The History of Australia:

Australia's history starts with thousands of years of hundreds of indigenous tribes and people groups.  Just over 200 years ago, they were joined by convicts and settlers from Europe.  Whether that addition is a settlement or an invasion, the reality is that the superior force and numbers of the Europeans meant that they brought in a dominate Christian culture under the rule of the British monarchy. Yet Australia did not operate as an equal society. The first European settlers were either convicts within a penal colony or the prison officers who policed the convicts.  While the convicts may have possessed a bent towards resisting government control, the prison officers possessed a bent towards harshly enforcing compliance without compassion.

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Yet, for over 100 years, Australia continued to remain a collection of tribes and colonies until 1901. ​In that year, Australia became a nation through Federation. We created and adopted our own constitution inherited a law-based system.  While not perfect, the constitution was built on the Christian understanding of original sin and the need decentralise political power to the people through democracy. To this day, a copy of the Magna Carta - the inspiration for our constitution - sits with Australia's Parliament House as a reminder of that principle. The Federation reflected a culture built on a shared belief in Biblical principles - at the time known as ‘western values’.  In the 1700's it was the Royal Navy that stamped out the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  In Australia, John Anderson says that the young nation of Australia affirmed its belief in freedom by defending its values in WW1 on the shores of Gallipoli. The majority valued freedom, that was reflected in social culture and laws.  The origins of our police, justice and education systems stem from a desire for a Christian nation

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

Psalm 33:12

Australia's representative Westminster system also reflected a belief that every voice mattered and needed to be heard. However, this was not true in practice. The equally valuable indigenous voice was not heard as aboriginals were not allowed to vote. For a supposed democracy, this was not a good thing. In 1967, Australia rightly changed its constitution to recognise indigenous Australians and grant all people equality under the law. Yet, equality did not resolve the visible differences or feelings of inequality. Statistically, Indigenous Australians continued to suffer worse economic and social effects than those of European decent.  And so motivated by compassion, Christians sent missionaries into indigenous communities to minister to their physical and spiritual needs. Many indigenous Australians began following Jesus, yet today some of their descendants resent that intervention.

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Culturally, Australia has evolved as we have absorbed larger quantities of art and entertainment from both the US, UK and also created our own. We created a ratings systems for socially acceptable content and created a place for Special Religious Education in public schools. We even gave our national broadcaster, the ABC, a charter to program appropriate content for our nation. As a society, we largely agree upon the norms of what we wanted and where we were going. The Australian minister Glen Scrivener wrote the book 'The Air We Breathe' to highlight just how much of our understanding of society is build upon Christianity. Our culture also took its cues from Britain. In his book, The Truth and Beauty, social commentator Andrew Klavan explores how the lives and works of England's greater poets lead us to a deeper understanding of the words of Jesus.  However, the 21st century brought in the digital and social media era.  This allowed various identity groups to stream content into their minds from all corners of the globe.  This change has placed our social cohesiveness on life support.