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Neither Sword Nor Shield: religious freedom in principle and legislation

Neither Sword Nor Shield is the fifth paper in the PM Glynn Institute Occasional Paper Series. This paper translates the Ten Principles of Religious Freedom first published in Chalice of Liberty: protecting religious freedom in Australia into statutory drafting.

The principles are essentially philosophical in nature so how can they apply to legislative drafting? Neither Shield Nor Sword explains what it would mean to draft legislation that is consistent with the Ten Principles. The paper discusses each of the Ten Principles in turn, and provides examples of drafting that are consistent and inconsistent with each principle.

This paper was prepared by Lukas Opacic and Damien Freeman under the guidance of an advisory committee comprising: Dr Michael Casey, The Reverend Frank Brennan, Emeritus Professor Greg Craven, Professor Nicholas Aroney, Dr Joel Harrison and Jennifer Cook.

The paper was printed in 2021.

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