In last week’s Echo Aslan Shand covered many of the perceived problems with proposed coercive-control legislation for NSW. Obviously it is high time for effective laws to be introduced to target abuse chiefly used to dominate women and children.
Another area that could be looked at, but won’t be because so many of our politicians are devotees or too afraid to offend the religious voter, is the coercive control the conservative elements of the Christian and Muslim faiths seek to exercise over anybody’s relationship. The Buddhists can also be a pain in the arse at times, and some of the smaller cults are batshit crazy – chastity underpants, anyone?
The introduction of a god to the institution of marriage was chiefly to ensure that women were prevented from developing minds of their own while faithfully submitting to their hubbies. This concept is still alive and well, as demonstrated recently by Tasmanian Catholic Archbishop Julian Porteous, who might have time-travelled here from the 16th century.
The good cleric proposed to read from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians at a girls’ school graduation mass. The letter in part notes: ‘Wives should regard their husbands as they regard the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives submit to their husbands, in everything’.
Surprised by the backlash to his selection of sacred text, Porteous later pulled out the ‘we are being persecuted’ card. I’m sure that any day soon the Humanist Secret Police will be invading his palace and confiscating his supply of expensive single malt whisky.
Contrary to Tony Abbott’s belief, we live in a secular nation. The peculiar belief in a sky god of one sort or another gives no-one the right to consider themselves an expert on morality.
Really interesting point MM – if coercive control legislation is to apply to the domestic situation why is it not appropriate in all contexts? One for the next festival of dangerous ideas.