Catholics victims of ‘new racism’

FORMER High Court judge Dyson Heydon has said that anti-­Catholicism has become “the racism of the intellectuals”.

FORMER High Court judge Dyson Heydon has warned of a dangerous revival of sectarianism in Australia, saying anti-­Catholicism has become “the racism of the intellectuals”.

Justice Heydon compared modern attacks on the Catholic faith to the anti-clerical kulturkampf crusade waged by German chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the late 19th century in an attempt to restrict the church’s influence in public life.

While anti-Catholicism in Australia was not orchestrated by the state, Justice Heydon said there were similar attempts “to stimulate hatred for a particular group and … a desire to isolate it by being offensive towards it”.

“Now there may be a new anti-Catholic movement particularly among our intellectuals,” he said. “It’s intolerant, it’s hypocritical, it fails to recognise the extraordinary contribution of Australian Catholicism to many parts of Australian life.”

Justice Heydon, who was recently appointed to head the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, delivered the Centre of ­Independent Studies’ annual Acton Lecture for Religion and Freedom on Thursday evening.

He said the campaign was “more than anti-Catholic”.

“In Australia now there are campaigns against at least the Christian religion which are relatively novel,” he said.

“There are ... many characteristics of Christ’s earthly life, which though they have been found attractive in the past by many non-Christians as well as Christians, are out of line with the spirit of our age.

“We avoid the poor, we shun the ill and the outcast, we hate our enemies, we practise hypocrisy, we pay little attention to our own deficiencies while criticising those of others and above all we grovel before wealth and power.”

Justice Heydon said the distinction between permitting offensive speech and actively encouraging it was too easily overlooked.

Anglican Bishop of South Sydney Robert Forsyth said the rise in anti-Christian sentiment was real, but had to be kept in perspective. “Compared to the persecution Christians are suffering in the Middle East, Pakistan and North Africa, our difficulties are minor,” he said.