Dear friends and family in Christ,
This morning I woke up early and started praising and thanking the Lord as I remembered that today 22nd June 2012 marks five years since we won the court case for Freedom of Speech & Religion in Australia.
This was certainly a land mark victory, after a five year battle first in the Lower Court (VCAT) and then the Supreme Court, where the Lord gave us the victory.
I still remember the long five years in the court room with forty days of hearings and a cost of $600,000, plus several death threats, fire bombing threats to my house and office, and also the threats to abduct my children from school. It was indeed a very challenging time, but praise God with the prayers, support of my fellow Aussies and God’s amazing grace, we came out victorious.
The court case which was brought against us by the Islamic Council of Victoria on charges of vilification was a completely ridiculous case, which proved that the Religious & Racial Vilification Laws of Victoria were a bad piece of legislation.
As a result of our court case, this bad law was thrown out of all the other states, and was amended in Vic.
A few months after we won the court case in 2007, I had the opportunity of meeting with the then Prime Minister John Howard, who I greatly admire as a real statesman.
In his office in Parliament he said, “Pastor, your victory for freedom of speech will now help us all and also the future generations to come. You have also set a precedence in the judiciary system. May I take this opportunity to officially thank you on behalf of the people of Australia as Prime Minister.”
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