An ‘Australian Christian Values Checklist‘ has been published by a number of Religious Right groups in order to assist prospective voters at the NSW state election to be held on 24 March 2007.

The introduction to this checklist claims that:

In the 2001 census, 68% [of] Australians identified themselves as Christians. This summary of the positions of major parties on issues of concern to Christians is provided as a service to the Christian community.

This statement disingenuously implies that 68% of Australians support an extensive Religious Right political program involving, for example, a crackdown on abortion, prohibition of embryonic stem-cell research and voluntary euthanasia, and the introduction of a draconian censorship system. As you can see, the only parties who allegedly support a majority of these positions are the National Party (by a whisker) and Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, which promotes all 27 listed policies.

We should pay special attention to the small print below the checklist. This tells us that the list was published on 27 February 2007 by the Australian Christian Values Institute in association with Salt Shakers and several other organisations. Of these groups, the National Alliance of Christian Leaders, Catch the Fire Ministries, Life Ministries WA and the Australian Federation for the Family (as well as Salt Shakers) are summarised in the ‘Religious Right Groups‘ page on this site.

The remaining bodies are CultureWatch, which is Bill Muehlenberg’s website; the Australian Indigenous Prayer Network, closely associated with the (ultra-Pentecostal) Australian Prayer Network; the National Marriage Coalition, a consortium of the Australian Christian Lobby, the Australian Family Association and the Fatherhood Foundation (all summarised on our ‘Religious Right Groups’ page) - in 2004, this body helped push through the federal anti-same-sex marriage legislation, and then became quiescent; and the Integrity Alliance, another consortium, the principal members of which are the Fatherhood Foundation and the Australian Family Association.

The checklist is authorised by Warwick Marsh of the Fatherhood Foundation, National Marriage Council and Integrity Alliance - and apparently of the Australian Christian Values Institute as well (which is based, like Warwick, in Wollongong NSW).

So I think what we have here is a handful of people claiming to represent the political interests and viewpoints of ‘Australian Christians’, who in turn are purported to constitute 68% of the Australian population. Those responsible for this arrant nonsense include Warwick Marsh, Peter and Jenny Stokes of Salt Shakers and perhaps two or three others. The main beneficiary of the checklist is clearly Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party, although the party’s name is conspicuously absent from the list of supporters.

It’s worth noting that the slightly more moderate Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) seems less than keen on this checklist and in fact disagrees with at least one of the positions stated there i.e. ‘10. Oppose civil unions and relationship registers for same-sex couples.’ While it strongly opposes same-sex civil unions, the ACL in fact favours the idea of Tasmanian-style relationship registers.

Filed in: Christian Right, Family Values, Politics, Stem Cell Research