Australia used to be, for the period of my youth, a secular society. Sure, everyone made the CoE noises, except for the few non-Christians (mostly Jews) who found their way into public office, but basically, the place of religion was defined by the nasty role of Catholic "intellectuals" who tried to force Australian mores into their own mold back in the 1930s through to the 1950s. We learned our lesson, I believed. Not any more.
Beginning with the present government (conservative, oddly known as the Liberal Party), and the past leader of the opposition (social democrat, oddly known as Labor), both sides have been asserting their religious credentials. Recently the Catholic minister for health, Tony Abbott, tried to enforce Catholic doctrine on abortion onto the public polity. To the credit of the Parliament, this was trounced by a member's bill restoring the regulation of abortifacient drugs to the relevant committees of experts.
But now we have another step backwards - a holier-than-thou pissing contest between Abbott and the new leader of the opposition, Kevin Rudd. Rudd said in a recent speech that Christians should vote Labor, and Abbott - without the slightest trace of irony - denounced him as using religion for political purposes.
When will the pollies get the message - government has nothing to do with people's choice of religion, and vice versa? This is, by our constitution, a secular society, in which religious faith has no role to play in political institutions. Read the frigging document, you morons. Work on the problems without letting your own beliefs set the agenda. This is a democracy. Act like it is.
Stumble It!
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