The remarkable victory of Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party in the 2007 Federal Election brings to an end 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard. Much of the Howard government’s rhetoric revolved around claims of growth and national prosperity. But for many Australians there was a sense of unease during the Howard years with its singular emphasis on economic expansion and rampant consumerism which somehow failed to acknowledge our need for humanity and compassion in government.

We have published an article that explores the role and effectiveness of the Christian Right in lobbying for its political agenda, and the failure of Christian parties to make any significant inroads with the Australian electorate.

Read the full article: Righteous Indignity: Musings on The Christian Right and the 2007 Election

Filed in: Christian Right, Family Values, Politics

You might like to know some more about the people who support Bill Muehlenberg on his CultureWatch site, and even occasionally perform the difficult feat of outflanking him on the right.

I won’t bother for the moment with Jonathan Sarfati and Tas Walker, both of whom are senior staffers at Creation Ministries International (CMI), Australia’s leading Young Earth Creationist (YEC) group. Brief (and glowing) biographies are available for both of these gentlemen at the CMI site. Muehlenberg is uncharacteristically coy when it comes to defining his own position on creationism (YEC, Old Earth Creationist, Intelligent Design supporter etc.), but YECs like Sarfati and Walker are among his favourite people.

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Filed in: Abortion, People, Politics

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.

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

Melbourne City Council is considering the introduction of a same-sex ‘Relationships Declaration Register‘, a move that has shocked and appalled the egregious Salt Shakers ‘Christian ethics’ group. Leaders Peter and Jenny Stokes turned up at a recent council meeting at which this idea was discussed. No other Salt Shaker bothered to do so, thus setting the scene for one of Peter’s legendary dummy-spits:

Who cares that I can’t sleep?

Who cares that Jenny and I were OUTNUMBERED 12, maybe 15 to 1 tonight at the Melbourne City Council meeting? And it was not pleasant!!!

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Filed in: Politics, Sexuality

Margaret Tighe’s Right to Life Australia (RTLA) is still practising ‘punishment politics’. Aspiring politicians can have conservative views on just about every topic under the sun, but if they’re a shade wobbly on ‘life’ issues, there’s a good chance that RTLA will mount a campaign against them.

Here’s an example of their work, taken from the November 2006 Victorian state election:

In Kilsyth the local Member was Dymphna Beard from the [Australian Labor Party]. Dymphna’s membership on [pro-choice] Emily’s List and her vote in favour of destructive embryo research made it important for us to defeat her candidacy. She is no longer a Member of Parliament.

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Filed in: Abortion, Christian Right, Politics

Christian Right groups throughout Australia are usually very vocal about anything concerning the overlap between religion and politics. Abortion, therapeutic cloning, IVF, homosexual rights, censorship, euthanasia - you name it, they’re all over it.

So why are they all so quiet about recent revelations - Separate Lives, ABC Four Corners, 25 Sep 2006 - involving the Exclusive Brethren (EB)? I mean, here you have this nice, quiet Christian church, very ‘pro-family values’, anti-abortion (even anti-contraception!), outspokenly opposed to queer rights, perhaps just a little weak on the grog question, but running a beaut patriarchal show and being appallingly persecuted by those awful pagan Greens.

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Filed in: Christian Right, Politics

A group of conservative Christian bodies has just formed an umbrella organisation aimed at defeating the proposed decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria. Abortion law reform will probably become a public issue no matter who wins the November 25 state election.

The new body is called CADOA - the Coalition Against Decriminalisation of Abortion - and is comprised of all the usual suspects plus some (mainly Pentecostal) hangers-on. Salt Shakers are giving CADOA a bit of a push, not to mention the Australian Christian Lobby, the Australian Family Association, Babette Francis’s Endeavour Forum, the Fatherhood Foundation and the hoary old Right to Life Association.

It’s always worth keeping an eye on these ad hoc lobbies but you won’t get too depressed if you remember two things. First, most of them sink without trace. And second, one of the biggest ’silent’ political movements in this country is the pro-choice lobby - normally almost invisible, but when its interests are seriously threatened, watch out!

Filed in: Abortion, Politics

Good Report, an evangelical periodical edited by Christian Democratic Party personality Janne Peterson, is the latest magazine to nail its theocratic colours to the mast. For a start, legitimate Members of Parliament must be conservative Christians:

… [T]he Bible makes it clear that Government ministers are supposed to be God’s ministers and not Satan’s ministers, like Adolf Hitler for example was. Nor atheists or sodomites, as some of the MPs who currently hold seats in Parliament are. Unless a candidate for Parliament is a just, God-fearing man [sic], he is not qualified to rule. His job is to govern according to God’s law and His commandments.

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Filed in: Politics, Theocracy

Lots of cracks are now appearing in the reputedly monolithic Christian right facade. Already squabbling with the Australian Christian Lobby over gay and lesbian issues, Peter and Jenny Stokes’ ‘Salt Shakers’ group is now having a go at backsliding mega-churches, Baptists and sympathetic National Party Senator Barnaby Joyce.

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Filed in: Pentecostalism, Politics, Sexuality

I see that the WA National Party state conference recently voted to support legally recognised unions of same-sex couples. The party will be taking this policy to the next state election.

Young Nationals WA president Darren Moir said that the party was not made up of radicals: ‘It was the right thing to do.’ Moir noted that one of the party’s 84-year-old stalwarts had been all in favour of the motion, saying that ‘homosexuality was natural and people were born with it and we should get over it’.

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Filed in: Politics, Sexuality