Faith and Politics

The call to amend the Marriage Act to allow gay marriage in Australia is yet another politically stupid move by the ALP - and yet another betrayal of the Christian community.

Editorial Comment

Regardless of one's opinions on climate change, regardless of one's opinions on whether a policy of a carbon tax is a good idea, and regardless of whether or not you believe this policy will deliver beneficial environmental and economic outcomes or not, there is one thing about this policy that the Australian Federal Government is pushing on the Australian people that should concern us all: It shows utter contempt for democratic process.

The defacto-Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, did not get a majority vote from the Australian people at the last election. Not only did she seize power from popularly elected [Christian] Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd in his first term of office, Julia Gillard then went to the Australian people at the last election promising emphatically and categorically that under a government led by her there would not be a carbon tax. We believe that the office of Prime Minister of Australia calls for a higher standard of integrity than this.

The whole problem with the notion of a 'just war' is that even if leaders do have noble intentions (which in most cases they do not) or worthy political objectives (which in most cases they do not), wars invariably kill innocent people. And very few human beings, no matter how just or noble they may be at the beginning of a conflict, are able to maintain a clear moral compass in a climate of intense fear with death all around them.

In every generation, the church is faced with a certain test-case, a certain issue which is the clearest barometer of the conviction and biblical commitment of the people of God. The church in Germany, for example, faced this sort of question with the rise of Hitler in the 1930s. Today, the church faces a secular regime of unrestrained moral revisionism, especially on the issue of homosexuality.

I am ashamed to say that have spent much of my adult life in mild political apathy. But the invasion of Iraq and what we were being told about it jolted me in a way that I never expected. I realised that I didn't want to live in a world where our leaders could tell us lies and then send our sons and daughters to some far off land to serve as canon fodder for an unjust cause. I didn't want to be part of a country where our armed services would use high-tech weapons to drop bombs from high altitude on defenceless civilians below while our TVs showed us carefully selected footage of laser guided bombs blowing up "strategic" targets. Something was happening to me. I was beginning to care about politics.

Last week Pope Benedict travelled to the Fatima shrine to worship, drawing 500,000 followers with him to the spot where the Virgin Mary allegedly gave visions and prophecies to three Portuguese children. This week Portugal ignored Pope Benedict XVI's pleas and legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the sixth European nation to do so. The Pope had criticized both gay marriage and abortion as "insidious and dangerous threats to the common good". Whether people adore or ignore the Pope, he holds a powerful position in the world. Who is the man under the Triregnum, this man who influences so many millions of people?

Converts from Islam to Christianity are increasingly concerned about a number of reports in recent months which have cited astounding statistics on conversion. It is true – and a matter for thankfulness to God – that more Muslims are now coming to Christ than at any other time in history. However, they are not converting on the vast scale alleged in some reports. These false reports, often initiated by non-Christians and then circulated by Christians, are a matter of grave concern, not just for those who love truth and accuracy, but also for the many individuals whose lives are being endangered by the publicity given to the exaggerated figures.