On Thursday 9th August John Howard and Kevin Rudd will address "Christian Voters". What this means I'm honestly not really sure and I'm interested to see how each politician will tackle this. The night is being put on by The Australian Christian Lobby. I'm not exactly sure who they are or what they stand for. Their self descriptions are vague and talk about Xn values as if everybody knows exactly what that means and every Xn has exactly the same values. A little digging and their latest newsletter might give an idea of what some of their values are (once you take the "Xn Values" mask away). In the latest newsletter the issues they cover are the availability of pornography in the Northern Territory (implying this is the stand out problem facing the Indigenous communities), same sex adoption and the defence of "Catch the fire ministries" (whose write to free speech I'd defend but, certainly would not stand with them in what they do or say). Now I'm sure this emphasis on personal sexual ethics is hardly surprising it's important to note that Xn values is often code for this, and issue is that often people assume that all Xns see this as their primary concern.
At the heart of any Xn values surely has to be justice and mercy. Although he was renowned for hanging out with prostitutes Jesus does not attack or publicly condemn their sexual ethics. What Jesus says in Matthew 23:23-24 nicely sums up my thoughts about Xn values.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
When Jesus says justice and mercy I think he is quoting the famous passage from Micah 6:8.
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Much of Matthew 23 echoes Micah's attacks on the priests and law makers of his day. In Micah 6:8 faith is about walking humbly with God. It is not about making sure others abide by any personal values that might be a result of our faith.
My other concern is who are these Xns that Howard and Rudd are addressing?
Although the Australian Christian Lobby website boasts that 68% of people declared themselves as Xn on the 2001 census, I think that for most of these people this really just the church they want to have conduct their funeral.
Essentially this address seems to be pitched at fundamentalist Xns who make up a small percentage of the community. There seems to be an application of America politics and culture on to Australia. The Family First party received just 2% of the senate vote in only one state and only got into the senate because of major party preferences. I'd like to say I always vote below the line.
I am all for lobbying politicians about particular issues like the environment, refugees or third world debt. And like any issue these are not exclusively the domain of Xns. To speak of "Xn Values" seems like opportunistic power grabbing by a group of Christians. Strange for a group who's founder came not to be served but to serve.
Time to jump off the soap box for a while.
5 comments:
Greetings.
I think I will follow your blog for a while. You and I might have a lot in common.
My blog is: http://offramp.blog.com/
I'll subscribe to your feed and see what else you've got to share.
Trackback.
I do not necessarily agree with your have put this as, from a Christian perspective, as for that matter would I if I was an atheist. Their “faith” makes up a big part of who they are unless we explore this issue from their perspective how will we know who we are voting for.
The debate is open to the public in that I am sure churches will not kick any one who wants to view the debate out. Even if the debate was not completely open to the public like this I am sure members of the press are watching this and will give us a rundown tomorrow.
At least for Rudd this is not just simply a grab for power, he put his views forward previously on the debate about “church and state”. Kevin Anderson also spoke on this debate and it was really intersting.
Second thing is you wonder how many people are actually Christians well if there is only 2 % of the population this debate will not matter at all. For instance I am a Christian my self and would not vote for family first for biblical reasons some of which you have menchined.
Sorry on looking back I miss read abit what you said. If we hear christian leaders talk about their faith and what it means in politics perhaps we may begin to see the wolfs amongest the sheep. The ACL is a cross denomanational network of christians who lobby both sides of politics on a number of issues, including things like a stance against aspects of the Howard goverments IR laws. Though they often still take a conservative position I do not know if this is a good or bad thing.
Hi I just stumbled across your website. I found your comments interesting, especially your focus on things like not judging others. I do not wish to argue, but you quoted Matthew 23:23-24
"...justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel"
Perhaps Jesus did not publically condemn their ethics. Perhaps He quietly spoke to them (John 8:11). However, His ministry was to the Jews.
So many Christians get upset about other Christians pushing for 'traditional' sexual ethics (I am not talking just about homosexuality), and other Christians push against those who protest.
I feel sad reading your article, because as a sociologist, I study for a living the effects of this hyper-individualism promoted by so many Christians who seek to silence those who speak out for more conservative ethics. I can see your point also, but I would encourage you to think of the consequences of an even more individually focussed society. Martin Luther once called sin: the human focussed in on himself.
As for these Christians wanting to tell everyone what they should and should not do, have you thought that perhaps they are also trying to defend themselves?
People from many backgrounds are encouraged to do so, even though it may offend some; I fear that because Christianity had been the dominant moral discourse many years ago, people seek to shut down their voices now in favour of other minority groups. One cannot ensure fairness for one by shutting up the other.
Many fundamentalist Christians feel that they cannot escape the massively sexually-charged atmosphere of neo-American society, and they attempt to push against this; not all moves in society toward liberalism are teleographic.
It is sad that with so much injustice, pain, and destruction in society that Christians would focus on sexuality, but one could say the same for those homosexuals who ignore those issues to fight for their rights. Sometimes they need to protect themselves in the short term as well as work on long-term things. By protesting and urging more people to live 'morally' they may actually be providing a powerful and essential counterbalance to the more devious and infectious US-led disposable culture we live in.
As for justice and mercy, I completely agree with you. However, Jesus Himself taught that we cannot neglect the other sides of the law, justice and mercy: and we should allow these Christians the opportunity to call for what they percieve is justice: - they feel like they cannot escape from some of societies forces and they are deeply offended by this.
A lot of us more liberal Christians do not like to say this, but I am happy to admit it, as is Tom Wright: that sin does exist and we as Christians should not encourage sin amongst anyone; not that we should scream our morals down their throats, but we should speak up, that our walk with God might be humble, and our convictions real. I do believe that Jesus had a lot to say about sin, and so did His immediate followers (Matthew 1:21, John 8:34, Matthew 22:5-7).
In conclusion, I appreciate your blog, but I feel that in your eagerness to speak out against fundamentalism, you neglected their case and their cry. I feel sorry for these fundamentalists, even when they want to be heard, their own people reject and criticise them.
I feel that it is important for a government to encourage responsible sexuality (in whatever form), and to encourage society not to go down the road of sexual commodification, something I am sure God does not approve of. We cannot show the world a new way to be human if we keep our mouths shut, compromise at every turn, or get so mixed up in the postmodern fog that we become so frightened of having an opinion on anything but ourselves (that no-one agrees on) that our lights simply go out.
Good blog though. Thank-you
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