Renowned Canadian psychologist and “world famous public intellectual” Jordan Peterson has garnered significant attention over the past decade for his strong critique of modern liberal culture and cultural Marxism. This week, the newly established Alliance of Responsible Citizenship (ARC), founded by Peterson and former Australian Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, held its inaugural conference in London.

John Steenhof, Principal Lawyer at Human Rights Law Alliance, was there in attendance with 1500 other delegates from around the globe, strengthening connections between like-minded international religious freedom organisations, including the ADF International.

The ARC’s vision is to “draw on our moral, cultural, economic and spiritual foundations to imagine a future where empowered citizens take responsibility and work together to bring flourishing and prosperity to their homes, communities, and beyond”.

As Jordan Peterson writes:

“We at ARC do not believe that humanity is necessarily and inevitably teetering on the brink of apocalyptic disaster. We do not believe that we are beings primarily motivated by lust for power and desire to dominate. We do not regard ourselves or our fellow citizens as destructive forces, living in an alien relationship to the pristine and pure natural world.

We posit, instead, that men and women of faith and decisiveness, made in the image of God, can arrange their affairs with care and attention so that abundance and opportunity could be available for all.

Those who present a vision of inevitable catastrophe in the absence of severely enforced material privation are not wise seers of the inevitable future, but forlorn prisoners of their own limited, faithless imaginations. Those who scheme to lead using terror as a motivator and force as a cudgel reveal themselves by definition unfit for the job.

We hope to encourage the development of an alternative pathway uphill, out of both tyranny and the desert, stabilizing, unifying and compelling to men and women of sound judgement and free will”.

As religious freedom rights are increasingly threatened across the world, there has never been a more important time for those committed to defending freedom to work together.

HRLA is committed to defending the religious freedom rights of all Australians. The freedom to live according to your convictions lies at the very heart of human flourishing.