Freedom with fairness, compassion without coercion, democracy – not dictatorship

Position on freedom of thought and speech​

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• While it is appropriate that there be some limitations on what people may say in public forums - particularly communications that are deliberately designed to incite violence - I am greatly concerned that some in society, particularly in government agencies and with government backing, have set themselves up to be the supreme arbiters of truth and seek to censor views that do not fit with their own views or are critical of government policies and actions.

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• Rather than applying the sledgehammer of a simple ban on some views, it is far better to combat unfounded opinions with evidence and logic.  It is also insufficient to point to motivations behind statements of opinions to discredit the opinions themselves.  While vested interests may well be a pointer to suspect that statements are biased, only partly true, or ignore contrary evidence, simply pointing out that someone has a vested interest in persuading others of their viewpoint, in and of itself, is not sufficient to discredit an argument.  That can and should mainly be done by counter-argument and presentation of relevant evidence.

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• In particular, I am concerned that viewpoints derived from religious texts such as the Bible, even when communicated in a measured, respectful tone that in no way promotes hatred (though they may critique attitudes and behaviours and warn of serious, divinely - not humanly - appointed consequences) are regularly attacked, discounted and inappropriately silenced, while their proponents are unfairly branded as bigots and in some cases unfairly treated in their workplaces and other social settings.

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• I also maintain that organisations founded upon specific religious (or anti-religious - see following) principles have the right to exclude people from positions of influence, defined quite broadly, on the grounds of non-adherence to clearly stated standards of belief, experience, and behaviour.  As a simple example in my own case, I would have no problem with a school founded by a group such as the Atheist Foundation of Australia, requiring that all its staff specifically disavow any belief in any kind of supernatural beings, and thus reject any application from me for employment in that school.