Thread by @dazza50

Belief, religion and politics. A thread.

1/ At least now we can dispense with the illusions about the role of religion in Australian politics. We could all see (cos he wanted us to) the PM waving for the cameras at his Pentecostal barn,

2/ ... and there can't be too many people who didn't note Israel Folau heroically taking a major pay cut as the price for sticking vociferously to his Assemblies of God inspired beliefs. None of this is new.

3/ @AustralianLabor was in wilderness for decades over a religion-based split, and fear of godless (but strongly believing) communists. One of The Split's leaders was @TonyAbbottMHR's mentor. Among Catholics, it was always standard for priests to tell parishioners how to vote.

4/ Anglican leaders didn't need to because they tended to be so entwined with the ruling parties that it didn't need to be spelt out who 'good' people should vote for. Despite that variety, however, there was a strong common system of beliefs. It was a 'broad church'.

5/ Migration didn't make a lot of difference to this arrangement - and often supported one or other variation of the Christian status quo. But all that changed with 911, and the subsequent decision to ramp up demonising
Muslims. This not only tapped into a VERY deep race memory.

6/ Demonisation of Muslims as the ultimate outsiders became the go-to theme for powerful politicians and their media supporters, and it worked really well as a universal fear generator, with the strategy of linking that fear to refugees - a fear skilfully stoked by PM you know.

7/ Such demonisation also gave a set of beliefs, especially extremist religions, a big leg up. Suddenly it was OK to be a fundamentalist Christian who hated Muslim - and this proved a fertile breeding ground, especially in a population with almost zero religious literacy.

8/ On the other end of the spectrum, progressive Christians have had a strong and positive influence since Invasion, notably in supporting the vote for Indigenous people, in the anti Vietnam war movement, and in the long-standing 'Palm Sunday' rallies for refugees.

9/ Social media activists like @FatherBob have a continuing influence, but the disclosures of applalling abuse across all the major religions, culminating in the gaoling of a prominent cleric, have left mainstream churches of moderate voice utterly silenced, leaving the field to

10/ ...extremists of all kinds. Such extremists must now include secular religionists like men who believe they have a right to kill women; as well as climate deniers, whose belief systems have had a profoundly negative impact on efforts to avert climate catastrophe. So where to?

11/ Given that the conservative Pentecostalists (and their often sub-cult climate denier members) are not going to go away, and that attacks on non-believers are certain to escalate from here on, it's urgent that citizens get better at understanding how beliefs impact on policies

12 / How to do that is another matter, but until we sharpen our focus on the interaction between beliefs, behaviours and politics, we're not even treading water. The vast sums spent on understanding radicalisation must surely have produced some results that can be extrapolated

13/ This is by no means complete but is an attempt to move a focus to the many dodgy belief systems that now somehow fall beyond the purview of existing agencies of social cohesion. Comment, Wally May?

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