Coming Out of Australian Christian Politics

On the weekend I got an email from the Australian Christian Lobby. I get regular emails from them and other Christian political groups, telling me about the latest struggle in their fight against abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriage etc (I’ve never subscribed to their websites, yet somehow they seem to have obtained my email address, but that’s another story).
Topics like these used to be real areas of concern for me – and to a large extent they still are. But lately I’ve found myself getting increasingly irritated by these sorts of emails.
Its like abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage etc are the only topics of concern that they seem to have, and my problem is that this sort of focus is too narrow.
Don’t get me wrong, as a Christian I am against euthanasia and gay marriage, I think abortion is a tragedy.
But as a Christian I’m also just as concerned about Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. We’ve just had one of the harshest budgets handed down in many years, and I’m concerned about its implications for the poor, the disabled and the marginalised in our society. I’m concerned about a government that seems openly satisfied with lying its way into power and pushing a hard line agenda that seems to favour only a few. I think this government is behaving immorally in many ways, but here’s the thing…
Not once have I received anything from the ACL (or the Christian Democrats for that matter) that deals with these issues. I’m not saying that they have been silent, but I have never received any email articulating their stance on stuff like this. I’d really like them to be a lot more vocal on these issues. I think they would gain a lot of street cred and integrity if they were.
In his book, ‘God’s Politics’, American writer Jim Wallace made the statement ‘We are not single issue Christians.’ I think that pretty much sums up where I’m at right now. If following Jesus involves the whole of our lives – and I believe it does, then we can’t stay silent on some issues and be vocal on others. We have to apply the Christian viewpoint to all of life, not just the areas we like.
For my part I’m increasingly worried about the direction our federal government is taking, I think it’s dangerous and immoral. I also see it increasingly mirrored in state politics as well, in Queensland and my home state of WA. I think its time for Christians to speak up on areas of justice and poverty, as well as morality, and I think organisations like ACL and CDP need to be leading the charge.