It is not just the air temperature that is soaring to great heights in Australia these days. Also very hot are disputes over a government bill to consolidate multiple anti-discrimination laws into a single Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination law. The government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard intends to leave in place the existing exemptions that allow religious organizations to–big surprise–take account of religion when making decisions about hiring, firing, and employee conduct.

Yes, there are many difficult issues here. But, just maybe, a supposed news report claiming that what the government is planning to protect is just a bogus freedom for religious organizations to blatantly discriminate against “sinners” is not, after all, the most illuminating contribution to clarifying what is at stake and what ought to be done.