On 11th November 1975 I was sitting in a classroom at Reservoir High School (now Reservoir Secondary College), opposite the library, studying French or suffering French more like. It was announced that Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, had dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's Labor government. That, of course, led to Mr Whitlam's famous quote on the steps of Parliament house ``Well may we say `God save the Queen' . . . because nothing will save the Governor-General!''. Another 14 year old would have been sitting in a class somewhere that day too. Her name was Julia Gillard, about 7 months my junior. Prime Minister Gillard now. Makes me feel old.
Julia Gillard is an atheist and Tony Abbott is a Christian. For whom should we vote?!
I quoted one of my favourite authors last week, Chuch Colson, and he wrote this about voting:
"Thinking that electing Christians to high public office answers all of our problems ignores a reality that Luther knew: In every society, "the wicked always outnumber the good." It's a sinful world. Therefore, government's prime job is to restrain sin and to preserve order. That is its ordained role from God. Our leaders, therefore, have to be those who are best-suited for carrying out these tasks, the most confident and responsible. Or, as Luther is supposed to have said, it is better to be "ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian."
Does this mean that we shouldn't encourage our fellow believers to seek elective office and support them once they do? Of course not. Christians are called to apply biblical truth to all areas of life, including politics and government. Nor does it mean that a candidate's beliefs are irrelevant. A candidate's beliefs shed light on his values, priorities, and character -- all of which matter when it comes to governance. A believer should be a force for virtue, and having one in office is a witness, of course. But this doesn't change the fact that the first requirement is competence. And some non-Christians may be better prepared to carry out government's biblical mandate than some Christians, no matter how often the latter attend church."
As much as I get frustrated with election campaigns and threaten to vote for 'Mickey Mouse' as a protest, we live in the most wonderful country with a tremendous privilege called democracy.
I praise God for the freedom to be able to vote. Now I just have to make the correct decision on the day.
(p.s. Paul, I have no idea what song would fit this post!)
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