We read:
"The Student Union at Queensland University have shown themselves to be opposed to differing opinion and free speech like many other secular universities around the world.
The school's Newman Society has been censored and threatened with disaffiliation from the student union because union leaders believed the group's "pro-woman" and "pro-pregnancy" campaign took a stand against abortion. The poster and leaflets, displayed on a booth outside the student cafe, did not mention abortion but featured a photograph of an eight week old child in the womb, and offered compassion and support for young women who might find themselves facing the difficult challenge of an unplanned pregnancy.
Elise Nally, third-year applied science student and Newman Society secretary, said in a report by The Australian that the union's action was totalitarian and against free speech. "I'd like to know what laws we've broken," Nally said. "The union is acting like a dictator...."
Source
3 comments:
Before readers of this post judge the union president in his actions lets remember that student unions are totally unrepresentative. Fewer than 2% of students usually vote in student elections as they find student unions totally pointless. So how can they claim to represent all students?
As the uq union is a voluntary association thanks to VSU, somehow all students are automatically made members. How is this voluntary? How does a student opt out? Are students even aware of this? That they are members of a "pro-choice" organisation?
From the constitution
"All students are full members of the Union."
In this case the Newman Society put the union president in a very difficult position and he was found lacking.
It seems that the presidents hands are tied by his lack of a backbone on this issue. He appears to be a member of the Liberal party and Liberal Students Federation, but may as well join the left, as they couldn't have done a quicker or more speedy job in condemning Newman.
It seems that the entire Union exercise it to pander to minority groups. Why else would they have "Queer areas" and "Women's areas"? (I'll spare you the links to the website). Where is the Men's room?
However, what they (Newman) really wanted to do was provide some information on a retreat for healing after abortion;
Rachel's Vineyard - Retreat for Healing after Abortion
Inadvertently Newman seem to have shown how undemocratic Student Unions are and how quick the left are to react to the image of an unborn baby. Why is this innocent image creating such a reaction in such people?
Now I see the President wants to Run a pro-life referendum "UQ PRESIDENT CALLS FOR PRO-LIFE REFERENDUM "(www.ybenedict.org). How will the left take that?
One should also note the other referendum on the union's books that the UQ "Union oppose the mining and export of uranium." Is the School of Engineering aware of this? What a joke.
One has to remember for Catholics abortion is a matter of Life and Death. We count many maters in our ranks. For some this issue is simply about loosing a job. I know what is more important to me. So take a stand
You may not know that the union president’s hands are tied by the current rules of the union.
As the uq union is a voluntary association, all materials produced by student clubs affiliated to the union need to be approved by the union president. If the union president approves material that is against union policy as previously determined by referendum then the president can be summarily dismissed from office.
In this case the Newman Society put the union president in a very difficult position. They didn’t seek the approval of the president for their materials before they distributed it. Then when the president told them that the material could not go out with the official sanction of the union because it contravened settled policy, they cried foul.
It seems that this entire exercise was a cynical publicity stunt on behalf of the Newman Society to gain publicity by flagrating violating rules for union-affiliated clubs - which they were clearly aware of. The Newman Society know full well that they could have distributed materials on campus as “UQ Catholics” or whatever.
However, what they really wanted to do was cause trouble for the conservative union exec and get some publicity out of the whole exercise. If the Newman Society REALLY felt passionate about this issue, they would assemble the 1500 signatures required to hold a new referendum instead of trying to manipulate the union president into breaking the very rules that he has to keep!
It seems pretty simple to me.
Can individual Catholic churches/dioceses be pro-choice, pro-ordination of women, pro-marriage of priests, pro-gay marriage, pro-stem cell research, pro-euthanasia?
No.
Why not?
Because the church has its own canonical law and set of approved doctrines and theologies which its churches are expected to follow.
Churches which cannot follow those paths are disciplined and if necessary ex-communicated or revoked.
Voluntary organisations have rules which have been arrived at over years of debate and reform. New members or organisations wishing to affiliate with those voluntary society should be expected to follow those rules.
The union is an unincorporated association. As such, the President holds full legal liability for all materials produced under the auspices of the union and its affiliates. Ergo, the President MUST approve all publications of affiliated clubs.
Should the president approve material which denies the holocaust, promotes racial hatred or physical violence against particular members of the community (queer students, women etc)? Absolutely not. Freedom of speech is not an absolute. Some speech is designed to shut down other forms of speech. Those forms of speech certainly aren’t free and may even be unlawful - as a result they cannot be officially sanctioned.
Some would argue that pro-life materials such as that produced by Newman Society is a form of hate speech as it is designed to demonise women who have an abortion as child-killers. The union president does not accept this. He simply took the line that the material was unapproved and thus should be removed. He took a further line of referring the material to the union’s clubs and societies committee (an elected body of students) for advice as to whether or not the material breached the union’s policies.
The bottom line is that the Newman Society are free to distribute whatever material they wish, they just cannot do so with the approval of the union. Just as the Catholic Church has an approved catechism and theology which provide a boundary around which Catholic thought operates - ergo, the Union.
As an affiliated club of long standing, this club knew FULL WELL that all club material must be approved by the Union President. This is a legal requirement as the Union is an unincorporated association and as such, the President is held to be PERSONALLY liable for all material produced by the union and its affiliates - ie. clubs and socs.
Every O Week the Newman Society gets all its materials approved by the union president. However, with regard to this occasion, this club specifically chose to NOT seek approval. Remember the Gospel of Matthew - “By their works, you shall know them.”
The clubs and socs committee of the union determined that this club failed to seek the approval of the president before you distributed your materials. This rule applies to all club and societies - whether Christian, Muslim, atheist or socialist. Any claimed ignorance on this matter is disingenuous as the members continued to distribute this material AFTER they were asked to seek the president’s approval.
Misinformation and commentary that is deliberately misleading and deceptive should be pointed out as such immediately. In this case, even pro-life readers should stop to consider why an avowedly pro-life club WOULD WANT to affiliate with an AVOWEDLY pro-abortion student union. The whole exercise is a publicity stunt designed to confect a sense of moral outrage and get people’s names in the paper. It’s an exercise in self-promotion of the most cynical kind.
One of the main causes of abortion includes rape, entrenched poverty and lack of access or information about contraceptives. I have NEVER seen the Newman Society at UQ run a campaign on rape, entrenched poverty or contraception. If they truly wanted to reduce the number of abortions in Australia, they would get active around these issues.
But we know they won’t. And we know that they won’t run a referendum to change the union’s policy. Why? No publicity in it.
No wonder people become cynical about religion and politics!
Hello Good Gentles All!
Hello Hans Kung!
"One of the main causes of abortion includes rape, entrenched poverty and lack of access or information about contraceptives."
With all due respect your statement is grossly in error.
I offer the following statistics compiled by the Alan Gutmacher Institute (an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the USA.)
REASONS FOR ABORTIONS: COMPILED ESTIMATES
rape 0.3 % (0.1-0.6 %)
incest 0.03 % (<0.1 %)
physical life of mother 0.2 % (0.1-0.3 %)
physical health of mother 1.0 % (0.1-3 %)
fetal health 0.5 % (0.1-1.0 %)
mental health of mother depends on definition
"personal choice" 98% (78-99 %)
--too young/immature/not ready for responsibility (32 %)
--economic 25% (21-28 %)
--to avoid adjusting life (16 %)
--mother single or in poor relationship (12-13 %)
--enough children already (4-8 %)
The entire statistical analysis may be read at the following URL:
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/abreasons.html
It is worth noting that these are numbers from the most staunchly pro-abortion organization in the entire world. However, the CDC has compiled nearly identical statistics as well.
The data are irrefutable. The simple fact is that people kill unborn children mostly (>98% of the time) for entirely selfish reasons.
People lament the decline and inevitable fall of the Western world but frankly, when any society decides that infanticide is preferrable to the supposed inconvenience of having the next generation they deserve to perish.
The world will ultimately belong to those societies that value the lives of their children more than they value having an excess of toys and other selfish amusements.
Pax,
InFides
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