Churches urged to back charter of rights

Jesuit priest Father Frank Brennan has called on the nation's churches to band
together to support a federal charter of rights.
Fr Brennan recently headed the National Human Rights Consultation committee, which
proposed human rights be protected through national legislation.
The call supported a majority of the 35,000 submissions made to the committee.
But it has also been slammed by some groups including the Australian Christian Lobby
and head of the Catholic Church in Australia, Cardinal George Pell.
They say a charter will undermine the ability to discriminate on religious grounds
in areas like employment in religious schools and hospitals.
They are also concerned that unelected High Court judges will be given too much
power to overrule parliamentary decisions on moral issues like same-sex marriage.
Fr Brennan addressed those concerns in a speech to the Catholic Social Services
national conference on Monday.
He said there may be a future need for church groups in the welfare sector, which
have a monopoly on government-funded services, to employ non-religious workers.
Churches would be in a better position to allow judges to override any privileges
some church leaders might be granted by elected politicians, he said.
Fr Brennan insists the charter won't impede upon any religious freedoms.
"I could not see the charter itself, and its faithful implementation, working any
harm to the freedom of religion," he told the conference.
"We as a church can do better in promoting justice for all in our land."
Australia is the only western democracy without a legislated charter of rights.
The Rudd government is expected to announce its position on the matter shortly.