Pastors will keep 'telling truth' on Muslims
TWO Christian pastors found to have vilified Muslims stood on the steps of the Court of Appeal yesterday after the ruling was overturned and vowed to keep telling "the truth" about Islam.
Pastor Daniel Scot, who conducted the 2002 seminar on jihad that led to the case under Victoria's religious hatred laws, said: "Some Muslims have got the idea they have to hide the truth, and that's very sad." Insisting that he would continue his seminars on the Koran and Hadiths (Islam's sacred texts), he said: "People should know it from the primary sources, and not be misled by politically correct teachers who don't know the reality of Islam and want to glorify it with false pretensions and assumptions."
Pastor Danny Nalliah hailed the decision as "a great day for free speech. We are humble in victory and we thank God for the ability to stand up and say the truth. We are not restricted any more, we can speak freely," he said. Last year, the two pastors and Catch the Fire ministries were found to have vilified Muslims at the seminar, in a newsletter and website article.
Judge Michael Higgins ordered them to apologise in newspaper advertisements and not to repeat the teachings anywhere in Australia. Yesterday, the Court of Appeal overturned his finding, ordered the case to be reheard at the original tribunal before a different judge with no further evidence, and set aside Judge Higgins' orders.
Justice Geoffrey Nettle said Judge Higgins equated hating Muslims' religious beliefs with hating Muslims because of their beliefs. This was not so — many people might despise Pastor Scot's perception of Christianity, yet not dream of hating him. "No doubt the purpose of the act is to promote religious tolerance. But the act cannot and does not purport to mandate religious tolerance," he said in his judgement.
Waleed Aly, spokesman for the Islamic Council of Victoria, which brought the complaint, said the court's decision was a technical judgement about Judge Higgins' interpretation of the law and did not suggest that the original finding of vilification was wrong. Yasser Soliman, president of the council when the case began, said it was time to move on.
"We've got more important things to focus on. No one wins by vilification," he said. Murray Baird, solicitor for the pastors, said they had been vindicated by the judgement, but now had to continue the five-year journey. "It's another stage in the nightmare. It's clear that the act isn't about offending people, it's about inciting hatred, but there will still be perils in plain speaking about religious and political issues," he said.
Uniting Church justice spokesman Mark Zirnsak said he hoped the judgement would not be seen as a green light for groups to incite racial or religious hatred, believing that the law had been watered down. "There are groups who may be emboldened to test what they can get away with. People might be assaulted or insulted or mistreated because of their race or religion — that's been our key concern."