EQUALITY FOR VICTORIA’S PEOPLE OF FAITH

Dear Premier, Kindly consider your decision. Thanks Francis

We need to go back to normal asap

If shopping centres can open. So can churches do some degree.

Please open our churches. People have the right to go to church or to speak to their priest. This is an important part of peoples existence. The hardest hit is the elderly. This is the one thing that they look forward to; attending church this provides them purpose and peace. Without this they have no purpose. They are further isolated which then escalates all other health issues they may have. This is not fair. Please open our churches. This is a lifeline for some people and no other medical health professional can fill this void.

I firmly support this petition. A reasonable request

Please let us go back to our churches

Please help us to meet in a safe and secure manner.

It is my constitutional right to practise my faith. This can be easily and safely organised to avoid contact with others!

Dear Premier Daniel Andrews, We, people of Victoria’s faith community, request that the ‘Roadmap for Reopening' be amended so that people of faith and places of worship are treated equitably and fairly. The 2016 national census indicates that approximately 60% of Victorians identify as religious. For people of faith, the ability to practise our beliefs – including through public worship – is essential to our wellbeing. As it stands, the ‘Roadmap’ suggests that our wellbeing has not been given due consideration. We are particularly concerned about the inequitable treatment of people of faith under ‘Step 3’ of your ‘Roadmap’. For example, ‘Step 3’ permits cafes and restaurants to seat up to 20 people indoors and 50 people outdoors yet restricts religious communities to outdoor gatherings of only 10 people and indoor private worship limited to 'household bubbles'. There is no logical reason for this discrepancy. People of faith are able to attend a service in a place of worship whilst wearing a face mask; physical distancing is not a challenge in what are often very large venues; services are time-limited and rigorous infection-control measures are able to be implemented. A place of worship can and should be accessible in a COVID-safe way. Religious organisations should be afforded the same opportunity to open for indoor worship with density quotients equivalent to those seen in other parts of the community such as hospitality. We were afforded the opportunity as we emerged from the first lockdown; we deserve to be afforded the same opportunity again as we emerge from the second lockdown. Premier Andrews, we, people of Victoria’s faith community, request that you adjust the ‘Roadmap for Reopening’ in a way that secures the equitable treatment of religious communities and grants us the opportunity to practise our faith in a COVID-safe manner. Signed, People of all faiths, Victoria

It’s time for churches to be open.

People are not meant to be isolated. We need to refresh by worshipping together. Socially distancing of course

Shouldn’t our spiritual health be more important than our morning breakfast? And yet you deem Sunday breakfast to be more important than our faith!

Amen

C'mon Dan have a little respect for the people & their faith which is the only thing getting us through

We need God in our Lives, so to reopen our Churches is very important & needed, for Spiritual & Physical Healing.

Please treat us fairly peninsula low,low risk area for coved 19

I request that you consider the majority of Victorians and respect our right to meet in larger groups to practise our faith. This is imperative to the well being of us all. Also best in mind the good charitable work of people of faith who reach out and do wonderful work in the communities of Victoria.

Would like to have the right to choose to worship in a religious place of worship.

Open our churches, let us pray to our father, our salvation.

Res Daniel Andrew, please be mindful to consider faith group gathering at par to other avenues. Regards Ayan Jain ( Jain community council of Victoria)