In 2021, I wrote an essay which referred, in part, to a Church and State Summit at which the then head of the Australian Christian Lobby, Martin Iles suggested that for the religious to retain power, violence may be “down the line”1.
A few days ago, I wrote a piece on another Church and State Summit, the 6th, held in Brisbane in early March. I ended that essay with the following: “As a consequence, they are becoming more strident and despite the supposed teachings of the Jesus who they say they follow, they will become violent in the protection of that power and privilege. In Australia, the Wieambilla shootings may be just the first in a series of murderous terrorist atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christianity.”2
As part of his campaign for the New South Wales state election campaign, One Notion member and relevance deficit disorder sufferer3, Mark Latham, was to give a talk at St Michael’s Catholic Church in Belfield, Sydney, on Tuesday, March 21, as part of a forum on ‘religious freedom and parental rights’.Whenever anyone talks about religious freedom in Australia, they are talking about one of two things: the constitution which guarantees religious freedom4; or railing against the diminution of the power and privilege of the churches and their flock5. What has happened in recent months is only the latter.
The talk at the church-organised meeting was supposedly about Latham’s concerns that the ‘transgenderagenda’ was eroding ‘parental rights’. As a consequence, LGBTQ group Community Action for Rainbow Rights (CARR) invited its members to protest outside. Fifteen members of the group turned up to protest against this latest conservative bigotry. A screenshot of this invitation was sent around groups who agree with Latham, and who were angry at what they perceived as growing lack of respect for their views.
By 6pm, mass was being held in the church, with members of the group Christian Lives Matter (CLM) also praying, while wearing the movement’s characteristic black T-shirts. People were gathering for the talk which was due to start at 7:30pm6.
Outside the Belfield church, a handful of police were also present, and it was they who had to stand between the protesters and as many as 500 thugs, some of whom threw bottles and rocks, and bashed some of the CARR protesters. Bottles and other projectiles were also thrown at police. Fortunately, the police were able to get the CARR protesters out of danger, by putting them in a police vehicle and driving them away from the site. Given the size and violence of the group of thugs, I suspect that the presence of the police prevented severe injury or perhaps death among the CARR protesters. One of the police officers was taken to hospital6.
Many of the thugs who attacked the protesters wore black T-shirts, so it is suspected that at least some of them belonged to CLM. Three of these thugs were arrested and charged, at the event, and subsequently. Going to the CLM Facebook site will show you that they use the Trumpian standard ‘all the mainstream media reporting is fake news’, and it includes anti-abortion memes and calls to protests, whining about Albanese attending Mardi Gras, and complaining about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. They have also doxxed (publicised the identity and contact details) of some of the CARR protesters7, thereby possibly endangering their lives.
The Sydney Archdiocese has condemned the violence, and they maintained that the thugs “were not part of the parish community”8. This was a glib ‘it wasn’t us’.
One Christian activist, the aptly named Christian Sukkar, said, in a video: “To the real boys, to the real motherf—ing Gs, you go there tomorrow and you f—ing shake them [the CARR protesters] up and you drag them by their f—ing head and you remove them from St Michael’s Belfield … Time to rise, time to let them know where we stand… Peace be with youse tomorrow.” He will face court in April9.
While it is difficult to know the affiliation of all the thugs, many were, as I say above, wearing black t-shirts like those of CLM. Some had their faces covered. It may be that a few were simply nazis or unaffiliated thugs spoiling for a fight and used this as an excuse to bash some gays. Whatever their affiliation, they have effectively hooked up with CLM, and CLM with them. This seems to simply confirms assertions made here that Christian violence will increase as their power and privilege are threatened by the decline of religion in Australia. CLM and their fellow thugs are what Australian christofascism looks like.
Sources
- https://blotreport.com/2021/05/01/paedophiles-coal-and-jesus-4/
- https://blotreport.com/2023/03/20/onward-christian-soldiers-again/
- https://blotreport.com/2021/06/18/relevance-deficit-disorder/
- https://blotreport.com/2017/11/22/what-religious-freedoms/
- https://blotreport.com/2018/12/27/religious-freedom-and-declining-power/
- https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-five-words-that-led-to-a-violent-attack-on-a-suburban-street-20230322-p5cude.html
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/1852494475018627/
- https://www.catholicweekly.com.au/archdiocese-of-sydney-condemns-violent-protests-at-st-michaels-belfield/
- https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/time-to-rise-christian-activist-charged-after-protest-violence-20230322-p5cufb.html
