At least unlike Family First, they’re upfront with
their beliefs… Launched over the weekend: the Secular Party of Australia.
Yup. No kidding. They’re a group of humanists
aiming to counteract the intrusion of religious views into political life and
culture in Australia. They
state:
The Liberal Party
is too socially conservativeThe ALP is too
economically conservativeThe Greens are too
socialist economicallyThe Democrats are
confused about their roleAll these parties
condone the unwarranted imposition of religious views.Unlike the other
parties the Secular Party is:both socially
liberal and economically liberalthe only party
which stands for separation of Church and State.
And they push a few interesting buttons on their
site with their aims:
To bring about a
true separation of Church and State in AustraliaTo promote
secularism world wideTo stand for human
rights and social justice, affirming the dignity of each human beingTo support the
maximisation of individual liberty and opportunity consistent with social and
environmental responsibilityTo defend freedom
of expression everywhereTo espouse
policies which support a rational approach to human problemsTo promote the
fullest use of science for human welfareTo gain and
maintain for non-religious people the same rights that are enjoyed by members
of religious bodiesTo promote the
election to Parliament of Secular Party endorsed candidates.
The Secular Party of Australia stands for
constitutional separation of church and state, a secular republic, reproductive
choice, recognition of same sex de-facto marriage, recognition of gay families,
sex education, anti-homophobia education, and end to anti-discrimination
exemptions for religious schools and businesses, embryonic stem cell research
and voluntary euthanasia.
No doubt they like a good argument, too. It will be
interesting to see the reaction to this one.
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