WF Ep. 44 The Life of Pastor Daniel Nalliah

On the Monday night edition of WilmsFront, I take a trip around the world with Deputy Editor of the Unshackled Martin Hartwig to check in on the state of various political coalitions and unions.

blank

Throughout his life, Pastor Daniel Nalliah has risen to be one of Australia’s most prominent patriot activists and Christian voices. He is my guest in the studio for the midweek edition of WilmsFront as I go through his journey to Australia and the battles he’s faced against hostile forces.

Live Replay

Podcast

Show Description

We start in Daniel’s country of birth Sri Lanka, last Easter Christians were attacked by an Islamic terrorist group that shocked most of the world. Daniel is of Tamil ethnicity and explains the violence of the civil war that the Tamil Tigers fought against the Sinhalese majority from 1983 to 2009 and how the nation has healed since then.

Daniel moved to the theocratic sharia law-governed Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1995. He witnessed beheadings and faced arrest and possible death himself for smuggling and distributing bibles to Christians in the Kingdom. He assisted in securing the release of 31 Christians arrested for practicing their faith in the Kingdom and lobbied for the US Congress to pass the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Daniel and his family migrated to Australia in 1997 and quickly assimilated into Australian culture. He established his church the Catch the Fire Ministries and a national Christian prayer movement called Rise Up Australia.

He and another Pastor Daniel Scot were the first targets of Victoria’s Racial Religious Tolerance 2001 when the Islamic Council of Victoria sent three white Muslims to a seminar his church held on the teachings of Islam to get offended. The two pastors were taken to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal under Section 8 of the Act for Religious Vilification. After a five-year legal battle costing $600,000 they were found not guilty by Victoria’s Supreme Court.

Rise Up Australia become a political party in 2010, the party was ironically called racist and white supremacist despite the fact Daniel himself is Sri Lankan and the members of his party come from almost every ethnicity.

Rise Up participated in the Reclaim Australia movement and United Patriots Front activism. Given both movements were called racist with neo-Nazi members I ask Daniel about his experience with both movements given he was happy to speak and participate and the other members of the movements were happy to stand with him.

Daniel and I discuss how multiculturalism has failed in Australia creating tribal communities. Elements of Islamic sharia are now incorporated by our welfare system.

Daniel supports a reduction in Muslim migration, focusing on bringing in persecuted Christians but does not support significant cuts to Australia’s annual migration intake.

The Rise Up Australia Party was deregistered last year, Daniel explains this was a combination of the election of minor parties in Australia becoming more difficult and his faith in Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivering for Australia and its Christians. I ask Daniel his views on the proposed Religious Discrimination Act.

Rugby player Israel Folau was criticized by the media recently in a recorded sermon at his family church where he claimed Australia’s black summer of bushfires were due to New South Wales legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage. Daniel made similar remarks after Victoria’s 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, I ask him to clarify those remarks.

Pastor Danny Nalliah Links

Reformation Harvest Fire Ministries
Rise Up Australia
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
Catch the Fire Ministries Inc & Ors v Islamic Council of Victoria Inc

About The Author