Could it be that moderate Coalition MPs are finally starting to see the Christian Right for what it is? The RU 486 ‘abortion pill’ vote earlier this year stripped conservative Catholic Health Minister Tony Abbott of his power to keep the drug out of Australia. Now Prime Minister John Howard has decided to allow a conscience vote on therapeutic cloning in the teeth of opposition from evangelical Protestants like Tasmanian Senator Guy Barnett.

When dealing with groups such as the National Civic Council’s ‘Australian Family Association’ and Brigadier Jim Wallace’s Australian Christian Lobby, MPs should just remember a few important points.

Firstly, these are pressure groups, plain and simple. They exaggerate, they prevaricate, they overestimate their public support, they make threats they can’t fulfil and given half a chance they make deals. (Groups that won’t compromise get nowhere in Canberra.)

Secondly, parliamentarians should always check these groups’ claims against reputable public opinion polls. If anyone walks into your office and says, ‘public opinion is swinging heavily against abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and euthanasia’ and then pulls out their own ’special figures’, show ‘em the door.

Thirdly, it follows that on all of these social issues and many more like them such as censorship, politicians who support Christian right positions stand to lose more votes than they gain. Ultimately the public is swayed more by common sense than by ideology and too many pollies forget this.

Religious right groups are no more ‘moral’, insightful or intrinsically virtuous than other pressure groups. And, Coalition MPs, if some good Christian tells you that because of your unsound views on abortion, all the religious people in your electorate will now start voting Labor, just laugh in his face. You have nothing to worry about.

Filed in: Abortion, Christian Right, Politics, Stem Cell Research