Image

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says, Australia is NOT a secular country.

The 2016 Australian Census revealed 52.1 per cent of the population identified as Christian, while only 2.6 per cent subscribed to Islam, and at least 30 per cent noted that they had no religion. Despite the plurality of ideologies in Australia, it’s not uncommon to hear people claim that Australia is a secular nation. What’s…


The 2016 Australian Census revealed 52.1 per cent of the population identified as Christian, while only 2.6 per cent subscribed to Islam, and at least 30 per cent noted that they had no religion.

Despite the plurality of ideologies in Australia, it’s not uncommon to hear people claim that Australia is a secular nation. What’s often meant is that Christianity has no place in politics. Which is a sentiment usually summed up in the now misunderstood phrase, “Separation of Church and State.”

As Dr Stephen Chavura recently noted, there’s a common misconception that separation of church and state means religion should not have any influence on politics or legislation.

Separation of church and state is about the power of one institution over another – of the government over the churches and over people’s religious beliefs. Separation of religion and politics is the idea that religion shouldn’t in any way influence politics, and that’s probably not even possible – unless you want to go to North Korea or Communist China.

In the following clip, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rightly argues, “Australia is not a secular country, it is a free country. This is a nation where you have the freedom to follow any belief system you choose. Secularism is just one. It has no greater claim than any other on our society… The constitution provides for freedom of religion, not from religion.”

WATCH:

The Caldron Pool Show

The Caldron Pool Show: #23 – Rowan Dean
The Caldron Pool Show: #41 – Pandemic Amnesty for Pandemic Sins? With CrossPolitic
The Caldron Pool Show: #14 – Dr Stephen Chavura
The Caldron Pool Show: #7 – Campbell Newman
Image

Support

If you value our work and would like to support us, you can do so by visiting our support page. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Visit our search page.

Copyright © 2024, Caldron Pool

Permissions

Everything published at Caldron Pool is protected by copyright and cannot be used and/or duplicated without prior written permission. Links and excerpts with full attribution are permitted. Published articles represent the opinions of the author and may not reflect the views of all contributors at Caldron Pool.