The South Australian government was slightly at odds with the pseudo-religious “church” of Scientology on the night of the 10th of July as a result of comments made by their minister of education’s comments about Scientology.
The minister, DR Lomax-Smith publicly asked the members of one of anonymous’ protest marches against the “church” of Scientology, “are all of you related to someone that has been sucked in?”, she went on to state that in her opinion, “[the church of Scientology] should be taxed, the bastards,”… She also told the demonstrators that she liked their masks. The masks they wear to protect their identities in defence against Scientology’s now-infamous retaliatory attacks against its opposition.
The “church” of Scientology, never an organisation that allows public criticism, reacted swiftly to denounce Dr Lomax-Smith for her derogatory public references to the “church”. The “church” of Scientology stated that the minister has a duty to refrain from making such comments in public. They stated that the minister cannot be responsible for the spread of opinions that promote intolerance.
To an extent, I agree. A government official’s opinion can carry a lot of weight, and it should not be cast around lightly. The fact is people are entitled to align themselves with any organisation they wish without fear of reprisal, especially from governmental sectors.
However, at the same time, the government has a responsibility to protect it’s citizenry, to inform them of possible threats. After all, if the mafia was recruiting under the guise of a religious organisation we wouldn’t want our children joining simply due to a lack of an opposing opinion.
The South Australian government, whilst making it clear that the opinions of Dr Lomax-smith, were her own opinions and not necessarily representative of the government’s views, still defended her right to express her opinions freely.
