Pushing Through The Election Blues?

A post by Rev Ben Gooley

Australians have an upcoming Federal Election. In many conversations I have had, disillusionment seems to be high with many struggling to find a party or leader to support with genuine enthusiasm.

For all its faults, the democratic system we enjoy in Australia works best when the wider populace is properly engaged with the electoral process, understands the key issues and asks their candidates intelligent questions.

For Australian Christians there are a number of tools to help move beyond the sound bites of the nightly news and understand a little more about the stated positions of the various parties.

The ABC has launched their Vote Compass which tries to plot your answers to a short set of questions against the policies of the major parties (they evaluate the ALP, Coalition and Greens). Its plotting is necessarily fairly basic, but it is also quite straightforward to use and may be helpful to some in understanding the differences of the major parties on a variety of issues. There are also links that give more detailed summaries on various issues.

The Bible Society Australia has also tried to gather relevant information on a variety of issues for Christians in their Federal Election Guide 2013. It considers more than just the major parties, and unashamedly takes a Christian perspective. With the enormous breadth of opinion among Christians on every issue this is non-trivial. Their methodology is to provide quotes and articles by key leaders and commentators, as well as a summary of the party positions, and allow the reader to reach their own (better) informed opinion. It takes a little work, but is a useful summary on understanding the issues more deeply.

While it’s often easiest to slide into a cynical disillusionment about Australian politics, remaining uninformed will only encourage more sound-bite policies. Perhaps these resources will help in pushing through the election blues.

The Christian and Politics

A post By Edwina Hine

All our readers who live in Australia must be aware that this is an election year. In fact the count down has begun, and it is only 120 days until the next federal election. This week it will have been difficult to escape news telecasts of the federal budget speech by Wayne Swan or the opposition's budget response a few days later.

The news from Canberra gives all Australians much to think about, as we ponder how the budget and other government initiatives may effect our vote later this year.  Case edition #13 ( from 2007)  entitled "The Christian and Politics"  has been a helpful read for me this week as my thoughts turned upon the subject of Australian politics. The articles in Case 13 are certainly not a "how to" of  Christian voting, but it is an excellent collection of articles. Collectively, the essays look at the way Christians view their citizenship and the roles of government, the stated purpose of Case #13 as Trevor Carney points out in his editorial, the magazine offers

".... a collection of papers that present arguments concerning the way our biblical understanding  should inform our political minds and actions"

One article I enjoyed was penned by the Hon. John Andersen -who was at the time the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. His article  entitled 'Church and state' outlined the role people of faith should play in politics. He reminded the readers that the

" debate over the relationship between church and state is alive and well... The issues are difficult, they create real tensions and there are, in the end no definitive, final, neat formulas"

Courtesy of Google images

We are also reminded that in 1 Timothy 2 that Christian relationships with the 'state' are within the
framework of Gods eternal plans. Christians are to pray for political leaders so that they govern and oversee a peaceful society in which the gospel can be preached. Anderson  concludes his thesis by reminding the reader Christians

"must have a distinct world view that allows us to contribute  thoughtfully and theologically to public life"

In addition to John Anderson's article, this edition of Case also includes an article by Mike Thompson on 'Western Christians and democracy as a foreign policy objective' , and an article by Andrew Errington entitled 'Representation and good government'.  The latter can be read online as can he article by John Anderson. There are a number of other articles in  edition #13 well worth a look.

A back issue of Case #13 can be purchased here, or  if you wish to become a Case subscriber you should visit here. Case edition #13 on Christians and Politics also followed the 2005 New College Lecture Series 'Church & State'. Both John Anderson and Kevin Rudd were amongst the guest speakers and for those in an interest in the topic - you might enjoy visiting the New College Lecture website to view their talks here 

Australia Votes: Assessing the policies

The Australian Christian Lobby has developed a new web-based tool to help Australian Christians make a choice in the Federal Election on the 24th November. The site allows you to consider what the parties propose in the 25 policy areas, how all politicians currently in the parliament voted on all conscience issues (e.g. cloning human embryo bill and the RU486 legislation) during the last session of the Parliament, and how you can find opportunities to take part in forums with your local member or gain access to key resources on their views. This site goes well beyond discussing the traditional moral issues that rightly concern Christians (e.g. abortion, the importance of families, human cloning etc) to issues for which Christians should have opinions such as climate change, civil liberties, health, Indigenous Australians, refugees, overseas aid etc. This is an excellent resource that is worth a look. There are a number of ways to read through the site but I found it most helpful to read all responses from the major parties and then to compare responses to issues that I believe are of highest priority. You’ll find some of the usual political evasiveness in relation to specific questions and a bit of double speak, but the responses on the site are a starting point for personal decision-making.

When we do vote it's my view that we need to consider the full sweep of policy agendas that one would expect from a federal government. Of course there will be some issues that will be of greater interest to us, and some Christians are prepared (legitimately) to vote based on single issues that they see as of fundamental importance.

Many Christians find it difficult to make the choice between major and minor parties. Do we vote for a local member or a party? Should we vote for a party simply because it is made up of people who are all Christians? Interestingly, Kevin Rudd (Leader of the Opposition) made some comments about this at the 2005 New College Lectures (you can read or listen to his talk on Church and State). Do we cast our vote differently in the House of Representatives and the Senate? Should our major concern be the key policy agendas of the parties or where our local member stands on specific issues? Are there key moral issues, or issues of justice, that might sway one's vote in one direction or the other?

I'm not going to offer any answers to these questions but as voters we need to think about them. Maybe you've got some thoughts on them. What I will say though is that we have a responsibility to vote and to consider the policies of the people we vote for, not to vote simply for someone we know and like, or simply to vote as our parents, friends or other Christians vote.

When Oliver O'Donovan spoke to the residents of New College this year just prior to the New College Lectures he reminded them that a government is “representative” of the people:

"I don’t mean that government is elected, though sometimes it is. Government is representative in all it does in that it speaks and acts for us, as a political community. What the Australian government agrees to and has lawfully ratified, you will have agreed to."

Readers of this Blog from other countries should also be able to relate to these questions as they face their own elections in the future. For our many American readers there are plenty of web resources that allow you to compare presidential candidates on issues of concern to Christians. For example, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life allows you to compare candidates on issues such as bioethics, the death penalty, gay marriage, religion and schools, immigration, the Iraq War and so on.


I wouldn't begin to offer advice on how Christians (or non-Christians for that matter) might make such choices between the parties based on their policies, but the ACL site should help us to assess the various party responses to key issues that should concern Christians.

If you find the responses lack the detail you need an alternative that I know some Christians use is to email their local member and ask him or her for their views on specific issues. You may get responses from party staffers but I’ve known some to receive detailed personal responses from their local member or state senators.