Anti-Bigotry Bill Opposed by Minister

Grey River Argus, 12 October 1949, Page 6

Anti-Bigotry Bill Opposed by Minister

MELBOURNE, Oct. 11

A bill is before the Victorian Parliament which seeks to make it illegal for persons or ministers of one religion to cast aspersions upon another. The bill has reached its second reading in Parliament. It is now being held while the Government considers protests lodged by various bodies.

Rev. Gordon Powell, of the Collins Street, Independent Church asserted: “Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and even Christ could have been charged if the proposed Victorian anti-bigotry law had been in force in their day. Moses would not have been able to say a word against the worship of the Golden Calf. Elijah, proclaiming against the prophets of Baals, would have been liable to a fin e of £lOO or two years ’imprisonment, for it was not a first offence. The New Testament could be banned on the ground that it stirred up abhorrence of the Jewish religion.