Living faith.(St. Thomas More's Forum Papers, 2005-2007)(Book review)

The St Thomas More Forum Papers, 2005-2007; published by St Thomas More Forum, 2007 (available from PO Box 68, Campbell ACT 2612, e-mail: sttmforum@homemail.com.au), $19.95. (The book is also being distributed to bookshops.)

THE SEPARATION of church and state is one of the cornerstones of Australian democracy. But despite what some people try to claim, rendering unto Caesar has traditionally also been understood not to negate or ignore God in the public sphere. Religious freedom here has always meant more than just being able to practise your religion in private: it also means the liberty to be guided by your religious convictions in public life, within a framework of checks and balances, whether that be as clergyman, politician, public servant, business person, intellectual or journalist or whatever you like.

Acting on this guidance has always been a part of public life; but in recent years, speaking about it has also become a feature, as the traditional Australian reticence to talk of one's religious beliefs and principles gives way to a more open acknowledgment of faith. This is true of society in general, and of public life in particular, and stems partly from a greater tendency to openness, and partly from the fact that many topical issues of today--from terrorism to embryo experimentation, from changing family patterns to climate change, abortion to euthanasia, worries about the overt sexualisation of the media to concerns about poverty and social inequality--have more and more ramifications for people of faith.

Though there has been some discussion of this in the public domain, much of it tends to emanate from a frankly atheistic or anti-religious or else wishy-washily agnostic viewpoint, which of course can offer some valuable insights or critiques, but suffers from the fact that the extraordinary diversity of religious views can be very easily missed by someone operating from outside religious belief, and that therefore conclusions can be reached which, either deliberately or not, deform, twist or quite simply miss the truth.

Enter the St Thomas More Forum. The Forum grew out of an initiative of a group of parishioners of St Thomas More's Catholic Church in Campbell, Canberra. The main objective was to provide a public forum for prominent speakers from public life who would be prepared to address issues of topical concern and debate from a Catholic and Christian platform. ...