An interesting op-ed piece in SMH by Tim Costello and more religious / political commentary from the Australian's Christoper Pearson have highlighted how religion will again play a significant role in the next election. In fact, with Kevin Rudd keen to sieze the relgious vote back from the Coalition, religion could be artificially high on the agenda....
If you needed any further proof, how about Hillsong blesses Rudd's Labor or Rudd's religion strikes a cord in the Daily Telegraph and the Australian respectively.
The 2004 Election had a religious side - Family First gaining plenty of press and attention from the Coalition to secure preference deals. Labor at the time made little attempt to woo the Christian vote, something that Rudd thought was a mistake and sought to correct prior to winning the leadership. But the issue of religion is set to play a much larger role in the 2007 election - Howard is being challenged by Rudd for the Christian vote. The mainstream Christian vote in particular has slid away from Labor, particularly the Catholic vote - it is this little 'l' liberal Catholic / Anglican / Uniting voter that Rudd is particulalry trying hard to woo.
Rudd seems to be buttering up Family First for a more Labor friendly preferencing deal - after all, these preferences traditionaly flow to the Coalition, and would be a painful loss to Howard. Family First has polled at about 5% in recent elections, and will be hoping to improve on its first Federal showing. Steve Fielding will again become an important figure in the lead up to the next election, with both sides keen to woo Family First preferences with family friendly / christian friendly policies and deals.
This is a postive development for Chrisitans - Christian and family issues will once again be high on the agenda for both major parties in the next election. Several high profile Christian politicians are working hard and performing well in all major parties and Family First.
Brian Houston, Head Pastor of Hillsong Church and head of the Assemblies of God denomination, explained well what I believe about Christian involvement in politics;
"I am of the opinion that it is not the role of the church to be involved in party politics but if individual Christians have a desire to contribute to the community through politics, I would encourage them to do so. I see absolutely no reason why Christians should be the only sector of society excluded from having a voice into the direction of our nation."
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