A reply to Rod Benson's address to the CDP

The Reverend Rod Benson, ethicist and public theologian, of the Morling Baptist College addressed the NSW Christian Democratic Party on Saturday, 11 August 2012. Benson addressed issues like Australia’s Christian heritage and Christians be involvement in politics. Also, Benson stated that “the Christian Democratic Party can … have significant positive influence on the policy direction and moral outlook of a community.” In this it has failed! Let us address that issue last.

Christian Involvement

Benson is right! A Christian can be called to be involved in politics. Christians might not be of this world but God has put us in this world to serve. Politics is one of the ways in which a Christian is called to serve. But the Christian involved needs to remember two important points. The first is that there are no professional politicians or policy advisors. It is that some get paid and others don’t. Some have academic qualifications and others don’t. Their insights are equally valid until proven otherwise.

The other, ethics matter in all policy areas. I never have forgotten Kevin Andrews, a Christian, a prominent member of the ‘Lyons Forum’ and in 2005, the Howard Liberal governments Minister for Industrial Relations statement at the beginning Work Choices debate. He said, “an emphasis on fairness only leads to regulatory excess and inefficiency’. For a Christian, fairness (or social justice) is the ends, not economic efficiency or the cutting of red tape.

Australia’s Christian Heritage

Yes, Benson is right in saying Australia has a Christian foundation, something denied by some historians. For years, when Australia tells it story it is, among other things, anti-religious. Depictions of Christians or Christian institutions have been negative while there positive aspects have either been ignored or downplayed.  An example of the churches relationship with aboriginals in which mistreatment and paternalism have been stressed but the not the Christian role in Aboriginal survival, advocacy and empowerment.

But that Christian foundation was not about the creation of an antipodean Christendom. Most Christian’s involvement in the formation of Australian democracy strove to create a secular democracy, not a ‘Christian nation’. They attempted to find those things that God has disclosed to all (Romans 1:19) and then make them the basis of an Australian law. The Americans pioneered this approach and the European has followed. Benson makes the mistake of thinking secular means anti-religious, not just the rejection of any religious test.

The Christian Democratic Party

However, Benson is wrong in assuming that the Christian Democratic Party has the potential to be a force for good. The CDP has a racist conservative political ideology, not a Christian one. The truth in that charge is shown by the 2009 expulsion of Gordon Moyes . Moyes is a former pastor of Sydney's Wesley Mission. His expulsion occurred after he complained that the party needed to stop being anti-Muslim. Like the Crusaders of old, CDP has laid siege to Muslim immigration and Islamic schools. This was strange because the Islamic community could be a source of support for the CDP. Muslims do not trust anything ‘secular’. If they can afford to, Muslims prefer sending their children to Christian schools, rather than secular state schools. They might prefer to support a Christian political party as oppose to the secular main stream parties.

Moyes other criticism of the CDP was that it has no positive policies. Moyes argued that the CDP was known for being anti-homosexual and anti-abortion. Don't get Myes wrong. He was likand, I believe, still is anti-homosexual and anti-abortion. Yet like me, he could not name a positive policy position the CDP has taken. It had even fail to take what it is passionate about and promote positive policy outcomes. I have always wondered how one can oppose abortion without advocating policies to help the offspring and their families. Yet, at each election the CDP seems to be stone cold silent on ensuring single mothers have adequate income support, teenage mums have equitable access to education, access for all to affordable child care and greater parental support in the community. I have never heard the CDP candidates being passionate about these or any costing of them.

Benson takes a swipe at people like me who object to the word ‘Christian’ in the title of groups like the CDP and the Australian Christian Lobby. He says, “Neither the CDP nor the ACL, nor other groups like them, have ever (to my knowledge) suggested that they speak for the whole Christian constituency.” One contradiction springs to mind but involving the ACL, not the CDP. In 2005 and 2006, during the debate over the ACT’s Civil Marriage Bill 2006, the ACL attempted to speak for ‘a majority of Christians’ but not all Christian groups approved. In keeping their coalition together, the ACL needed to ‘compromise’ its anti-homosexual stance. This got them in trouble with groups like Melbourne’s ‘Saltshakers’ and Perth’s ‘Life Ministries’. David Palmer of Victorian Presbyterian ‘Church and Nation’ committee wrote a good summary of the argument.

But the greater problem is that groups like the ACL and the CDP is the use of the word ‘Christian’ in their titles. In spite of Benson’s assertions, this is an attempt to alienate from the faith all those who reject the CDP’s racist conservatism. Their re-badgine of the CDP into "Australian Christians" has made it worst. I am one of those who say they don’t speak for me! It is un-Christian to promote hatred against Muslims, gays, lesbians and transsexuals. It is unbiblical to deny women the right to reproductive justice, including access to safe and affordable abortions. It is simply stupid to promote celibacy before marriage and fidelity during marriage – it never has worked! The rest of the CDP policies have nothing to do with Christianity but have to do with a racist conservative political agenda being read as the Christian political philosophy.

The Truly Christian Political Party

So what is the most Christian political party? My views are already on the public record. During the 2005 Western Australian State election, I stood for the Greens in Ballajura. The endorsing body asked me to stress my faith, so I wrote my introduction. Benson and the CDP might not like it but I still say the Greens are the closest thing to a Christian party in Australia. I put my money and my vote where my mouth is!

Russell Blackford's Secularist Religion

This took me all afternoon to write.  On ABC religion site you will find Australian atheist Russell Blackford's "Why the secular state has no moral mandate".  American political theologian William Cavanaugh answered a major justification of Blackford's argument with "The 'Wars of Religion' and other fairy tales".  This generated a reply from Blackford called "Don't mention the war! A response to Cavanaugh".  This is an intervention on Blackford's second contribution.  My perception was that Blackford was attempting to build an argument for the exclusion of religous arguments from modern political debate.  Further, I think Cavanaugh had nailed the problems with Blackford's argument.  (Note I have edited it)

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Russell, I cannot agree that the William Cavanaugh in “The “Wars of Religions” and other fairy tales” got you wrong.  You have over simply history while Cavanaugh historiography is subtle and well argued. You want to establishment of a religion or world view for the modern Australia and need to a myth to justify this new religion.  You falsely call that 'religion 'secularism'.  Its doctrine is to exclude other religious reasoning from the public debate, there by establishing a religious test and, hence, destroying secularism!

True secularism lacks a religious or world view test for citizenship, pubic office or public debate.

You base your ideology on the myth that there were wars of religion.  You use two devises.  The first is repetition. In your opening paragraph of “Why the secular state has no moral mandate” you repeat the idea of religious wars three times.  Cavanaugh replies that prior to 1700 the distinctions between religion, state, political philosophy, society and so on did not exist.  He names a number of political alliances between those of different religious views.  He point to his own and others work to reinforce his argument.  Cavanaugh then concludes, “If "religion" cannot be separated out as the cause of these wars, then the idea that peace was made by the secular state setting religion aside into a private realm becomes suspect.”

That brings us to your other devise, you ignore the historical context.  The first is the use of the term ‘religion’.  You use it in a modern sense.  As mention above, that sense of the term did not exist prior to 1700.  The other is your comments of Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689). Even though I have never read the essay, I feel I have a better understanding of Locke’s discrimination against Catholicism than you.  It appears to us moderns as that era's confusion between religion and politics.  About the same time, Britain excluded Catholics from the throne.  Thank you, Guy Fawkes!

Your real objection seems to be the use of theological reasoning in modern political discourse.  You over simply ‘political’ theology and ignore it depth.  Cavanaugh reflects my frustration with atheists’ pretence of neutrality.  Like the communists of old, they claim to have a scientific reasoning on their side, ignoring all the assumptions they take for granted.  There is none of the humility of political theology.  A great example is the recent address to the German Parliament by Pope Benedict XVI.  He claimed that the modern basis of the law came from the Romans and the Greeks, a point on which I agree.  Christian ethics is never complete; it simply has a vision for humanity. 

At the same time, in the period we have been discussing and without the language, Christians made the first pleas for religious freedom, established the first governments without religious tests and, hence, invented secularism.  This Christian, with my meagre intellectual resources, will defend secularism against anyone, like yourself, who wishes to pervert it and make it a religious test!

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Please, tell me if I have nailed it.

What Leadership Challenge?

The mother of all beef ups is the continual sager of Kevin Rudd challenging Julia Gillard for the ALP leadership.  They never materialise for one simple reason, they do not exist!  For over a year, both the conservative crossbenchers supporting the government, Tony Windsor, member for New England, and Rod Oakeshott, member for Lyne, have said that the if Labor changes its leader they will withdraw their support for the government.  In other words, a change in Labor’s leader will cause a snap election!  Something Windsor pointed out on the 7:30 Report (Monday, 5 February 2012).

The continual speculation about the federal Labor leadership comes from the anti-Labor right.  They are the only beneficiaries.  The right needs a government in crisis, not the government that steered us through the Global Financial Crisis and definately not a government attempting to build a more socially just Australia.  Their allies are jaded journalists who fear missing the next Labor leadership change.  They forget that most of the ALP caucus missed it too.  However, given the chance, the ALP members voted Rudd out.

So ABC has stopped talking about policy and focusing on political tactics.  Last Sunday (5 Feb 2012), I wasted my time in watching the Insiders.  Barry Cassidy had one thing on his mind – ALP leadership speculation.   He wasted an entire interview on with Australia’s Treasurer, Wayne Swan. Cassidy tried to manoeuvre Swan to either criticise Rudd or speculate about the fictitious leadership challenge.  Cassidy got angry when Swan refused to play ball.

Like Peter Lewis on the broadcast version of The Drum (Monday 6 Feb 2012), I can find no reference to any internal ALP source for any leadership challenge to Julia Gillard’s federal Labor leadership.  The supposed challenger, Kevin Rudd, denied there was any challenge.  Other ministers and member of the ALP caucus are saying they are not being sounded out about any challenge.  The key crossbencher Tony Winsor, on whose vote the Government requires, even does not think there is a challenge.

The only one to offer any source is the young Turk, Tim Wilson from the extremist right wing Institute of Public Affair.  In reply to Peter Lewis on The Drum, Wilson said that Tony Winsor had said that he had been approached.  The implication was recently approached.  Yet on 7:30Report (Monday, 6 February 2012) interview Tony Winsor said he had been approached about twelve month ago, hardly current for any recent leadership speculation. 

It is about time the media start reporting policy not political tactics.  We can start having a debate about Tony Abbott address to the National Press Club or Julia Gillard address to theAustralia -Israeli Chamber of Commerce.  There is a debate about what constitutes fairness in the Australian workplaces between employer groups and unions now.  There is little to no mention of this in the press.  No one is holding the right to account for is definition of workplace flexibility which is always preceded by complaints about overpriced workers in Australia.  Listen to Prue Goward on The Drum on Thursday, 2 February 2012 or Joe Hockey and Judith Sloan on Q&A onMonday, 5 February 2012.  Let face it, the political right does not want a social just Australia!  Above all, the right don’t want a debate about policy but political tactics! 

Ben Eltham suffered the same Insiders I did and picked out the right’s confirmation of this policy free zone.  Quoting the transcript Eltham reports:-

"Is there a point," Barrie Cassidy asked, "at which journalists will say to Rudd supporters, who have been on the phone the whole time, 'You've been banging on about this for almost a year, it's time to put up or shut up, we'll just stop listening'?"

"No," replied Nikki Savva, "These stories are too intriguing."

To right Nikki, why talk about policy?


PS I am willing to bet that there will be no challenge to Julia Gillard before the next federal election.  Say $10

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Being Puritanical about Porn is NOT Christian!

This is a comment I place on two opinion pieces of the ABC Religion and Ethics site. One is “Reasons to be weary of anti-porn zealots” by Jennifer Wilson. The other is Gail Dines’ “Exposing the myth of free porn”. I think I was too personal in my comments but I stand by the points made. I once agreed with Gail Dines but now I cannot!

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From the condemnation of Tamar (Genesis 38) to the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53 - :11) puritanical thought has appeared to be proper but really was totally oppressive. 

Most pornography is the objectification of a person, mainly women. They become objects of lust, not human beings. Yes, I must confess that I have used porn and have objectified women. It is this objectification of another that is the problem – not the graphic sex acting in a pornographic film. We might not like it, but pornography is just an art form that titillates.

Gail Dines seems to miss this point. She confuses the art with the sin. I have not used porn and objectified women also – however I have never been able to wolf whistle. I have also watched a ‘naughty’ film with my then girlfriend and had a very memorable night. Further, that film genre that was mentioned in the article. We loved playing it out but would be horrified if anyone did it for real! I would not say we were engaged in objectification but mutual exploration of the darker side of our humanity is a safe and trusted environment.

Trying to play the socialist moral card by pointing to the increasing porn industry corporatization simply does not work either. So how is the porn industry different from any other industry in the Western capitalist world? Our economies are now characterised by big corporate oligarchies with small players struggling for air.

The porn industry has engaged in a marketing strategy that has been forced on them. Can you imagine the music or film industry creating free film and music sites? No, both industries have fought what they have labelled piracy. Both industries have lobbied governments to make internet service providers responsible for what their customers download. Why? Because their products are freely available in shops and cinemas. The same is not true of the porn art form. To get around excessive censorship, ‘free’ porn sites have been created so that customers can sample the material for sale. In the past, we have prevented people from going to the cinema or buying a video (in its various historical forms). We have restricted the genres so that we could protect our children. Now, our children just need to fire up a computer.

Yes, pornography harms both men and women. We see it as naughty. So does driving cars or eating fast food which we don’t see as naughty. We need to stop being so puritanical about it. We need to stop threatening Tamar and the woman could in adultery with stoning.
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Occupy for what?

The re-emergence of a left wing movement is something to be celebrated.  I have celebrated the Occupy Wall Street and its various children throughout the world.  However, I have one problem with it.  It is a protest against greed.  It joins a host of conservative organisations like the capitalist regulator like the ACCC, capitalist like Warren Buffet conservative politician like Tony Abbott and social conservative institutions like the Catholic Church are against greed.  Being against greed is a lot like being in favour of motherhood.

At present I have not participate in them due to work.  However, I crave one that actually has an objective.  The left does not need an ideal or another story, it needs something concrete.  One example in Australia is to counter the mining industry’s campaign against the original mining tax or one for a progressive taxation scheme instead of the calls to raise the GST rate.  That way we can fight greed and have an impact on something other than demonstrating liberal democracy’s hatred of politics.

Dawkins, Polkinghorne and the Templeton Prize

Dawkins criticises an unnamed Cambridge geologist who is “well advanced along the Faustian road to a future Templeton Prize”.[1]  Earlier he asserted “Templeton’s money corrupts science”[2].  For those who have never heard of the Templeton Prize, it was established by Sir John Templeton (1912-2008) in 1972.  It is awarded to the person who most advances the spiritual incite of humanity.  It is often given to a scientist who has promoted the understanding between the sciences and religion.  Currently the prize is worth one million pounds sterling.  Dawkins implies that winner of the Templeton Prize like the Rev John Polkinghorne made the Faustian deal with religion.  Polkinghorne was a committed Christian in both the 1950s and 60s, years before the inaugural Templeton Prize.  He justly won it in 2002.

Like Polkinghorne, I have travelled that Faustian road willingly.  Like Faust, I gave my life.  Unlike Faust, I did not make my deal with the devil and have gained nothing worldly.  Unlike Polkinghorne, I have done nothing to deserve to win the Templeton Prize.

I would like to remind my friends that the 2012 TempletonPrize nominations close on 3 October 2011. God knows I need the moeny!

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[1] Dawkins, Richard, The God Delusion (London: Bantam, 2006), p.156.

[2] Dawkins, 2006, p.153.

An Example of Secterian Secularism

This is a reply to Simon Longstaff's "Objections of Fred Nile to ethics classes are baseless" posted on the ABC Religion and Ethics website.

I have two problems with providing special ethics education as alternative to special religious education.

Firstly, why should religious children be deprived of an ethics education so that they can be educated about their faith?  Ethics should be in the curriculum and taught to all students, not only those who will not be involved in special religious education.  Grandad’s comment (21 July, 9:10:36 am) informs us that this is the position of the Churches in NSW.

Second, there seems to be two different forms of secularism.  One of those forms derives from a Christian tradition, namely Baptists.  Baptist preacher Roger Williams help found Rhode Island, the first administrative area without any religious test.  This secularism is now accepted by most Christians.  It basis comes from Queen Elizabeth I’s desire not to see into a person’s heart.  It is their behaviour and actions a state should judge.

The other form of secularism could be called sectarian secularism.  This form of secularism wants religious thought excluded from the public debate.  It promotes an anti-religious view of life.  Any contact with religion is seen as brainwashing.  Or a regression to some more primitive form of thought.  This is the use of secularism to promote some form of atheism or agnosticism.  It wants to dictate what is in a person’s heart.

Simon Longstaff’s article takes the form of many of the more recent contributions of the sectarian secularist.  He takes a bovver boy of Christian thought, like Fred Nile, and pretends that he represents the entire religion.  Many seem not to understand that the majority of Church going Christians do not and have never voted for the Christian Democrats.  Nile’s objection that special ethics education should not be scheduled at the same time as special religious education does not go as far as the NSW Churches objection, but fits into that criticism.

Unfortunately, I have not seen the curriculum of the NSW special ethics classes.  Does it pretend that common sense is the basis of ethics?  Does it address issue of where our understanding of ethics comes from?  Many thoughtful academics argue that ethics has a religious origin while other equally thoughtful ones disagree.  Are the students being exposed to that debate and allowed to make up their own minds?

Finally, it is not for the state to organise alternatives to religious education.  If someone wants to organise special atheism or agnosticism classes, that is fine.  However, ethics is a subject that should be compulsory to all students, not only in New South Wales but also my own state of Western Australia.  If parents do not want their student subject to special religious education then they will suffer the consequences.