Influence of Church and State

Bulletin 2005-10

In his address to Catch the Fire Ministries on the Australian National Day of Thanksgiving, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson gave thanks for Christian Hope. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

"We need government but we need more than government, we want it to be good government. History is replete with examples of bad governments, of bad leaders and the evidence that countries or societies with bad governments...

We should give thanks to our forebears who with clear Christian conscience sought these freedoms for us often at terrible costs to themselves. 200 years ago our forebears were keeping slaves. Worst than that, they were capturing slaves and trading them around the world. And it was Christian conscience, spearheaded by William Wilberforce ... He’d been a slave trader... Wilberforce never left the back bench but he was converted. He became a believer and he thought ‘Parliament is no place for me’... he was about to leave but he felt drawn to talk to Jon Newton. He records in his diary that he crept down there under cover of night hoping that no one would see him go and talk to this old evangelical - but he did. And as he talked to Jon Newton he became convinced that he ought to pick up on Jon Newton’s repudiation of the evil of slavery which he himself had been engaged in - and the rest is history. First the slave trade, then slavery - abolished by William Wilberforce heading up a clear crusade that changed the world and backed by many believing Christians who did not give up until that social revolution had been completed.

Lord Shaftsbury was another man of clear Christian conviction and conscience, who recognized that it was inherently wrong to send the children of the poor down mines when they were eight or nine years old and make them work there 12, 13 or 14 hours a day and started that whole social revolution that ensured a decent equality for all. It was all a product of Christian conscience in our culture. And we should be deeply thankful for it and we should not ever let go of their heritage and their memory or their example, let alone the things they gave us.

But let me come to my second point - this conundrum between our capacity for good and our capacity for evil... how difficult it can be. Why is it difficult? What’s the problem? Why is it hard to secure and maintain good government and a fair, just and safe society? Why can we so clearly see the difference between good and bad - why when we can see it, is it so hard to secure and maintain the good? The Christian creed gives me an answer to a question that for me will not go away.

That solution, the Bible tells us, is Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that, for all of our desire to go our own way, God so loves us that He still chooses to personally engage with us if we are willing. He loves us, you and me individually, so much that He provides a way back. A narrow and winding path that not all will find - but which nonetheless is there. And that of course is found through Jesus Christ. We are told in Revelations 3 that Jesus Christ stands at the door of our hearts and knocks and we are told very clearly if we hear Him and if we open the door, He will come in. If we open the door He will come in. And Paul tells us in Romans that the blood of Christ on the Cross washes away our wrong doing and sets us free, if we will but believe, in fellowship with God. He will credit to us the punishment His Son bore in that awful death on the Cross even though He was innocent and we can go ‘scot’ free.

We have been forgiven, we are able to and must seek to forgive others.   Evil and strife and hunger and hatred can be overcome, can be conquered.  Our need, our craving to be loved and accepted without condition - and that is at the heart of every man’s and woman’s desire, no matter how lovely or unlovely we might be - can be met.  There is hope, there is hope, real hope now and in the future. Let us be truly thankful".

Click here for full transcript.

"If deputy Prime Minister John Anderson wants to identify himself with the congregation of the Catch the Fire Ministry - hands lifted high in the air, eyes closed in self-hypnotised rapture - that is his business, though it may not go down well with the majority of Australians who, if they have any religion, tend to wear it lightly.
 

"He has no business, however, urging the rest of us to "find a new relationship with God".

"While Anderson was preaching at Catch the Fire's national day of prayer and thanksgiving at the Southland Christian Centre recently, Labor's Kevin Rudd was addressing a similar service at the Church of Christ in Clayton...

"Since the existence of God cannot be proved, it is no more moral to believe than not to believe.

"These issues are complex and difficult and surrounded by many shades of grey. They do need to be debated, but politicians are wrong to bring their own religious beliefs into public discourse.

"The separation of church and state needs to be jealously guarded, and the Government should be very careful not to be seen to impose church teachings on the rest of the country. Apart from any other consideration, it is poor politics to risk alienating a third of the electorate".

Click here for the full transcript.

Editorial
Integration of God and State

Pamela starts her column with wry judgmental comment about a style of Christian worship that she describes as "self-hypnotised rapture". Let's pray for Pamela to come to the place where she too can worship God in Spirit and truth (John 4:23) with holy hands raised (1 Tim 2:8).

But let's go past this bit of provocative emotionalism about style and move on to her next piece of judmentalism: that John Anderson has no right to commend a new relationship with God. Here we have a paradoxical situation where a journalist in a free country argues against freedom of speech! Apparently it's OK for Pamela to parade her anti-Christian views in The Age, but not OK for John Anderson to express his rationale for faith in a talk during a church service?

Pamela then defends her argument on the grounds that she and 30% of the population (her figure) have not yet come to a knowledge of God! What breathtaking presumption to state that the 30% of the population who are in a state of spiritual uncertainty can dictate to the other 70% what they can and cannot discuss in public!

In his talk John Anderson gave good account of how William Wilberforce and Lord Shaftsbury brought their Christian convictions into the British Parliament for the common good... yet Pamela states: "politicians are wrong to bring their own religious beliefs into public discourse". How can a politician serve the public honestly without being true to their deepest motivation? How else do people know where they are coming from? This doesn't mean people have to vote for Christian politicians, but it is important that they have some understanding of their motivation.

Finally Pamela argues the separation of Church and State card. As Christians we welcome the separation of religions institutions from the State... to both protect the church from the corrupting forces of power, and to place the church in a position where it can challenge the culture. Pamela correctly states that the Church has no governing powers in this democracy outside of its own institutions. However, there is NO separation of God and State. Jesus Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings:

"Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him" (Col 1:16).

 

"Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power" (Rom 13:1).

You cannot win at cricket on the back foot. Good on you John Anderson and the other Christian politicians who are out there on the front foot for Christ. They are modelling courage and conviction where God has placed them. Come on Christians, let's go forward without fear or favour and pray for the Pamela Bones we encounter along the way.

Peter Kentley
23 May 2005.