Freedom of religion and Fortress Christianity in Australia

The debate surrounding the 2019 Religious Discrimination Bill in Australia highlighted a shift in the social construction of the notion of freedom of religion. From a debate that understood such freedom as religious groups and people being able to practice, and believe in, their faith without discrimination, the notion of freedom shifted to mean for certain conservative groups the right to discriminate in the name of religion. This chapter explores the decrease of Christianity in Australia and how certain groups are feeling vulnerable to these changes. It compares this phenomenon to the notion of Fortress Australia (as a reaction to the lived reality of multiculturalism) and adapts this concept to the current debate by making reference to Fortress Christianity (as a reaction to the lived reality of the increase of non-Christian religions and no religion, and of anti-discrimination rights).