Miranda Devine: It’s a dangerous time to be a Christian
It is not just Cardinal George Pell in the dock, but Australia’s administration of justice. This is the damning view of many Catholics in the United States, writes Miranda Devine. And they are correct.
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The jailing of Cardinal George Pell after his lost appeal has sent shockwaves around the world, with Australia’s reputation in the dock.
As Pell prepares to go to the High Court to overturn his conviction on historic charges of child sexual abuse, Catholics in the United States are questioning Australian complacency about this legal travesty.
Among the harshest critics is respected theologian George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, and biographer of Pope John Paul II.
He slams Pell’s treatment by the Australian justice system as a whole as a “political assassination” and says Australia’s international reputation is at stake,
In an upcoming article he writes that “friends of Australia … throughout the world, must send a simple message, repeatedly: ‘George Pell is an innocent man who was falsely accused and has been unjustly convicted of crimes he did not commit. It is not George Pell who is in the dock, now, but the administration of justice in Australia. And the only way to restore justice is for Cardinal Pell to be vindicated by the highest court in the land.”
He’s right.
Years of demonisation of Pell, a vindictive crusade by Victorian police and numerous unsuccessful attempts to link the Cardinal to the child sexual abuse scandals of the church had poisoned the atmosphere in which an impartial jury had to be found.
MORE FROM MIRANDA DEVINE: A split decision on Pell is worst possible outcome for supporters
Whatever you think of him and his church, Pell’s fate should worry every Australian because it means that you can be convicted on the word of one anonymous complainant, without any corroborating evidence.
But in the United States as well, we see evidence that it’s a dangerous time to be a Christian.
Star NFL quarterback Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints is the latest victim of activists who seek to equate Christianity with bigotry.
He filmed a video last week to promote “Bring Your Bible to School Day”, simply encouraging students to “live out your faith on Bring Your Bible to School Day and share God’s love with friends. You’re not alone.”
There was no Israel Folau style talk of sin or homosexuality. The Christian footballer’s message was unobjectionable and inoffensive, you would think.
But it set off a Twitter storm of angry accusations that Brees was anti-gay.
MORE FROM MIRANDA DEVINE: How Pell became the Vatican’s sacrificial lamb
The sponsor of the October event he promoted was a Christian organisation, Focus on Family, which happens to uphold a traditional definition of marriage and family. That’s enough these days to disqualify it from the right to exist.
Brees was spooked by the furore and quickly distanced himself from the organisation, tweeting another video in which he said “I do not support any groups that discriminate or that have their own agendas trying to promote inequality.”
It may have saved his hide, but it only vindicated the haters.