This is the first letter I’ve written to the Herald. As they saw fit not to print it, I thought I’d inflict it on you! I wrote in response to an article that implied Christianity was in serious decline and that moving ‘No Religion’ to the top of the Census Form would prevent Jesus getting the ‘donkey vote’ effect.
Dr Wallace is right to point out that large sections of Australian society have turned their back on Christianity. We do not have the Christendom of the past – but neither do we have a secular society without religion. There is no evidence that religion in general, or Christianity in particular will become extinct.
Instead we have the strange situation where religious belief and a doubting skepticism are on the rise. Church pews are no longer filled by inherited sectarianism or nominalism. Instead, today’s churchgoers are highly committed and typically conservative and orthodox in their beliefs.
Likewise, those of ‘no religion’ often have no commitment to an institutional faith but do have a significant personally constructed spirituality. Believers and sceptics alike need to stop thinking their existence is threatened by the other, put aside squabbling over census forms, and listen humbly to each other beliefs and doubts.