Thread by @dazza50

As noted recently by @StopLyi58491572, the 1.1% of the population who are Pentecostals are clearly a problem, mostly because they have managed to gain power like (sorry) the Taliban, ultra-orthodox Jews, US fundies.
This is not new in #auspol

Their grasp on power is part of an ongoing #auspol reluctance to have a serious (& probably impossible to do openly) discussion about the role of beliefs in our supposedly secular society.

Looking back, the barbarians who founded (invaded and stole) this country were unabashed members of the English religious establishment. They could no more separate church and state than separate punishment and flogging.

Right from this beginning, rebel Irish convicts brought their bad attitudes to English authorities and English (as in Church of) religious beliefs. In other states the split was more complex, with non-conformist Christian groups of every hue building their own communities.

Among these larger groupings the Anglicans, Catholics, and Lutherans have built large school (and ‘care’ )systems that have been incredibly successful in getting huge amounts of government funding ... thereby increasing the power.

It’s obvious that these religious groups have tended to coalesce around ethnic identities. To put it very crudely, originally it was Anglicans=WASPs, Catholics=Irish, Lutheran’s =Germans. As noted, many of these groups have their own subgroups

In SA one of these religio-ethnic groups, the Cornish Methodists, were incredibly successful in organising themselves first into ‘trade unions’ and then into the world’s first labour government.

Adding to this complexity are the myriad of groups who have come to Australia who were/are, like many original immigrants, fleeing religious persecution ... so they too are predictably reluctant to get into discussions about religion.

So where are we now? Obviously a different set of God botherers (to use a traditional phrase) has now grabbed the reins of power. Why are we fussed? When has it ever been different? And how can we address this?

Like so many other major issues, this one too can only be faced with a revisiting of unpalatable realities (like the myth about a secular state) going right back to the first invaders, and the ideas they brought about how to organise a fair, just and equitable society.

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