Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Australia Bans Prayers for Troons-- Up to 5 Years in Prison for Unauthorized Praying
Date: Sat, 3 May 2025 18:23:15 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 45
Message-ID: <vv5mui$4645$1@dont-email.me>
References: <vv49jb$2s2l3$1@dont-email.me> <vv5dqf$3o7t6$3@dont-email.me> <3mGdnUApL9eM2ov1nZ2dnZfqn_adnZ2d@giganews.com> <vv5jvo$3scq5$5@dont-email.me>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=fixed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Sat, 03 May 2025 20:23:15 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="327c8109ff8b9573a69e71a3967cab78";
	logging-data="137349"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19W0MAdRv1N+1lQVXJUfZl0"
User-Agent: Usenapp/0.92.2/l for MacOS
Cancel-Lock: sha1:FSb7ULRz3HBFhPsXC8/w42s346U=

On May 3, 2025 at 10:32:38 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
wrote:

> On 2025-05-03 12:40 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
>>  moviePig <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>>  On 5/3/2025 1:29 AM, BTR1701 wrote:
>>>>  
>>>>  The scope of this law is so broad, you could probably make a prima facie
>>>> claim
>>>>  that I'm violating it right now by making this post if someone in New South
>>>>  Wales were to read it.
>>> 
>>>  "Conversion therapy" is outlawed in NSW.  And, apparently, someone there
>>>  believes in the power of prayer to effect it.
>>> 
>>>  This is an argument about the material efficacy of religious belief.  To
>>>  get a more balanced view, free of gender-identity distractions, consider
>>>  how an open prayer for misfortune to befall Jews should be addressed.
>>  
>>  In any free society, it should be addressed the way it's addressed in the
>>  U.S., which is to say it's not addressed at all, given that such a thing is
>>  both protected speech and free exercise of religion.
> 
> Then the UK isn't a free society given that a woman was arrested for 
> praying silently near an abortion clinic.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Td5GHNQIgY [5 minutes]

Yes, they have these "protected zones", mostly around abortion clinics, where
all free speech is suspended and you can be arrested for just existing there
if the police determine your presence is anti-abortion in nature. They've even
told people that they can be arrested in their own homes if their homes fall
within one of the zones and they do or say anything that can be considered
opposition to abortion.

Regarding the clips I've seen of people who have been arrested for praying in
one of these zones, my question would be if they're doing it silently, how do
the police know if they're praying or just going over the week's grocery list
in their head? I don't know how burdens of proof work in England, but I would
assume they're at least similar to the U.S. in that the government has the
burden to prove its case, so how does the government prove the person was
engaged in anti-abortion prayer? Does the government now claim to have the
ability to read minds?