Until very recently, religious liberty was a forgotten freedom in Australia. Australian law offered little formal protection for freedom of religion but most people didn’t know this. The issue was rarely a matter of immediate cultural or political importance.

Today, in the face of massive social change and contested moral and religious claims, things couldn’t be more different. Questions about religious liberty, and how, and if, it should be better protected are at the forefront of public debate. Forgotten Freedom No More: Protecting Religious Liberty in Australia Analysis and Perspectives makes an important contribution to that discussion.

The book contains a wide range of contributions from writers sympathetic to promoting religious freedom in Australia. Each of the contributors agrees on the importance, and yet fragility, of religious liberty in this nation while approaching the issue from varied viewpoints and experiences – even at times disagreeing with each other.

Forgotten Freedom No More: Protecting Religious Liberty in Australia Analysis and Perspectives is a timely addition to the debate about religious freedom in Australia offering a comprehensive survey of the issues involved.

Contents

Foreword -- Rocky Mimmo

Religious Freedom’s History and Future? -- Henry Ergas

From Liberal Tolerance To Postmodern (In)Tolerance -- Augusto Zimmermann

A Watershed Moment -- Julian Porteous

Freedom of Religion and Education -- Paul Morrissey

Protecting Religious Freedom in an Age of Militant Secularism -- Patrick Parkinson

Matching Words with Action -- Lorraine Finlay

A Humean Take on Religious Freedom -- James Allan

On Religious Freedom and its Cultural Despisers -- Michael Bird

A Jewish Perception of Religious Freedom in Australia Today -- Benjamin J. Elton

Muslim Perspectives on Religious Freedom -- Tanveer Ahmed

Taking the Right Way Back -- Michael Quinlan

Coda: Religious Freedom — A Contest Between Beliefs And Orthodoxies? -- Peter Kurti