Page 36 - مجلة الدراسات القضائية

ground of the religious belief or activ-
ity of another person or class of per-
sons, engage in conduct that incites
hatred against, serious contempt for,
or revulsion or severe ridicule of, that
other person or class of persons.
Note: Engage in conduct includes
use of the internet or e-mail to pub-
lish or transmit statements or other
material.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1 ),
conduct-
(a) may be constituted by a single
occasion or by a number of occa-
sions over a period of time; and
(b) may occur in or outside Victoria.(')
What is important to note is that
the law prohibits hatred against per-
sons on the basis of the religious be-
lief, rather than against an idea or a
religious belief in and of itself. ln the
case of the Islamic Council of Vic-
toria v Catch the Fire Mini{tries,Q)
a public seminar by the evangelical
Church's pastor, as well as a newslet-
ter and an article, conveyed that:
amongst other things, that the
Qur'an promotes violence, killing and
Iooting that Muslims are liars and
demons; that Muslims plan to over-
1- Australia: Racial and Religious Tolerance
Act 200, Section 8
2- lslamic Council of Victoria v Catch the Fire
Ministries [2004] VCAT 2510
Freedom of Retigion, Limits on Hate Speech, and Promoting Toterance: A Comparative Study
run Western democracy by the use of
violence and terror and replace those
democracies with oppressive regi mes;
and that Muslims intend to take over
Australia and declare it an lslamic na-
tion.
The Tribunal found that these ex-
pressions amounted to vilification,
hatred, and ridicule of Muslims. lt
was appealed by the Church. ln the
appeal, Justice Nettle JA affirmed the
decision, stating,
... s.8 does not prohibit statements
about religious beliefs per se or even
statements which are critical or de-
structive of religious beliefs. Nor does
it prohibit statements concerning the
religious beliefs of a person or group
of persons simply because they may
offend or insult the person or group
of persons. The proscription is limited
to that which incites hatred or other
relevant emotion and s.8 must be ap-
plied so as to give it that effect.(3)
Thus, Australian laws are aimed
at regulating speech that may cause
harm to individuals, and do not regu-
late speech that is and of itself criti-
cal or offensive. lt is concerned with
what that speech incites. ln essence,
the emphasis is more on promoting
tolerance through protecting com-
3- Catch the Fire Ministries Inc v lslamic
Council of Victoria lnc [2006] VSCA 284 at
15