Catholic Church in Australia is viewed as 'an obstacle to the wellbeing of society', senior Archbishop claims

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart says the Christian church is entering a new era in its history in Australia "where it is no longer seen as a respected presence in the society, but is viewed by many as an obstacle to the wellbeing of society".

"Governments hostile to Christianity are more emboldened than ever to pass legislation which they know is incompatible with Christian beliefs and practices," he told the Australian Christian Lobby on 17 November.

"One would expect this to escalate in the years ahead. We are confronted with a new era of legal persecution of Christians by the State. Along with this more recent direct attack on Christians we have witnessed the slower and longer term effort to overthrow the Christian moral framework which has informed Western societies over the last millennium."

Archbishop Porteous said this was due to the "final phase of the victory of secular liberalism as the new cultural theology".

"It will mean that we must position ourselves differently than we have in the past when our presence was respected and our faith and works encouraged... We will have to learn to live under various forms of persecution, but we will live as a people of hope."

In September, Archbishop Porteous and his fellow Australian bishops were referred to Tasmania's Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for a possible breach of the state's Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 over the distribution of the bishops' pastoral letter defending traditional Catholic teaching on marriage, Don't Mess with Marriage. The complainant is a Greens parliamentary candidate and transgender activist Ms Martine Delaney and the matter is expected to be referred to conciliation.

"The Christian church is entering a new era in its history in Australia," Archbishop Porteous said. "It is entering an era where it is no longer seen as a respected presence in the society, but is viewed by many as an obstacle to the wellbeing of society. The Christian church is currently being forced more and more to retire within its own walls. There is a growing anti-Christian sentiment where the Christian churches are regarded as being out of touch with the realities of contemporary life, wedded to some bygone era.

"The dominant view now is that humanity can and ought to finally throw off the remaining vestiges of the Christian religion and be liberated from its oppressive morality. With this humanity can finally realise its true destiny and greatness: the final emancipation from servitude to Christian morality.

"Attempts are already well underway in the West to marginalise and limit the participation of Christians in the public square through the enactment of legislation that requires Christians to violate their consciences.

In the US we have seen the calculated move by the Obama Administration to force particularly Catholic institutions to offer healthcare packages that pay for contraception and abortifacients. So too, State and Commonwealth governments (in Australia) are beginning to introduce laws which are directly aimed at restricting the freedom of Christian organisations.

More recently the Victorian Government has sought to change adoption laws to include same-sex couples without offering an exemption to Christian agencies. The choice is simply comply or get out of adoption work."

Archbishop Porteous said the critical moment, arguably, was the widespread acceptance of contraception, which "fundamentally separated the procreative and unitive dimensions of human sexual relations". He said this allowed for the widespread acceptability of sex as an end in itself and that Pope Paul VI in his 1968 encyclical, Humanae Vitae, saw that once there was a means to separate the act of sexual intercourse from its life-giving dimension, there would be a radical increase in promiscuity "which he prophetically saw would result in the devaluing or sexual objectification of women".

"Western society has witnessed a dramatic change in its attitudes towards sexuality," Archbishop Porteous said. "We have seen the moral acceptability of same-sex sexual relationships. Once laws prohibiting same-sex sexual expression were repealed, the 'homosexual' lobby went on the offensive pushing for the legal equality of same-sex relationships with marriage and more recently legal redefinition of marriage to include same-sex relationships.

"In all this there was one voice that consistently challenged these changes in society's attitudes, it was the Christian church. Those who advocate sexual liberation in all its forms knew that there is one key focus of resistance. They knew that they had to nullify the influence of the Churches in the legislature and in public debate."

The Tasmanian Catholic leader said secular liberalism was a way of understanding human existence, affirmed certain moral positions and "is not a neutral position and a value-free zone".

"The charge is often levelled at Christians that they are seeking to impose their morality on society," he said. "However, secular liberals are the ones imposing their views of human existence and their morality on others. Pope John Paul II answered this charge very well when he said that the Church seeks not to impose but rather to propose its views to society."

Archbishop Porteous said Christianity was the true champion of human freedom because at the very heart of God’s nature was love, which was only possible with freedom.

"Now is the time, more than ever for Christian men and women to stand up and oppose this attempt to silence the Christian voice in our society and in particular in the political realm. It will be important to challenge the media to give fair exposure to a Christian perspective on social issues.

"Secondly, it is important that Christians do not feel cowered and powerless. Australia remains a majority Christian country, yet our voice has largely been silenced. It is important that Christians become active in politics in whatever way their time talents and energy allow.

"I believe that increasingly what will have the most impact will be our Christian witness, particularly the witness of our Christian marriages and families. They will shine like bright stars as St Paul says in Philippians 2:15. We must encourage our fellow Christians to live lives of Christian excellence. In this we will need to strengthen the life of our Christian communities so that the members of our communities are more able to live the Christian life as different from the patterns of life becoming more common in our society.

"We should hold on to a belief that eventually things will change. Patterns of behaviour that are currently being promoted will be proven to be damaging. The bad fruits will become evident."