If you’ve ever baked a cake, you know that every ingredient plays a crucial role. You can’t just throw random things into the mix and expect a perfect outcome. The same principle applies to society. If we want a community that upholds a specific set of values, then the individuals within that society must also hold to those values. When the values of the individuals change, the values of the community will inevitably follow.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Western nations undergoing the so-called “multicultural experiment.” Once thriving, free, safe, and prosperous, the West was the envy of the world. As a result, it saw an influx of migrants—an influx that has only increased over the years. However, many of these migrants did not come from culturally similar backgrounds. They did not necessarily share the Christian religion or Christian values. Instead, they sought the economic advantages of a prosperous society.
Yet, in this pursuit, many failed to recognize why Western societies became prosperous in the first place. The foundation of the West’s success was its Christian culture, which was rooted in Christian values, which in turn were drawn from the Christian faith itself.
In effect, we altered the recipe without realizing how it would impact the final product. And now, we face the consequences: fragmented, low-trust societies where foreign conflicts spill onto our streets—whether through protests, threats, or, worse, through violence.
Governments now find themselves between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they have been conditioned to celebrate multiculturalism as an unquestionable good. On the other, they are forced to confront the reality that not all cultures are compatible with one another.
What’s more, Australians have long been told that no one holds an exclusive claim to truth. That there is no transcendent moral standard to which we must, as a collective, conform. That all cultures are equal, and that Australia, by definition, is multicultural—without a distinct, unified culture of its own.
But this belief system is a recipe for division, and division spells disaster. A society cannot function cohesively if its people are separated by conflicting cultural practices and moral frameworks. A society cannot function cohesively if it is superficially united, but fundamentally divided.
If you want to bake a cake, you need the right ingredients. You can’t just throw in anything and expect the same results. You also can’t blame the correct ingredients for the inevitable failure—yet politicians often do just that to avoid accountability.
Ultimately, the people, and therefore, the values we introduce determine the societies we create. Communities will naturally reflect the beliefs and principles of their dominant groups. If a significant influx of people does not share Christian values, it is unrealistic to expect the communities they form to uphold those values.
Simply put, “whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7).
