The 5-year dispute between the Catch The Fire Ministries and the Islamic Council of Victoria has finally been concluded with a joint statement being released.
In a joint statement Pastor Daniel Scot and Pastor Daniel Nalliah affirm and recognise the five following points:
1) the dignity and worth of every human being, irrespective of their religious faith, or the absence of religious faith;
2) the rights of each other, their communities, and all persons, to adhere to and express their own religious beliefs and to conduct their lives consistently with those beliefs;
3) the rights of each other, their communities and all persons, within the limits provided for by law, to robustly debate religion, including the right to criticise the religious belief of another, in a free, open and democratic society;
4) the value of friendship, respect and co-operation between Christians, Muslims and all people of other faiths; and
5) the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act forms part of the law of Victoria to which the rights referred to in paragraph 3 above are subject.
The long running dispute between the Christian evangelical ministry and the Muslim community started when the ministry was successfully sued under the Victoria's religious hatred law.
Both pastors were found to incite religious hatred when they started to quote various parts of the Koran to show what many Muslims believe.
Mr. Nalliah says the problem with the religious vilification law is that it is difficult to have a precise definition as to what constitute the term criminal hatred on the Catch the Fire Ministries website. He said: "The problems with these kinds of laws are that there is often no clear definition of what is considered criminal hatred. There is ambiguity as to what public statements will constitute a criminal offence."