"Shopping" asylum seekers are heading for those countries because their own countries have become dangerous basket cases - largely due to the historical actions of many of those same western democracies LEGO mentions. Those countries are also the relatively few co-signatories to the UN agreements that make this possible.

A century of our economic, political and military interference and betryal has contributed to this mess. If the region was know for its carrots and not for its oil this would never have happened.

I think that given the choice they would prefer to stay at home and be left to manage their own affairs without our interference.

Our nations values are based on personal self-interest, not some arcane sectarian system - just like all the others.

We've been through all this on the "West's history not complete without reference to Christianity" thread. When it comes to "Christianity" and "values", there are those among us who not only want to have their cake and eat it too, but lay claim to the entire sweet trolley at the same time.

"Oz values", dare I venture to suggest, have changed substantially over the years. Where it once was "King and Country" it is now... well, whatever ragbag of post-Facebook, post-Twitter, post-iPod, post-Playstation values you care to select from. The point being, you need to be specific about those values, before you can identify a potential source.

When asked what he thought had been the impact of the French Revolution, Zhou Enlai is supposed to have said "it is too soon to tell". In a couple of hundred years, we might be able to speculate on the impact of Christianity on Australian values, but today is a little premature.

What we can say, is that Christianity, in its various forms, has been the staple religion in Europe for a number of centuries. Unless you happened to be directly involved - like being tried as a witch, or burned at the stake by the Inquisition, or running for your life from a bunch of Micks (or Prods) who wanted to blow away your Prod (or Mick) kneecaps, or whatever - you pretty much took the whole thing for granted.

If one of the values we treasure is intolerance for others, particularly those who didn't worship their chosen God in exactly the same way as you, then yes, I'd have to agree that Christianity played a major part.

I would like to point out, though, that actually being a tolerant person does not mean that you are un-Christian. In fact, it is quite possible to show many personal traits, characteristics and values that you do not share with Christians, and still be a good person.

Or a bad one, come to that.

Mr. Wallace asserts that Ms. Cannold is wrong to claim the ACL claims that Christianity is the source of Australian values, yet fails to provide evidence for his assertion. Indeed, he seems to contradict his own assertion when follows by writing that the "Judeo-Christian [sic] ethic has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the formation of our nation". Further, one may read on the ACL website itself the following claim: We [the ACL] believe that our success as a nation and a community to date, is largely due to our strong Christian heritage.

Granted, such claims are not strictly of Christianity being the source, but Mr. Wallace and the ACL both fail to mention what other sources could possibly have been of influence. Could it be that they dare not mention the Enlightenment, and the radical ideas it proposed? Ideas and values we take for granted as having always existed but which had to be fought long and hard for against the opposition of the Church; ideas and values the ACL claim as being Christian only because such values so thoroughly infuse our modern society that they must claim them their own; ideas and values they would quickly abandon if they achieved their goal of making Australia a truly Christian Nation. One need only peruse the website of the ACL to know what kind of Australia they desire.

I agree with Dr Cannold and other sceptics. Implicit in the claim that Christianity is the source of modern Australian values are the erroneous notions (1) that only religion can produce a system of morality and (2) that our present morals,mores and ethics are the result of Christian teachings.
I'd bet that modern Western morality derives in part from the rediscovery of pagan philosophical traditions, independent philosophical enquiry and innate values.
In fact, most progress in the West has been achieved despite religious oppression and bigotry.

The observation that Protestant majority nations have historically, produced more progressive societies doesn't, necessarily, demonstrate that "Protestant" nations are in fact "Christian" simply that dissent was tolerated in those societies.

So the answer to the question is, "No".

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A quote from Mark Twain highlights the immoral stance taken by the ACL and conservative Christians in general. Twain was talking about slavery, but the comment is equally pertinent to homosexuality, euthenasia, the equality of women...the list goes on...
"There was no place in the land where the seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place in all the land but one-- the pulpit. It yielded last; it always does. It fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined the procession-- at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery texts in the Bible remained; the practice changed; that was all."