Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 9, 2011



Section 116 of the Constitution of Australia precludes the Commonwealth of Australia (i.e., the federal parliament) from making laws for establishing any religion, imposing any religious observance, or prohibiting the free exercise of any religion. Section 116 also provides that no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth. The product of a compromise in the pre-Federation constitutional conventions, Section 116 is based on similar provisions in the United States Constitution. The provision has been interpreted narrowly by the High Court of Australia: while the definition of "religion" adopted by the court is broad and flexible, the scope of the protection of religions is circumscribed. No court has ever ruled a law to be in contravention of Section 116. Federal Governments have twice proposed amendments to the provision, principally to apply it to laws made by the states of Australia. On each occasion&mdash;in 1944 and 1988&mdash;the proposal failed in a referendum. (more...)

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