No longer a ‘Christian nation’: why Australia’s Christian Right loses policy battles even when it wins elections

ABSTRACT

This contribution explains the declining policy influence of the Christian Right in Australia, especially compared to its more powerful American counterpart. Despite seven years of conservative federal government in Australia featuring prominent Christian conservatives, including two prime ministers, the Christian Right has had continuous defeats on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion. This contribution argues the Christian Right in Australia is weakened by the lack of a popular sense of Australia as a ‘Christian nation’, even if it still has a majority of Christian identifiers. Unlike the United States, where a Christian nation discourse is an important political resource for the Christian Right, in Australia the relative lack of such a discourse weakens the link between the Christian Right’s policy agenda and broader exclusionary nationalism. Even when repelling out-groups is politically popular, Christianity is no longer privileged as the national in-group. This contribution empirically examines the use of the term ‘Christian nation’ in recent public discourse in Australia to show why it lacks political power.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• nationalism
• Christian Right
• Australia
• United States

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

David T. Smith

David T. Smith is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney, jointly appointed between the School of Social and Political Sciences and the United States Studies Centre.