The Saturday Paper: 6th letter: published 26.9.15
Time to out all politicians
Scott Morrison railed against 2GB’s Ray Hadley over religion, and Canning’s new Liberal member, Andrew Hastie, declared “off limits” all questions about his family links with creationism. Why the secrecy? Parliaments are over-represented by proactive religious politicians and they’re out of step with a public that is now more than 50 per cent non-Christian. Religion in politics has flown under the media radar for decades and it has played a blocking role on a broad swath of social policy: from climate change to euthanasia. Same-sex marriage is another example of religious influence, where two-thirds of the LNP party room torpedoed the conscience vote. Labor’s record is no better. It’s political Christianity at its worst. So it’s time for full transparency, with all politicians adding their religious beliefs (or none) to their campaign and parliamentary biographies, so that secular voters know where candidates stand on key social policies.
Brian Morris, Director, Plain Reason, Netherby, SA
Plain Reason: promoting science, reason and critical thinking.