21st of March mark yet another Good Friday but given the multicultural nature of Australia what significance does Easter have for us? The 2001 census paints a grim picture for Christianity in Australia. In that census 3.8 million people identified themselves as Anglican but only 178,000 attend church weekly and a third of them over 70. Only a tenth of Uniting Church members attend church weekly and a third of these are older than 63. A mere 15 per cent of the Australia’s 5 million Catholics attended church weekly. Perhaps Christianity in the coming century will have less and less influence on Australia.
Christianity is declining and the religion is under attack from both the media and scientists. In 2003, we have Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”. In 2006, the British biologist Richard Dawkins gave us “The God Delusion”. We recently had a visit from the televangelist Benny Hinn. Hinn is reported to receive over $215 million a year by promising people prosperity, healing and eternal salvation (“God, power and money” Sydney Morning Herald March 3rd, 2008). Hinn is one of six televangelists currently being investigated by the United States Senate Finance Committee (“"Senator Probes Megachurches’ Finances” npr.org, December 4th, 2007). With such a credibility issue, it is no wonder that numerous Australians are leaving Christianity. If there is a faith vacuum one can always turned to alternatives from Buddhism to Isalm to Hinduism to Falun Gong. If standing around Chinatown protesting against China’s Human Rights record is not your thing then you can join the thousands at the Sunday Markets worshipping the god of consumerism!
Yes, why bother with Easter? However, when we look back, we see that Christianity did have a prominent place in our history. On 26 January 1788, arriving with the first fleet was one Rev Richard Johnson, the first chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales. Governor Arthur Phillip had no patience for Johnson’s Gospel and later Major Francis Grose hated Johnson and the gospel he preached (“Richard Johnson – first Chaplain to Australia” http://acl.asn.au/). Johnson was not just interested in the Colony’s spiritual well being but he also pioneered education in New South Wales. In addition, Johnson also set up of a fund to care for orphans. You might say, “Yes, the man did good work but even a non-Christian could have done that”. May be, but Johnson’s contribution to our history was not a historical accident. Many Australians are not aware that our colonial history had interesting link with abolition of slavery. John Newton, the ex-slave trader who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace” after his conversion to Christianity was amongst a group of clergyman who decided there was a need for a Chaplain to be sent with the First Fleet. Newton was a friend of the abolitionist William Wilberforce who was also a friend of Prime Minister William Pitt. Wilberforce and Newton were able to put forward Richard Johnson as the Chaplain for the first fleet. William Wilberforce, a Christian, went on to introduce the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and many other reforms.
Christianity certainly played a part in our early history but does it have any significance now? The Archbishop of Sydney Dr. Peter Jensen gave the 2005 Boyer Lectures on ABC’s Radio National. The series of six lectures is titled “The Future of Jesus” (Radio National http://www.abc.net.au/rn/boyerlectures/stories/2005/1707949.htm). Dr. Jensen contends that the West is secularized that many of us are completely ignorant of the fact that Jesus Christ is probably the most influential human being who ever lived. The lectures were divided into two parts. In the first part, Dr. Jensen suggests that because Jesus is so well known, many assume they understand Jesus’ message when in fact they don’t. For example, many identify a fair-go as an Australian value when in fact it comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Dr. Jensen then goes on to challenge his listener into deciding whether Jesus is a failed prophet or a religious genius and can the listeners even believe in Jesus’ miracles? In the last three lectures, Dr. Jensen gave three examples of Jesus’ impact on today’s society:
1. Martyrdom as a contemporary and ancient phenomenon.
2. Second coming of Jesus and its influence Middle Eastern politics and the beliefs of millions of people.
3. The liberal idea of freedom versus Jesus’ idea of freedom.
Like it or not, Christianity is significant to our history, our culture and our values but does it affect us personally? In “Manners matter” (Brisbane News March 4th, 2008), Lucy Brook argues that a polite attitude is needed to combat disrespectful behaviour such as road rage. Is a façade of politeness enough when we are facing so many social problems? Many of our disrespectful behaviour that Brook describes can be attributed to our society obsession with individual gratification. For example, Myer would like to remind us that their stores are “My Store”s. One the hand Jesus’ messages could be considered counter culture by today’s standard. Just prior to Jesus’ final trip to Jerusalem, he challenged his disciples by saying: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26) Earlier in the same conversation, Jesus asked his disciples “Who do you say I am?” Well, who do you say is Jesus?
