As someone who does not attend church, a synagogue or a mosque, I find it astounding to see so many journalists routinely bash anyone with a "Christian" viewpoint, who dare to express their opinion.

Generally those same journalists or "commentators" are the same ones who would likely criticize President Bush for using the phrase Islamo-Fascism or would argue that Tony Blair is being culturally insensitive for discussing an "elemental" battle.

Similarly in Australia, the use of "religious right" as a pejorative term seems acceptable to the left-wing commentariat, many of whom have likely never even visited the south of the United States nor could identify where South Carolina is on a map.

While I may disagree with Tony Abbott on a range of issues, to use his faith as a basis for attack is both intellectually vacuous and hypocritical. If someone is a politician who is a Catholic, a Protestant, a secular humanist, Jewish or Muslim I have no problem as long as they are open about their faith.

I do continue to have issues with journalists who cry "freedom" of the press when attacked, but yet would deny the right of an individuals "freedom" of belief.

If the public does not like the voting record of a politician, they can simply vote for someone else at the next election

I hate to contradict such an upright citizen as T. Abbott but in my lengthy experience politicians are certainly not "invariably" trying to make a better world. Otherwise we would have a better world, wouldn't we. Instead,it's pretty rotten. They are all too often there because they are addicted to power, money and media attention. One good way for T. Abbott to avoid the so-arduous demands for media comment is to cease to comment on matters of which he has no knowledge/direct experience: abortion, homosexuality, RU486 etc. That would lighten his shocking burden considerably and leave decisions to people who actually need to participate. As the old slogan goes: "not the Church, not the State, women will decide our fate." If only !

There is a serious failure in the Australian community to identify the predominant paranoid left wing bias in the Australian media which sees the Liberal Party conservatives and ultimately George Bush as the cause of everything from Hurricane Katrina to terrorism to Global warming and escalating banana prices.

The ABC are the prime agitators here with their "behind the scenes" documentaries from "hard hitting Journalists" which usually amount to no more than unsubstantiated innuendo from unknown sources while promoting David Hicks and Jihad Jack as victims of right wing conspiracies rather than psychopathic dangers to society.

Tony Abbott has a point.

Dear Minister,

Thanks for the opportunity to communicate with you, I hope that you or one of your minders reads these posts.

Your online opinion reminds me of a story I've heard. I may be getting it a bit wrong, and forgive me, I don't know it's source, it may have been Yes Minister. It goes something like this: a Minister of State is voted out of office, and he is clearing out when the new Minister moves in. He gives the new Minister some advice on three excuses he can use in Government, which will be sitting in the bottom drawer of his desk when required:

The first time something goes wrong, you blame it on your predecessors.

The second time something goes wrong, you blame it on your department.

The last time something goes wrong, you blame it on the media.

I think the reason why that's the last time is that people with that attitude tend to get voted out.

A christian purports to seek the truth. A politician ceaselessly tries to hide the truth. Obviously the two are totally incompatible. We are helping the Septics make more stem cells than we will ever need in Iraq

"Australian journalism needs to be more intellectually curious and less implicitly judgmental."

This quote from Tony Abbott nicely fits politicians within the Coalition Government. Any Christian who believes in the Christ of the Sermon on the Mount would want to divorce Tony Abbott and his so called Christian Coalition fellow politicians.

They are a very mean bunch who are willing to incarcerate refugee women and children or place people's lives at risk as indicated by Robin Rothfield on 26 August 2006 in "The Age": "This inhumane policy was continued with later boats. A pregnant woman aboard SIEV 3 was denied permission to be flown to hospital even though the request had been sought by a military officer on grounds of possible delivery complications."

The meanness has also been directed at Australian citizens where administrative thuggery is employed against people on Disability Benefits at the behest of the Coalition Government.

Just prior to last Christmas the Coalition Government gagged the Senate and pushed through the nasty "Work Choices" legislation in a hasty manner; did Tony Abbott protest that legitimate concerns were squashed as a result? If he did not protest this factor then his quote above is somewhat hypercritical.