To The Age Chris Pearson asserts that Australia "is a secular country" (3/6). Well, yes and no. Our sovereign is a ruler whose authority is vested in the Christian sacred tradition. In certain respects, therefore, we are a Christian nation. Perhaps the main purpose of the republican movement is to bring that situation to an end. The suggestion that "the Coalition sees its victory as a mandate to allow hate speech" is extreme. More truly, the Coalition has promised protection for those Australians, individuals, groups and institutions, who are religious; and this was made necessary by the ferocious campaign against people of faith waged by a significant number of Australians and more or less supported by the ALP/Greens alliance. Perhaps we should regard ourselves as a "free country" in which mutual respect for "the other" is not eroded by fanaticism, whether religious or secular. At the moment that suggests that added protection is needed for the religious sector rather than the secular sector.
Nigel Jackson,
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