On
the Other Hand, Maybe I should qualify that !
I've
just been reading Justin Welby's (Archbishop of Canterbury and whilst
not the
head,
definitely a leading
light
in the worldwide Anglican Church) address to the English Anglican
general synod. The link is
Reading
his speech I really thank God that he has got Justin to be in that
leading position. However one cultural
difference
struck me.
His
English background is one where the “Church of England” was very
closely linked to the government of England. Even in the olden days
when Kings of England ruled without a parliament the church wielded a
great deal of power. So the idea of the Anglican Church through its
committees or bishops directly influencing government policy is part
of their inherited culture.
As
an Australian born and bred (my
forebears came here in the early 1800's – some as free settlers,
some in chains as convicts {one
stole a sheep!}) I have a different cultural inheritance. From its
inception as a colony, Australians refused to have any “established
church”. This was to be a free country where no denominational
church had the government in its pocket (or vice versa!). Well that
was the stated intent. In practice human nature being what it is
there has been “argy-bargy” and horse trading between government
and denominations.
In
Australia today there is a paradoxical situation. Denominational
leaders do try to push their own political views – which
are not necessarily those of their
adherents,
or particularly “Christian”). Often
they
try to tell the people who really have been elected to run the
country how they should do their job. (which in my previous post I
said was not
how I thought churches should act).
On
the other side we have very vocal groups who oppose Christianity and
everything it stands for. They push the idea that “separation of
church and state” means
that people who hold Christian beliefs should be gagged and not
allowed to make public comments or if elected to parliament not
allowed to let their Christian faith influence how they run the
country. This is an even worse situation!
My
arguments leading up to this point have been aimed at this false
secularism
ideology.
This is the ideology which has been infiltrating the western world.
I suppose its effect is strongest in Europe – especially the
“Eurozone”. Closely followed by England. Australia seems to be
about 40years behind England in this influence.
I
am not supporting an “established church” as a political power.
Historically that has worked out very badly. I am not advocating the
sort of regimes we see now being
imposed by Islamists with their draconian “Sharia Law”. The
military intervention we have seen this week in Egypt with the army
deposing a “Muslim Brotherhood” president who was not ruling in
the best interests of the majority Egyptians, has
shown
that even Muslims do not necessarily want this sort of state.
So
I had better spend the next few posts examining what I do want to
propose as a model for Christian ethics in a modern democracy.
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