The journey towards equality in the last few years has remained a political football. In particular, the debate over marriage equality has really put Australia very much behind the times. Religion is at the centre of this debate, however, the action taken recently by Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA) has been ground breaking, in a religious context. EREA is the re-branding of the religious order formally known as the Christian Brothers. EREA governs over 50 Catholic schools in Australia, and many more globally. They are a powerful player in the Catholic education sector, and their advancements in equality should be commended. EREA recently released a position paper, which outlines their stance on providing a safe and inclusive environment in their schools, which now officially includes ‘same-sex attracted and gender diverse young people’. From my point of view, the ground-breaking component of this position paper is the linking of passages of scripture to this issue. Here, EREA are making it very clear that one can interpret the bible in a positive way, which is a fantastic step forward for the Catholic faith with regards to equality. Bigots will traditionally take carefully selected passages of scripture to justify their hate, and it is encouraging to see a religious order as large as EREA using the bible in the same way, but instead, for the greater good. Perhaps this action might encourage other religious orders or even the Catholic Church more broadly to change the way in which they interpret the bible. Perhaps, this might then force our government to stop stalling on the issue of marriage equality.
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June 2018
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