A pastor informed his congregation that Christians can no longer seek to impose their moral values on a society which no longer accepts Christianity. The second part of the statement is false. Church membership and attendance has sharply decreased. However, the Australian Values Study (section 35) demonstrates that 80% believe in God and 75% regard themselves as Christians.
There are some who forcibly and aggressively argue that Christian values must be exorcised from law, society and politics. Gareth Evans (now Senator Gareth Evans) is reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (7/5/1976 p. 11) as stating at a Convention of the South Australian Council for Civil Liberties that children wanted a right to sexual freedom and education and "protection from the influence of Christianity".
The same article referred to Mr Richard Neville of Oz fame as stating,
"promiscuity is one beneficial way of breaking up the family structure, which has led children to become the property of their parents".
Professor Manning Clark described the late Justice Murphy as a man
"who believed passionately that the morality of Judeo-Christianity had ceased to be relevant. I see Lionel Murphy as a man who in that context strove to end the domination by God over human beings".
If law is not based on morality, on what can it be based? There is no justification for any law that is not based on a moral or ethical value. Those who argue that Christian morality must be exorcised from law and society are at the same time arguing for new laws based on their preferred particular moral base. They are guilty of double standards. The pastor who made the statement quoted above has been deceived and is blissfully unaware of the "new morality" which the opponents of morality are committed to — relativism, secular humanism, permissiveness, situational ethics, an anti-Christianityism, material equality and distributive justice enforced through law.
Many concerned people, including Christians, are drawn into the war against moral values without realising what is happening. The supporters of the new morality focus on particular human problems, excite compassion and are able to hide their underlying philosophy and perspectives. They also confuse ethical standards of honesty and respect for private property with the taboos of social morality. They are adept at the characterisation of morality.
Christian morality underlies the common law. The common law inherited by the British colonies in Australia and by the Commonwealth established in 1901, was developed over many centuries by British judges reacting to particular human situations on the basis of Christian values. The Christian moral values which were influential in the development of the common law are similar to the values of other great religions. Thus, though the common law was consciously developed on Christian principles, its base may be found in principles of morality which are common to the messages of all the great religions.
The basic issue is whether law based on the basic morality common to all major religions is to be defended or a movement towards a law based on ideas of material equality and influenced by Marxist philosophy, is to continue.