The Undeniable Nexus of Religion and Politics
The extremist statements by some of Sydney’s Islamic preachers attacking democracy and arguing the state of Israel must be abolished have ignited debates about religion’s place in Australian society. The ex-ALP senator Fatima Payman’s admission she sought advice from Allah when justifying her crossing the floor to recognise Palestinian statehood also has led to controversy.
On one side of the debate are those arguing there is no place for religion in the public square when deciding government policy. As Australia is a secular society and not, like Iran, a theocracy where the supreme religious leader Ayatollah Khamenei rules, the argument is that religion is a private affair.
The belief there is no place for religion in politics explains why critics denigrated Tony Abbott as “the mad monk” and why Kevin Andrews, responsible for stopping the ACT and the NT from introducing state-sanctioned suicide, was also attacked for being a politician of faith. Negating religion also…
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