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The Forum > Article Comments > The Australian Christian political lobby comes of age > Comments

The Australian Christian political lobby comes of age : Comments

By Rod Benson, published 3/9/2007

Christian views and Christian voters are being taken seriously by politicians. The federal election will be fought around policies and ideals shaped by religious communities.

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ACL's positioning of themselves as centrist belies the fact that there are many lay and religious Christians in our society whose faith is more encompassing and inclusive than that espoused by ACL. Failure to articulate their communities' concerns about climate change and the potentially dangerous and irreversible, impact it may have on the whole of God's creation, suggests that their business and their faith lie to the right of the spectrum. Questions vetted by ACL to ensure balance? I don't think so - especially when they chose to exclude some Christians who hold different views to them from the forum. This is the essence of polarity and exclusivity - hardly the centrism they claim. Alarmingly different views on how to be a good Christian and leader? Thank God for that.
Posted by Angela B, Monday, 3 September 2007 10:32:15 AM
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Like any group in our society the christian lobby has a right to advocate on behalf of their particular cause. The danger (if that's not too strong a word) of this participation in the political process is that this advocacy comes at the expense of the rights of others to live their lives free from interference by people who wish to impose their narrow world view on the rest of us. A modern pluralist society is characterised by its ability to accept and value diversity of opinion, not narrowly defined notions of "morality". As Don Dunstan put it: we should be wary of people who try to "institutionalise their own inhibitions".
Posted by barney25, Monday, 3 September 2007 11:10:29 AM
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I quite like this link between "righteous" Christians and a certain chap who mis-ruled Germany in the 30's and 40's of last century.

1. http://nobeliefs.com/nazies.htm

The said person also made patriotic speeches about both internal and external "threats" to the German body politic,its "glorious" (even at times Christian) his-story, and the necessity to resist and even eliminate such "toxins" from the body politic.
We all know where that lead---dont we.
Posted by Ho Hum, Monday, 3 September 2007 11:28:33 AM
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The 'centrist' Christian political influence seems fairly weak in the federal Liberal party - but the far-right anti-choice, anti-gay movement is well represented by Kevin Andrews.
He has been responsible for overturning the rights of terminally ill patients to end their suffering peacefully, blocking the rights of women to choose safe and simple means of ending pregancies at a earliest possible (zygote) stage (via RU-486), voting to block any possibility that stem-cell research may help us develop cures to life-threatening and dehabilitating illnesses (including cancer), and last of all refusing to consider that same-sex couples should at least have the same basic entitlements (wrt medicare, super, pensions etc.) as other de-facto couples.
That this man can hold his seat by 10% while representing the views of no more than a tiny fraction of Australians is a indication of something wrong with the state of politics in Australia.
Posted by wizofaus, Monday, 3 September 2007 11:30:55 AM
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Yes the last gasp of the religous will be painful for all of us. I always laugh when I hear talk of the christian lobby it almost always get's follwed by christian ethics. As any observer of US will see we don't want their type of christain lobby. It does seem to me though that is the only type you can have these things always turn into hatefests. Christaity is as relevant today as dream time stories.
Posted by Kenny, Monday, 3 September 2007 12:11:10 PM
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Rev. Benson: "What is, I think, beyond question is that Christian views, and Christian voters, are being taken seriously by politicians, political parties and the media in Australia."

I think Benson's quite correct here, except I don't see this decline in public rationality as any cause for celebration. As I've said previously in this forum, it's not Islam that is a problem for Australian society. Rather, it's the advent of a well-connected, cashed-up and professional fundamentalist Christian political lobby that seeks to try and impose its very narrow worldview on the rest of us.

It's no coincidence that politically active Christians tend to be xenophobic, Islamophobic, conservative, paternalistic, misogynist, homophobic, wowserish and warlike. For evidence, just read their comments, with which this forum is littered, for numerous examples of every kind of prejudice expressed by self-professed Christians.

Imagine a society where such views are taken seriously. Scary stuff indeed.
Posted by CJ Morgan, Monday, 3 September 2007 12:32:37 PM
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