Bishop Mar Mari gets the run around, calls out the Australian government’s misinformation bill

Cleansing of the Temple. Enrique Simonet (1866-1927).

Welcome article for new readers.

ExcessDeathsAU has been banned from social media: I rely on you to share articles.

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Background

On April 15, 2024, His Grace Bishop Mar Mari was attacked (archive) by a young male while preaching at Assyrian Orthodox Christ the Good Shepherd Church in western Sydney. Bishop ended up losing his eye in the stabbing and Father Isaac Royel (archive) was also injured. Community tensions were high immediately after the stabbing.

The 16-year-old boy has been charged (archive) with “committing a terrorist act…and faces a life sentence, if found guilty.”

In an audio statement (archive) released from his hospital bed after the stabbing, Bishop said: “I forgive whoever has done this act…And I say to him, ‘You’re my son. I love you and I will always pray for you…And whoever sent you to do this, I forgive them as well in Jesus’s mighty name…I have nothing in my heart but love for everyone. Whether that person is a Christian or not, it’s totally beside the point…And a piece of advice to all our beloved faithfuls – I need you to act Christlike.”

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Bishop Mar Mari is an extremely popular preacher who was (and is) very vocal against the Australian lockdowns and government tyranny. Unlike the vast majority of religious leaders, Bishop and the Fathers have been clear from the beginning that the covid vaccine and the covid measures are evil. As many know, the people of Western Sydney were hit with heavy tyranny including the Australian army patrolling the streets (more about this in an upcoming EDAU article).

HG Mar Mari and the Fathers deliver sermons that are popular with all different people globally on social media. The YouTube livestreams (in English, Arabic, and Assyrian) have up to a million views and helped many Australians through the dark days (months, years) of lockdowns and tyranny. These livestreams of the Bible preaches and Divine Liturgy quite literally turned into lifelines for those in Australia who were thrown out of the churches and shunned by other Christians for not taking the jab.

In April 2024 the church’s livestream footage of the attack was censored by Australia’s eSafety commissioner, turning the incident into a legal situation between Elon Musk on the X platform, and eSafety (Australian government).

Bishop released a formal announcement on the censorship situation via YouTube on the 24 April, 2024, the day before Anzac Day. From the video (0:20-58s):

I do acknowledge the Australian government’s desire to have the videos removed because of their graphic nature. I do not condone any acts of terrorism or violence. However, noting our God-given right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, I’m not opposed to the videos remaining on social media. I would be of great concern if people used the attack on me to serve their own political interest to control free speech.

Briefly, key points from a 9news article (archive):

• Australia's ‘internet cop’ has secured a take-down order against Elon Musk's X despite the bishop whose stabbing video triggered a courtroom stoush giving his permission for the content to be shared.  

• The Federal Court battle will examine how far into cyberspace the eSafety Commissioner should be allowed to reach and its power over social media platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter.

• eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has been backed by a rare united front of Australian politicians who want the "extreme violent video content" deleted from servers, as other social media platforms have done.

To summarise: the Bishop got stabbed, lost his eye, and as the victim, wanted the footage on the internet in the interest of free speech. Elon Musk also wanted the footage on his platform X, but politicians and the eSafety commissioner wanted the footage to be removed.

Well…not all Australian politicians (lol):

After a series of legal losses, the eSafety commissioner eventually dropped the case against X (archive).

The upshot of this is that the Bishop is very serious about free speech and religious freedom in Australia.

As many of you know, Australia has a ‘misinformation bill’ that recently passed the lower house and is currently in front of the Senate awaiting vote. For details of the current Bill please see

Lies are Unbekoming

Misinformation and Disinformation (MAD) Bill. For overseas readers and those new to Substack, please see

Dystopian Down Under

who has written extensively on censorship issues in Australia (and provides regular updates).

Last year I wrote about the ‘Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation Bill 2023 (Federal - proposed)’ and what could occur in conjunction with the WA Health Act 2016 during Emergency powers:

The Australian government may legally disappear and inject you using force and your family will be silenced.

The current bill that has passed the lower house is a dangerous further restriction on the speech of Australians. However, Australia does not actually have free speech. Political gestures, symbols and words are are already fineable and jailable offenses. During biodefense live exercises masquerading as ‘health events,’ the censorship on speech in Australia is coordinated, pre-planned, and extreme. Australia is not a ‘free country’ and we do not have ‘freedom of speech.’ Stopping the Bill just prevents the slide off the cliff.

For what it’s worth, I am not afraid at all, and I will continue to document clown world as long as I am able.

I will never forget the screams of the faithfuls and the sound of the violence in the church when the Bishop was stabbed. It was absolutely horrific. In honour of free speech and the Bishop’s wishes, here is an image of the moment before the stabbing from the church’s livestream:

Bishop’s speech (below section) is particularly important because it demonstrates that even prominent religious leaders in Australia are being administratively abused and ignored regarding what is happening in our country.

Australia has descended into the positively Kafkaesque and I do not throw this term around lightly. What happened to Bishop (and is happening to all of us) is a senseless, disorientating, menacing complexity. This surreal distortion of the truth under the cover of ‘misinformation’ elicits a sense of looming danger that, if one is not tethered to a Higher Truth would be difficult to confront on a daily basis.

For the historical record, please enjoy a speech and transcript of HG Mar Mari Emanuel calling out the Australian government’s misinformation bill (after getting the run around).

HG Bishop Mar Mari - speech and transcript

Readers note – I recommend listening to the video (9m 34s) if you can.

HG Bishop Mar Mari, November 20, 2024, Christ the Good Shepherd YouTube channel

Transcript by ExcessDeathsAU, mistakes unintentional, some emphasis added.

[Begin transcript]

I would like to say this in public. And I want every Aussie and every human being with a clear conscience, to see what is happening in our time and age.

This misinformation bill - we emailed the appropriate departments in regard to this, that we wanted to have a fair go at this and present our case. Why we are against the misinformation bill.

I’m not a politician. I will never, ever, try to be one. It’s not my path and I’m saying it with love and respect to everyone who is a politician. God, our Lord, Jesus Christ, chooses our path and everybody gets a profession in this life. Politics is not my field. Never has been, never will be. But when it comes to human rights, to human freedom, of speech and religion, then we all have the right to say and express our concerns.

So we wrote to them, on the eighth of October. An email came back and that email said “it request the Bishop to attend public hearing Thursday October the 17^th in person or by Zoom meeting.” That was on the eighth of October we received an email saying that the bishop can attend a public hearing on Thursday October the 17^th in person in Canberra or by Zoom meeting.

On the 11^th of October, Friday, our secretary acknowledged the receipt of this email.

And then on Friday, sorry, and then on Thursday, and then on Friday the 12^th, the email went saying ‘the bishop now accepts the invitation but will attend online.’ I requested to attend it online rather than in person.

On Monday the 14^th of October, at 1:34pm, an email came from the government requesting for the bishop to attend a 10 am sitting alongside with Australian Christian Lobby and the Uniting Church. Because there were other groups that opposed this misinformation bill. I didn’t choose who to sit with all I said: “I’m sending it - I just want you to give me a fair go.”

And then on Monday the same day at 3:40 pm, an email came with a change of time from 10 am to 2:40pm, which we accepted on Tuesday the 15^th at 1:29 pm.

On Tuesday at 1:51pm, a text was sent to the bishop’s secretary requesting another meeting change. The time changed from 2:40 to 5:05pm.

And the bishop accepted the change. And he said ‘yes we agree. We agree.’

And then on Tuesday, 1:53pm, a text confirming change: “Ok! We will check with the chair of the committee and get back to you asap! I assume videoconference?” Response was: “Yes please, just do it.”

Since Tuesday the 15^th of October, at 1:53 pm that was the last text message coming from the government to us. Everything went hush-hush quiet.

There was no email, no calls, no texts – nothing - about what was given to us back on the 8^th of October that ‘yes we can attend a public hearing either in person or a Zoom call.’

Since the Tuesday the 15^th at 1:53pm, which by now they’ve changed the time three times, and there was nothing heard until we wrote to them in November saying: ‘what’s goin’ on?’

We received the reply on Tuesday the 12^th of November, 2024 at 9:54am saying “Dear so-and-so, my apologies for not informing you earlier, due to timing constraints and the level of interest in this inquiry, the committee unfortunately did not include Bishop Mari on this hearing program. The committee has however considered an expressed its thanks for your submission.”

(Bishop sighs heavily, people in crowd murmur)

So…this is what I say to the Labor Party: is this way you represent this great nation of Australia? Is this the way you represent a nation that was built on absolute morals, ethics, values, Christian values? And not only that, and also at a human level, where you, you, always fought for human rights, democracy, and freedom of speech and freedom of religion? Is this way you treat an Australian citizen?

Is it?

Labor Party?

I believe this is a very shameful tactic and a very shameful behaviour from a government that represent a great nation called Australia. And the people of Australia. Now go the Aussies! Mate - I honestly this is an embarrassment to this government. An absolute embarrassment. Now you’re telling me you speak freedom and you talking about the misinformation bill? Wasn’t this misinformation in its core?

(Bishop holds up paper, crowd claps)

Now as a government, if you have failed (which you have) terribly in this instance, where you have failed to preserve and protect the citizens of this nations for their freedom of speech and freedom of religion, then you are not qualified to be a government – you need to step down all of you.

And I say this to the opposition leader the Honourable Peter Dutton: what are you going to do about this? As the opposition leader. Are you going to be quiet about this? Or are you gunna take it and fight for it till the end? Because that for me is absolutely an embarrassment. An absolute embarrassment. It’s very embarrassing.

So now, ‘Bishop you can come at 10am.’ ‘Ok.’ ‘Oh no sorry, you can come at 2:40 pm.’ ‘Ok.’ ‘No, no so you can come now at 5:05pm.’ ‘ooookaaayyy’ (Ed. – heavy sarcasm). And then – goes quiet.

Drumroll…couple of weeks later…’sorry, there was a lot of interest into this – since we had a lot of time constraints, we chose not to pick Bishop Mari.’

Just leave this nonsense alone.

I just want to know one thing: who are you and who gave you the authority, the permission, to be the definers of what is ‘misinformation’? Can you define for me? Can you specify for me, what is misinformation? And then, when you categorise it in whatever categories you’re putting it, who gives you the right, who are you? Who are you to say what people say now is misinformed or disinformed? Who are you?

Look, it is only God and God alone that can say what you can say or not even God is not restraining us. For you to come as a government and say to us ‘we can’t say it now because you fall under the misinformation bill therefore we gonna block you.’

Lord, I pray from the bottom of my heart not for anything but for your Holy Name to be glorified this moment. Lord, may You show every government that is trying to impose evil agendas on the human race may You put them to shame. May You rebuke them like You rebuked that wild ocean. May You teach them a lesson that they are nothing but a piece of dust. Enough playing God because they are absolutely false gods there is only one true Living God who art in heaven and His Name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This is the only True Living God, so enough of this nonsense and enough of this childish behaviour from adults, mature-called government.

[End transcript]

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Jesus walking on water. Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900). Painting c.1890.