The Palm Sunday rally and march in Canberra in support of asylum seekers and refugees made me reflect on the place of Christians in Australian society. It was a colourful occasion resplendent with many banners advertising the presence of groups, unions and political parties.
Among those that caught my eye especially were the Christian banners representing Baptists, the Uniting Church, Quakers and others, as well as several Catholic and Anglican parishes. It made me wonder how many Christians were among the crowd.
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The first speaker was John Falzon from the St Vincent de Paul Society and, when the march began, the lead marchers included Stephen Pickard and Pat Power, Anglican and Catholic bishops respectively, though not the current occupants of those roles in Canberra.
Those who identified with these banners did not represent all Canberra Christians but their substantial presence was notable given the general perception that Christians are more likely to be conservative.
![Church leaders and others take part in the pro-refugee rally on Palm Sunday.](/web/20170424051705im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/n/q/5/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvnoac.png/1492574769627.jpg)
The Christian voice over the great Christian feast of Easter that followed was not as highly political as these Palm Sunday marchers. There would have been more Christians at the football. Indeed, for the first time, following the lead of the other football codes, the AFL scheduled a match on Good Friday despite opposition from church leaders in Melbourne. The game was explicitly linked, perhaps in a gesture of reconciliation, to the annual Good Friday Appeal in Melbourne that raises funds for the Royal Children's Hospital. The Easter weekend was also the time for massive Easter egg hunts, so the central Easter message was, by then, thoroughly diluted.
What remained of the original Easter message was shown by the remarkably large crowds reported at many churches around the country as so-called "Easter and Christmas Christians" publicly demonstrated their Christian cultural attachment. Their church leaders were also given special media space, which they generally used to promote less controversial international aspirations, such as world peace, than domestic political concerns.
All these social phenomena were happening despite – and, in the case of Good Friday football, because of – the marked drift away from church attendance Australia-wide. The nation has become more secular than it has ever been, though church attendance on special occasions like Easter – close to four million people, according to one analysis – shows that Christian roots in the community should not be underestimated.
That makes Easter an appropriate time for a stocktake of Christian political participation just as the political year gets seriously under way at budget time.
The first thing that must never be forgotten about Christianity in Australia is that it is amazingly diverse. No one can ever claim to speak on its behalf.
It is also ever-changing, as research by Bob Dixon has shown. One key element in this transformation comes from immigration; it is often forgotten how many Christian immigrants there are within communities such as Indians, Filipinos and Vietnamese.
Like many religious and ethnic groups, the Christian community features a large and often politically disengaged centre, but also a right and a left. But even this categorisation is unreliable because there will be issues – including some of the biggest, like school education, welfare and aged care – around which Christians of many political stripes coalesce. No church or faith-based organisation is therefore wholly conservative or progressive but can hold varying positions across issues and policies, a picture which is often at odds with media representations and the left-right adversarial games of the main political parties. It is rarely recognised that, outside sexual-morality conservatism, the Christian churches are often more progressive than society at large.
Christian advocacy is often falsely presumed to be predominantly right-wing. Prime ministers and premiers are more likely to engage with the seemingly powerful, conservative, faith-based figures because they are more prominent in the community and often hold the senior official positions, especially in the case of Anglicans and Catholics in Sydney. Such official leaders are also presumed to hold the levers in matters of finance, organisation and persuasion.
Outside sexual-morality conservatism, the Christian churches are often more progressive than society at large.
The two most important conservative organisations are the evangelical Australian Christian Lobby, active and innovative in professional lobbying over the past decade or more, and the less well-organised but numerically larger Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, which can claim to speak at least in name for a quarter of all Australians. Their prominent figures – including Christian lobby chief executive Lyall Shelton and Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher – attract media whenever they speak. Both have been in the forefront of the fight against same-sex marriage, including confrontation with corporate supporters of marriage reform. Their other recent victories include undercutting the Safe Schools program at federal and state levels.
The progressive Christian voice of the sort found at Palm Sunday events is widespread, though relatively little known – and it sometimes even emanates from otherwise conservative groups. On many matters, including defending asylum seekers and refugees, opposing human trafficking and slavery, advocating for social protection of the most vulnerable, supporting community housing for the homeless and acting more generously in international aid and development, Christian organisations work strongly together and speak to government in unison.
In international aid and development, for instance, the Church Agencies Network is a consortium of 11 church-based aid and development agencies, and Micah, an associated organisation, is a coalition of 15 churches and Christian organisations. Their cause is social justice and reducing world poverty. But these Christian organisations struggle to make an impact in an era dominated by trade and security. They share their frustrations with their brothers and sisters among the Palm Sunday marchers.
John Warhurst is an emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University. john.warhurst@anu.edu.au