BY MELANIE COLLINS It's Worth Remembering Our Christian Heritage With the census on tonight in Australia, there have

been groups of people agitat ing the public to take seriously what you might check on your form. For example, the Australian Atheists Foundation has been advertising people expr ess their lack of faith in a God if that is actually the case. With many variati ons and depths of faith being claimed in this country, it is odd to see those wi th little faith being asked to express a complete lack of it. If we were to consider the impact of Christianity, for example, in the establish ment of this country, from its democracy to its generous welfare system, a great many more people might indeed claim to have a little more faith than they might otherwise admit. The difficulty might be in deciphering what parts of our society come from secul ar influences and what comes from the teachings of the Christian church. A group of social scientists from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beij ing delivered a surprising talk back in 2002 to a group of American journalists, which included Time Magazine's Professor David Aikman. They said that after car efully examining the cultures of most prosperous western countries, they found i t was the Christian faith that was fundamentally responsible for the prosperity and stability of the west.

Prof. David Aikman included this lecture in his book - Jesus in Beijing: How Chr istianity Is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power: One of the things we were asked to look into was what accounted for the success, in fact, the pre-eminence of the West all over the world, said the lecturer. We studied everything we could from the historical, political, economic, and cultural persp ective. At first, we thought it was because you had more powerful guns than we h ad. Then we thought it was because you had the best political system. Next we fo cused on your economic system. But in the past 20 years, we have realized that t he heart of your culture is your religion: Christianity. That is why the West ha s been so powerful. The Christian moral foundation of social and cultural life i s what made possible the emergence of capitalism and then the successful transit ion to democratic politics. We don t have any doubt about this. This is a surprising statement from a member of China's academic elite. With that kind of conclusion about the west, it s not surprising to find that China has, in the past two decades, been more accepting of Christianity in its culture , with more than 30 million residents now being affiliated with Christian church es. Ironically, the west is now in the process of distancing itself from those v ery values and beliefs that have made it what it is today The point is that we should, perhaps, take a closer look at this Christian influ ence in our culture and perhaps acknowledge its value to our society today. The moral code and foundations upon which many of our institutions were establis hed came from Christian teachings, indeed the teachings of Jesus, which were in his day quite the opposite of what was occurring under Roman/Jewish leadership. These included: * The value of human life, no matter whether sick, disabled, poor or rich * Helping the poor and persecuted (Christian organisations are the leading non-g overnment providers of health and welfare services in Australia.) * Universal education - not just for the rich. (The first schools in Australia w ere started by churches.) * Universal healthcare - not just for the rich. (Many of the early hospitals in Australia were funded by churches, particularly the Catholic church).

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Democracy - all people have an equal voice Strong work ethic - encouraged in the Bible Family stability - marriage - and loving treatment of your spouse Moral code - "love your neighbour as yourself"

Critics will point to the atrocities committed in Australia under the banner of Christianity, such as the abuse of children by priests and victims of The Stolen Generation. But those actions were inconsistent with the core values of the Chr istian faith that is, to love thy neighbour as thyself and to do unto others as yo u would have them do unto you. The moral code of a society is the glue that holds the society together. And it' s worthwhile remembering that the reason we love being a citizen of The Lucky Co untry is due to its social justice, stability, prosperity and freedoms (includin g religion), established by those with a Christian moral code.