Other than the obvious exception of sexual orientation, the Act is similar to one in Canada I've talked about before. Ostensibly they were put in place to "prevent the denigration of people based on their race or religion." The problem with this kind of hazy legislation is well explained by a Voice of the Martyrs spokesman:

"In the eyes of the law, it's not a matter of whether or not these two men told the truth – they did – but whether someone felt bad about what they said. This is such a subjective standard that the law almost invites misguided cases like this one."

This reminds me of a story I read about youtube within the past year. A gentleman had been posting numerous videos refuting Christianity, but the second he posted a video that contained nothing except quotations from the Koran set to instrumental music, his account was terminated. It's ok to badmouth Christianity, but heaven forbid you speak a word against the religion of peace.

But I digress. I don't really understand Australian law so I'm not sure I'm reading the article correctly -- I think the pastors won an appeal which meant they'd be retried again, but before that happened they came to terms with the Islamic Council of Victoria, the group bringing the suit, and now everything is hunky dory. That is, until the next time.