation left him with no choice but to sell his family home.

It’s this example, and others like it within the ACFI report, that are sure to grab attention.

The report’s list of 42 recommendations is something else that takes this project to the next level.

It’s proactive and leaves its hearers without excuse for not acting.

In Canberra, Warwick Marsh, CEO of the Canberra Declaration, launched the report alongside Indigenous Australian Pastor James Dargin.

Aptly timed for the conclusion of Reconciliation week, Ps Dargin spoke of forgiveness and Christianity’s essential role in bringing all the tribes together to form one nation under God.

A Sobering Wake-Up Call

Helping with the inaugural launch, Australian Christian Lobby CEO Michelle Pierce described its findings as both “sobering and concerning.”

“Workplaces emerged as one of the most hostile environments, particularly in education and healthcare.”

For example, “only 8% of Christians working in healthcare felt safe to openly share their Christian beliefs.”

In other words, Peirce said, “92% of Christians working in healthcare don’t feel safe to do so.”

“This is not about Christians claiming victimhood. This is about defending the freedoms that allow our society to flourish.”

Such as, the ACL boss said, “Freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and freedom of association.”

“We constantly hear that tolerance and inclusivity are the highest of Australian values, but increasingly, inclusivity seems to stop at the point of including Christians.”

In effect, Pierce argued, there is something really wrong if Christians cannot speak freely, in a free society, without fear of “intimidation, lawfare or professional punishment.”

Noting the 42 recommendations, Pierce explained that this is why the Australian Christian Freedom Index’s report exists.

As such, she continued, the ACFI is asking for “conscience protections for medical professionals, and the restoration of religious hiring protections for faith-based institutions.”

Pierce added that the coalition is asking for “reforms to anti-discrimination and conversion therapy laws, and positive protections of fundamental freedoms in Australian law.”

This could be through a referendum to attach a bill of rights to the constitution, or through a “freedoms act.”

“Freedom,” Peirce concluded, “is not a threat to social cohesion. It is the foundation of it.”

A Clarion Call, Not a List of Grievances

Lead author of the ACFI report, and Daily Declaration Senior Editor, Kurt Mahlburg, called on Australia’s Christians to “no longer take their freedoms for granted.”

For example, Mahlburg said, since the year 2000, 74 laws have been passed restricting Christian freedom.

“Christianity has always sought to be a public faith,” he added.

“Salt for the world. Salt for the earth. Light for the world, and a city on a hill.”

“Take that freedom away,” the ACFI author warned, “and you have hollowed out Christianity and stripped it of its culture-shaping, life-transforming power.”

The AFCI, he declared, “is not primarily a list of grievances. It’s a clarion call to restore the country we all love.”

Mahlburg then urged Australia’s leaders to read the index and take its recommendations seriously.

Speakers for AFCI’s launch included Professor Gabriël Moens, Citizen Go’s George Christensen, and Justine Sims.

This lineup included One Nation’s Malcolm Roberts, Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill, Lou O’Brien, and representatives from Aid to the Church in Need, FamilyVoice Australia, and Australian Family Coalition.