One Nation is campaigning directly to Christians. But will party policies rub against worshippers’ conscience? | One Nation

When One Nation member Barnaby Joyce addressed anti-abortion campaigners at a rally in Sydney in early June, the former deputy prime minister told the audience he could see “about 1,500 people who might be handing out how to vote cards”.

Christian leaders spoke at the rally. The Lord’s Prayer was recited. Many were active churchgoers.

As Pauline Hanson’s popularity grew, her party reached out to Australia’s Christian community, a hard-to-find group of voters who could get behind a party in the right circumstances.

Will Australian Christians adopt Joyce’s instructions and support One Nation?

‘Reason for stopping’

Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, with approximately 44% of the population identifying as Christian. Anglicanism and Catholicism are the two biggest affiliations.

Nearly one in five Australians attend church regularly, according to the National Church Life Survey (NCLS).

While churchgoers’ voting habits have historically been in favor of the Coalition, Christians have been known to abruptly switch their votes based on wide-ranging policy issues affecting everything from abortion, marriage and religious schools to social services, immigration, climate and refugees.

Kevin Rudd attracted many conservative voters to Labor in 2007 as a practicing Christian who argued that a staunch morality should care for the marginalized.

Scott Morrison won many conservative Christian votes in 2019, helping him achieve a “miracle” election result in a year when religious freedom policies were hotly debated.

One Nation’s strong anti-abortion rhetoric may draw some Christians to the party’s ranks, but believers may not like everything they hear, given that Hanson’s broader platform is built around his long-standing anti-immigration position.

“One Nation’s anti-immigrant and anti-refugee stance will be a stumbling block for people whose faith calls them to welcome the stranger and see all people as valuable because they are created in the image of God,” says Simon Smart, executive director of the Center for Public Christianity.

“Christians who are drawn to Pauline Hanson’s rhetoric may have good reason to pause and reconsider.”

One of the problems with One Nation winning the religious vote is that a significant number of Christian immigrant families attend church services conducted in their native language; This would run counter to Hanson’s quest for a “monocultural” Australia.

He warned against “the growing language problem as a result of immigration.”

Smart says conversations about monoculture can go against Christian conscience.

“The Christian vision is unity and community among people of every tribe, nation, and language; there is a richness in the diversity of humanity that doesn’t quite fit into this idea of ​​a monoculture,” he says.

The proportion of overseas-born churchgoers in Australia has risen to over a third, according to the NCLS. About a quarter of churchgoers speak a language other than English at home.

bible belt

Hanson records much higher net approval ratings than prime minister Anthony Albanese or opposition leader Angus Taylor, and his party is now luring eager supporters away from the Coalition and Labor.

Among Christians, One Nation threatens to take on the Coalition’s evangelicals and Labor’s traditional working-class Catholics.

Given the diversity of opinions in the ranks, scholars have mixed views on whether Christian votes are influential enough to influence elections.

John Black, a former Labor senator and founder of demographic profiling company Australian Development Strategies, says that if Australia has a Bible belt, it is on the suburban fringes of major cities, densely populated areas and often in marginal seats.

He says “mortgage belt” issues underpin political support in these seats, but religious voters could sway a tight vote if Christians can be persuaded to vote as a bloc.

Part of Rudd’s appeal to Christians in 2007 was that he could articulate his faith and even reference the teachings of German theologian and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Several leading Coalition politicians have also earnestly expressed their Christian beliefs, which appeals to churchgoers.

John Warhurst, retired professor of political science at the Australian National University, says One Nation lacks a distinct Christian voice that would appeal to the wider church-going population.

“If One Nation is to have an impact among Christians, it must be through their policy programs and the general tone that they represent believers.

“It’s not impossible; Donald Trump is doing well among some Christian groups, and it’s not because of his personality.”

Maybe this is enough for One Nation.

‘Judeo-Christian’ values

One Nation’s vision for Australia involves returning it to what Hanson describes as “Judeo-Christian” values, amid broad warnings that the Western way of life is under siege from “those who come to this country and bring with them the problems they leave behind”.

The party’s platform also includes a policy of refusing entry to immigrants from countries known to harbor ideas “incompatible with Australian values”. Hanson questioned the existence of “good Muslims”; A statement for which he was condemned in the Senate.

By explicitly excluding other religions from its vision of Australia, One Nation appeals directly to this radical minority and is able to persuade more moderate Christian voters to embrace its extreme views.

Jarrod McKenna, mobilization strategist at the Christian humanitarian organization Act for Peace, says politicians rarely use the term “Judeo-Christian” to mean anything Jesus actually taught.

“They never use it to talk about love of neighbor, and they very rarely talk about welcoming the stranger,” says McKenna, who is also a pastor.

“In fact, the foreigner is being used as a scapegoat.”

It is no coincidence that the rise of One Nation comes at a time of relentless housing and living cost pressures that have led many Australians to seek political answers outside mainstream parties.

Hanson focused his speech at the National Press Club last month on tying the housing crisis to demand from immigration; did not draw attention to the contribution of decades of chronic undersupply and investor-centered tax regulations.

The antidote to divisive rhetoric, McKenna says, is to prioritize civility and practical values ​​like “fair dealing” by addressing policy environments in the economy.

“The idea of ​​doing justly, being kind and being down-to-earth is a pretty nice Aussie interpretation of the Biblical principle of dealing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God,” he says.

“All One Nation scapegoating does is cause us to bleed out the best parts of who we are instead of actually finding solutions to the problems.”