The Christian Church is not the only established institution to have neglected its duty to the people of the United States, Australia and other countries in recent years. But it is arguably now the most culpable, given its mission, its power and the nature of the evils infesting these nations.
That is according to an article published today in Independent Australia.
Central to the disastrous mismanagement in the United States and Australia, the essay contends, have been the continual lies from the former Trump administration and the current regime led by prime minister Scott Morrison in Australia.
Former President Donald Trump set a record unlikely ever to be matched, with the Washington Post recording 30,534 false statements during his four years. That’s 21 per day.
Morrison’s ministers in also lie frequently, if not on quite the Trumpian scale, as shown here, here, here and elsewhere.
Truth matters
The evil of deliberate lies is not just a side issue to adherents of the Judeo-Christian faiths. It is not one of the lesser ten commandments, ranking ninth. It is in fact, according to orthodox theology, the question which determines whether someone is a child of God or of Satan. Yes, Satan. The devil.
So why are religious leaders silent today?
The USA has a proud history of spiritual leaders challenging social evils: Reinhold Niebuhr, Dorothy Day, John Howard Yoder and Martin Luther King Jr. Today, in contrast, the loudest American religious voices are from the evangelical right — those who stand in the tradition of the scribes and Pharisees — rather than the followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
Australia also has had strong religious voices for political reform in the past. But not now. The most outspoken cleric today is probably Father Rod Bower of Gosford Anglican Church whose signs in red and black capitals call passing traffic – both literally and via the internet – to repentance, including for the sin of lying.
Urgent reform required
Americans and Australians have suffered greatly as a result of having liars in high office. Their economies have deteriorated, poverty has deepened, corruption has flourished, countless lives have been lost to suicide and other preventable causes, racist policies have been implemented and election outcomes distorted.
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The Independent Australia article is available in full here for free:
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/religious-communities-failed-the-usa-and-are-also-failing-australia,14731
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“Alan Austin is a great Australian journalist and, I think, a pirate. I steal Alan Austin’s findings all the time.”
~ Jordan Shanks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtV-2X4BjQI