A worrying trend has emerged in lead up to the election next week. The rise of the religious right as a direct force in the election process. While I have no problems with religious people attempting to have their concerns heard and firmly believe that there is a place for all religions in within our body politic, what does worry me is when they try and veil their position behind a nom-de-plume and are less than frank when stating their position. While I wish them well in the race to ‘purchase’ our vote I think they need to be more up front on the foundations of their party adherents belief structure.
While the Family First party claims to be a party dedicated to upholding "family values", one must ask what exactly those family values are? It is also important to understand the religious beliefs and ideologies that underpin their notions of "family values". So while the following is a generalisation, I would think that the vast majority, if not all, of the Family First candidates and their followers would fit well within the descriptions to follow.
Having grown up in a conservative, exclusive Protestant household, it came as a surprise to me when I first encountered evangelical Pentecostalism. The first impression I had was that it was very American. Now, that might have been because it was an American Pastor and his wife who were the key speakers at the event, but almost 30 years later, nothing I have seen has changed my mind about the US influence on the Australian Pentecostal movement. The second thing that struck me about the group I found myself in was that they waved their hands a lot and spoke ‘in tongues’. For a boy from the North West of Tassie the whole night was a mind blower. As I became more familiar with the Pentecostal movement, which I had irreverently taken to describe as the "happy clappies" I discovered their beliefs included: 1) that in order to get to heaven you had to accept Jesus as your personal saviour; 2) that in order to do that you had to confess and repent of your sins; 3) that you had to go to church and bible study regularly; 4) you had to give up smoking, drinking and other ‘sinful’ behaviour; 5) you had to tithe your wages (give a tenth to the church). If you did all this, it is believed, God would bless you on earth with prosperity and health and prepare a place in heaven for you when you died. As I delved in deeper into the Pentecostal movement I found that at the core of their belief systems was the notion of what is described as post-apocalyptic millennialism.
According to this notion, there are only two forces active on earth, good and evil. Adherents believe that God created the earth in seven 24 hour days and that Satan, in the form a serpent, caused Eve to lead Adam into sin (to go against God’s ‘will’) causing them and the entire human race, to be born ‘sinful’. Therefore Adam and Eve and all humans since have been unable to get to heaven and are, in fact, doomed to eternity in hell. The only way that we could be reunited with God was for Him to send Jesus, his son, to die on a cross, shedding his blood in the process, and then to rise from the dead so that humans who declare him (Jesus) to be their Saviour and Lord, could repent, be saved and therefore be reunited with God and secure their place in heaven. However, while Jesus is able to save the individuals who follow the process just described, the rest - those who reject Jesus, continue to live in ‘sin’ and so on - are doomed to Hell at best or, at worst, are perceived to be active agents of Satan on earth (John Safran watch out!!).
These "forces of darkness" or "axis of evil" (take your pick as they’re interchangeable terms) must be defeated in order for the Kingdom of God to be established on Earth and that wont happen until Jesus returns and that, in turn, wont happen until the Temple is rebuilt in Jerusalem. And for that to happen the apocalypse must occur. For the apocalypse to happen the armies of the "East" will assemble in the desert of the Middle East and be confronted by the army of God who will destroy them. The Jewish Temple will be rebuilt, ushering in the 1,000 year (millennial) reign of Jesus prior to the accent into heaven of the chosen 144,000 believers. This event they refer to as the ‘rapture’. What happens to the rest is not spelt out so I guess it must be bad. Are you still with me?
In order for the temple to be rebuilt the state of Israel must be re-established and we will know when this occurs because the Temple will be rebuilt (bear with me as I explain the circles within circles). Now, the biggest stumbling block to that is that the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam’s most sacred mosques, currently occupies the site of the ancient Jewish temple site. This brings us to the Jews vs the Muslims. Within the post-apocalyptic millennialist world view, the Jews are potential entrants into heaven but only if they accept Christ. However, the Jews are still waiting for the Messiah to arrive for the first time. Among the vast Jewish population are those who adhere to a particularly nasty strain of Zionism and it is with this group that the post-apocalyptic millennialists find an ally. They do so because the Zionists believe that God has promised them the land of Palestine and that the inhabitants of that land are nothing more than dogs (a particularly offensive epithet to Muslims) and that in order for the Christ to come (for the first time) the land must emptied of the ‘unclean’, be purified and all Jews must return to Israel. To work towards that end they must engage in a ‘holy war’ against the unbelievers and in executing that war will accept any ally they feel will assist in achieving their aim. By understanding this link we can see why Israel is a favoured nation among many in the ‘Christian’ West. But I digress.
In order to make themselves ready for the coming war against the "forces of darkness" or "axis of evil", post-apocalyptic millennialists believe that they have to prepare themselves and in order to do that they must ‘sanctify’ themselves. To do this they must attend church and bible studies and ‘purify’ their hearts and minds. A part of that process is to sing songs with titles such as "War Song" with lines like "Clean your weapons" and "un-sheath your swords" and "Conqueror and Conquering" in which we are told that Jesus will be "clothed in whitest linen, dipped in blood" and that he (Jesus) "comes to strike the wicked". Then there’s "God’s got an Army", and "Make Way" which informs us that all "thrones must fall" before God. These songs and many more spell out in rhyming lyrics and with catchy tunes that there are only two types in the world today, the saved and doomed, the good and the evil. The saved (good) have been ‘purified’ by being ‘washed’ in the ‘blood of Christ’ and although still sinners (because of Eve and that apple), have been saved by grace, or as many of them say, "chosen" by God. The rest (the evil) are subject to the "wrath of God" who is a "Mighty warrior" and they will eventually be "hurled down" before the "throne of the Lamb" (Jesus).
The Pentecostal movement has its basis in these beliefs which they claim are directly inspired by ‘the Word of God’ or as most of us know it, the Bible. This ‘Word of God’ is to be taken literally and in it we find what it is that defines both the saved and the doomed. The saved are ‘chosen’ by God to lead the human race towards "the kingdom" and if there is resistance to that leading it is because of personal sin or because a particular individual has been ‘preordained’ to damnation in hell. Those who ‘resist’ are the sexually perverse (homosexuals, fornicators, adulterers, etc), the ill disciplined (divorcees, single parents, smokers, drinkers and drug takers) and the depraved (see above). Those ‘preordained’ to damnation include Muslims, Buddists, Hindus. Catholics, blacks, Asians and gypsies and all the rest who are deemed to be aligned with the "forces of darkness" or "axis of evil" by the post-apocalyptic millennialists.
Another upshot of these beliefs is that as we are deemed by the post-apocalyptic millennialists to be living in "the end times" there is no time to spare or waste on such matters as the environment, seeking cross-cultural understanding or pursuing peace. The reason for this is that God has already ‘chosen’ those who will get to heaven and they know who they are (because they are already saved) while the rest are to be left to their depravity. Because of the sinfulness of humans, they claim, it is only by ‘divine intervention’ that an individual can be saved and it is only by establishing and maintaining an individual ‘relationship with Christ’ that one can be assured of her or his place in heaven. But wait, there’s more!
In order to demonstrate what a ‘true’ Christian life is individuals must submit to the ‘Word of God’ which tells women they must submit to their husbands, that children should be punished by ‘spanking’, that what has been termed ‘tough love’ or ‘compassionate conservatism’ should be the guide to all personal and social relations. This type of love means that individuals who are ‘weak’ deserve to have their basic rights taken away from them. For example, rolling back welfare support to single mums who should be able to ‘climb the ladder of opportunity’ as well as the state subsidised businessman relying on ‘corporate welfare’ for his business profits. Furthermore, as it is individuals who are responsible for their eternal souls, there is no role for the state in supporting them if they are disabled though work accidents, born with profound disability or become alcohol or drug dependant. In short, there is no such thing as society only a collection of self interested agents competing for scarce resources and attempting to improve their personal sanctification and claim their place in eternity.
These considerations lead us to finally determine what it is that Family First sees as being "family values". These values are based in a notion that the primary role and reason for a family (defined as a heterosexual couple with children) is to raise individuals who will, at some point, find their pre-ordained salvation (but you don’t know that until you are ‘saved’), join the church and continue to propagate the "Word of God". Under this world view there is no room for compromise. You will be able to tell if someone is part of the Kingdom by the way they live their life. That is, to be heterosexual, concerned first with the ‘ways of God’, second, the ways of their family, and their own personal sanctification last (in theory at least). They will not be concerned with the ‘things of this world’ (but many of them strive to amass personal wealth and power) but will focus on ‘kingdom’ matters such as prayer, preaching and praise.
This short dissertation has skimmed this issue and is full of generalisations. I know many Pentecostals who are on the ‘moderate’ end of this spectrum and through bitter personal experience are aware that life is not so cut and dried. However, in my experience, the vast majority of bible believing, ‘committed’ Pentecostals tend towards the extreme end of the spectrum and would not find much to disagree with in what I have presented. Their vision is of a wrathful God who seeks to punish those he has already ‘preordained’ to damnation while rewarding another ‘special’ group who he ‘preordained’ to eternal bliss. These views form the basis of my worry about the Family First Party. Their view of the world is shaped by beliefs that are too black and white for the way the vast majority of human beings live and shows no compassion for the reality of the human experience. To summarise, these beliefs are nothing short of religious ideological dogma.
I live in a world of grey areas. I want to be environmentally friendly, but need a car to get around as there is a dearth of public transport in my rural region. I want to be compassionate but understand the need to detain asylum seekers while their credentials are checked. I want to see a solid welfare system that supports those who, often through no personal intent, find themselves needing to rely on the community at some stage in their life but I don’t want it to become an excuse for them to not attempt to achieve their individual potential through hard work and personal effort. I want children to be able to grow up in loving, caring homes no matter what their parent’s sexual orientation but I also what them to be protected from undue influence to choose one form of sexual expression over another. Finally, I want my children and grandchildren to grow up understanding that they are connected to the rest of humanity in ways that are incomprehensible and awesome and based on lived, material experience. Until the Family First Party can convince me that they share this conviction, they, like the other election competitors and their ideologies, will in no way be able to represent me.