A flyer or billboard promoting traditional marriage may soon be prohibited by law, the Church has warned. This is because traditional marriage may be perceived as harmful to some groups.
The conclusion was reached by a group of legal experts commissioned by the Archdiocese of Malta to analyse Bill 96/97 in terms of religious freedom.
The Bill is due to be debated in parliament at committee stage.
The experts’ arguments, which they lay out in a paper, revolve around the “vague” definitions in the Bill of ‘harassment’, ‘victim’ and ‘promotion of discrimination’ through advertising, which they say could give rise to subjective interpretations.
Citing the example of traditional marriage between a man and woman, they asked if there was now the risk of anyone being accused of discrimination when expressing a favourable view, and also of having to prove in court that there was no intention to discriminate when expressing such views.
The Bill, they explain, reduces the certainty of legal boundaries when it comes to the feelings and perceptions of an alleged victim of discrimination. Anybody accused of discrimination would now find it harder to prove otherwise.
Showing esteem for everyone does not mean renouncing to one’s principles
Also, contrary to the standard legal norms, the accused would be considered guilty of discrimination until proven innocent, while the person making the claim would not have to bring objective evidence to back the claim.
This meant the only standard to assess grounds of discrimination would be the alleged victim’s own subjective perception.
The experts, therefore, call for clarification: the mere expression of a personal opinion or the display of religious symbols or messages should be presumed as not constituting harassment. They also question the implications of the Bill for education in Church schools, saying the proposed law carries no clear boundaries of what would be legally prohibited or permitted.
“Showing esteem for everyone does not mean renouncing to one’s principles or discarding specific norms (that may or not be related to religious belief) for evaluating different forms of conduct,” the paper says.
They also express concern over “excessive legislation” that could put Christian entrepreneurs into a conflict of conscience which would go against their right to religious freedom.
Of particular concern was the effect on the Embryo Protection Act: this would not be exempted from the provisions of the equality Bill, which would prevail in case of conflict.
The public should be adequately informed about the serious implications of this proposed legislation on such a socially, ethically and religiously sensitive matters, the experts said.
The group was chaired by Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Agius and made up of Stephanie Abood, Kevin Aquilina, Austin Bencini, Giovanni Bonello, Roseanne Cuschieri, Nadia Delicata, George Grima, Charles Mallia and Ivan Sammut.