Australian Churches are asking themselves why their moral authority has diminished, and what can be done to restore it. Right, wrong, justice, judgement and doomsday have been grist to Church mills for centuries. Sad to say, some Churches have misused their moral authority in the past to inspire extreme fear of God in order to extort "indulgence" fees from guilt-ridden parishioners eager to buy God's favour (the sin of simony). Clerical corruption and abuse has caused many Australians to reject and abandon unrepentant churches. An unhealthy, grasping obsession with the splinters of other people's sins, while ignoring the proverbial log in the Church's own eye, has also cost Australian Churches dearly. Yet all Australian Christians (church attenders or not) know that discerning right from wrong in good conscience under God is an essential moral skill. Australians generally, Christian or not, can judge what is right and wrong in human society. They know that discerning how to remedy wrongs with good judgement guided by God involves much more than greed for personal salvation.
In the past, Churches allied with various governments filled an active role as the moral gatekeepers of European, Miiddle Eastern, African, American, Asian and colonial societies, In our decolonised time this is rarely the case. Western law was grounded in basic Christian moral codes (e.g. the Ten Commandments), so the colonial churches endorsed most civil and criminal legal judgements and penalties, and could reverse unjust decisions. When clergy delivered sermons, people listened carefully, because (despite the claim that Church and State were separate, with God as the higher power), clergy were invested with certain powers as officials of "the Establishment", i.e. the combined Church and State. In England, Scotland and Australia in the 1940s and 50s, church clergy, vestry members and office bearers had many government record keeping responsibilities. Some of these tasks still survive, but the Parish Roll is no longer a comprehensive Census, and licensed lay officials now perform many tasks formerly reserved to Christian clergy. Australians who enjoy nostalgic memories of "the good old days" would like to rewind the clocks back to the British Empire, but time marches us inexorably on into a globalised multicultural future.
So who, and how, in our multicultural Australian society where Church alliance with the State is tenuous, and multilingualism is a serious barrier to quick communication, do Australians determine what is right, what is wrong, what penalties will be imposed for which crimes and misdeanours, and how our community reacts when our government wants us to wage war on other peoples? Leaving moral decisions and laws to secularised, irreligious politicians and lawyers has produced an unwieldly, painfully slow legal system that obstructs justice, is only available to the affluent, and is slow to react to crises. Yet it is now possible for alert, responsible Australian Christians to exert a powerful influence on moral and political decisions through the Internet. At this time Australian Christians have a responsibility to remain aware of current legislation and social justice issues, and take concerted, calm, well considered peaceful action when necessary. Speaking up peacefully and clearly in the Australian media to reform inadequate laws, maintain humane moral standards, eliminate bullying and enforce justice for neglected victims has never been more important.
