Sydney, Australia, Jun 20, 2007 / 08:48 am
Australia’s Council of Civil Liberties has slammed the idea of having Cardinal George Pell interrogated by a parliamentary committee over his comments on therapeutic cloning and stem-cell research, calling it absurd.
"George Pell is entitled to freedom of speech and to engage in political discourse,'' council president Cameron Murphy said.
"From time to time you get all sorts of religious leaders who make comments that are out of step with the community, whether it's George Pell or Sheik Hilaly, and I think in a democratic society you have to have a degree of tolerance.”
The Greens Party yesterday won approval to have the cardinal interrogated by the parliamentary committee for contempt, reported The Telegraph.