Babie, P. T. Archives - Canopy Forum

“Justifiable Limitations Upon Freedom of Religion and Belief in Australia’s Draft Human Rights Bill: Lessons from the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990” by P. T. Babie

Apr 15, 2025Canopy ForumEssaysApril 2025, Babie, P. T., Constitutional Law, Oceania (Geography), Religious Freedom

Image of Dunedin, New Zealand by Arvid Olson from Pixabay While Section 116 of the Australian Constitution appears textually to provide broad protection for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), its interpretation by the High Court of Australia severely restricts its potential. The problem stems from the judicial conflation of two questions: whether FoRB has been violated and,…

“Social Media, Free Speech, and Religious Freedom in Australia” by Colette Langos and P. T. Babie

Aug 3, 2022Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2022, Babie, P. T., Christianity, Langos, Colette, Media and Culture, Oceania (Geography), Religious Freedom

Parliament House in Canberra, Australia by Thannicke (CC BY-SA 4.0) Social media forms part of the fabric of 21st century global life. A form of speech, social media allows communication with a potentially vast audience. Unsurprisingly, many people use it to disseminate religious views or ideas. While such proselytising (as part of a broad freedom…

“The Global Pandemic and Government ‘COVID-19 Overreach’” by P. T. Babie

Apr 1, 2021Canopy ForumSeriesApril 2021, Babie, P. T., Healthcare, Human Rights / Civil Rights, Oceania (Geography)

Photo by Mitya Ivanov on Unsplash. This article is part of our “Law and Religion Under Pressure: A One-Year Pandemic Retrospective” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. March 11, 2021 marked the first anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic. During this past year, a staggering 118,268,575 people…

“Ancestor Worship, Living Trees, and Free Exercise in the Australian Constitution” by P. T. Babie

Oct 2, 2020Canopy ForumSeriesBabie, P. T., Constitutional Law, Indigenous Religious Traditions, Oceania (Geography), October 2020, Religious Freedom

Photo by Stephan Müller on Pexels This article is part of our “Law, Religion, and the Constitutionalism” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The Australian Constitution, an Act of the Imperial United Kingdom Parliament which came into force in 1901, contains a seemingly comprehensive protection for religious freedom,…

“Ministerial Exceptions, Religious Exemptions, and Anti-Discrimination Legislation: Reciprocal Lessons from America and Australia” by P. T. Babie

Aug 19, 2020Canopy ForumEssaysAugust 2020, Babie, P. T., Oceania (Geography), Politics, Religious Freedom

Image by Tom from Pixabay The recent Supreme Court decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel (‘Morrissey-Berru’) has prompted a great deal of debate about the space made for freedom of religion or belief in anti-discrimination or equality legislation. The relevant space typically takes the form of an…

“COVID-19: Why the Balance Between Freedom of Religion and Public Health Matters” by P. T. Babie & Charles J. Russo

May 18, 2020Canopy ForumSeriesAsia (Geography), Babie, P. T., Christianity, May 2020, Religious Freedom, Russo, Charles J.

Photo by jaefrench on Pixabay This article is part of our “Reflecting on COVID-19” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. As COVID-19 tightens its lethal grip on the globe, a palpable tension emerges between the authority of governmental officials in every state in the U.S. who have issued guidelines limiting social interactions to…