'Inequality in a dog collar': how the Religious Discrimination Bill hands more power to the powerful

And what they want is for the state to help them reassert their influence over society.

Yes, they say they want they want their rights guaranteed so they are protected from the state interfering in their lives, but what they actually want is to use the power of the state to increase their control over the lives of others.

If they are given the right to discriminate they will use it to re-impose the shame they think should attach to being gay, trans, a single mother, a divorcee, a person with disability, and maybe even an interracial couple.

Invigorated by their success in rolling back discrimination law, and wielding their new power and status, they will seek to punch holes in other important reforms and stop new ones.

They will pull the classic trick of theocrats and authoritarians everywhere; having gained access to status and power through the door marked "freedom and rights" they will slam that door on everyone else.

Freedom for the few

They will be particularly tyrannical towards their own congregations.

Don't be fooled by religious leaders who claim to be acting on behalf of those congregations: "Religious freedom" is for the clerical 1%, not their flocks.

Sure, "religious freedom" and "free speech" are sold to everyday parishioners as being to their benefit.

But the deregulation of faith-based hate only benefits the religious few who decide what doctrine to impose on others, not the many who have neither the means nor desire to stigmatise their fellow citizens.

"Religious freedom" is like tax cuts for billionaires. Very little trickles down.

Instead, it is about the Big End of Church elevating its power over, and enforcing greater doctrinal conformity on, everyday parishioners.