#fundamentalists

Running where: Senate in NSW and WA, plus ten House divisions in WA

Prior reviews: federal 2013, VIC 2014, federal 2016, federal 2019, federal 2022, WA 2025

What I said before: “they want their own theological views made into the law of the land. Their acknowledgement that other religions can be practiced freely in Australia is begrudging. They seem more extreme than ever in the narrowness of their vision for society.” (WA 2025)

What I think this year: The Australian Christians splintered some 14 years ago from Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party and, as the CDP was deregistered in 2022, they have now outlasted it. Their heartland is WA, as that was one of the two CDP branches that originally split to form the party (Victoria was the other), and they have maintained a small but consistent presence in the west. Although the WA Electoral Commission is yet to declare the results of the recent election for the WA Legislative Council, it looks certain that the Australian Christians have won their first ever parliamentary seat. (This paragraph will be updated when the WAEC declares the results in the next few days)

A decade ago, Christian fundamentalist parties of varying confessions formed one of the most common genres of micro-party. Thankfully, this desire to legislate a very particular worldview to apply to everybody has waned, but we are still stuck with the Australian Christians. Worse, they have got more extreme over time.

Nothing has changed since my WA election review a few weeks ago: this party opposes women’s bodily autonomy, they are transphobes, and they oppose “coercive vaccine mandates” (coded language for antivax weirdos). When it comes to education, they want more chaplains in school, despite our secular education system suggesting we ought to have none in the public system at all, and they promote home-schooling, which is often an avenue for religious fundamentalists to under-educate and under-socialise their kids. In less obviously religious areas, their economic policies favour the sort of small business owner who is annoyed that they might have legal responsibilities and who bleats about the sorts of “red tape” that actually stops them taking advantage of employees or clients.

I also take umbrage with their name, despite not being a believer of any faith. This party's political or theological positions do not represent all or even most Christians in Australia. Maybe if you're a socially conservative evangelical Protestant you will find your faith embodied in this party, but those from other denominations will at best feel like a square peg in a round hole. Believers who adhere to more liberal wings of Christianity will find this party about as objectionable as I do.

Recommendation: Give the Australian Christians a low preference in the House of Representatives and a weak or no preference in the Senate.

The Christian fundamentalists do this to discredit science and defend their absurd biblical myths. The new atheists do this to discredit religion and justify their faith in the cult of science.

These atheists use science the way religious fundamentalists use religion: to arrogate to themselves moral authority over all creation including those of their own species who are too dim to see the truth. They alone, they think, understand how to bring about collective salvation and redeem the human race.

A list of Bible verses intended to encourage folks under violent persecution under Nero are cherry picked to make you feel guilty for whatever way religious control isn’t fun for you. Christ can handle Roman torture so you can surely handle _______.

Now you feel bad about, say, your massively gay longings, because repressing them can’t possibly be as awful as Jesus’s death.

Which by the way was your fault.

If that sounds wrong, it’s because your judgement can’t be trusted.

In fact, it’s a privilege to be unhappy because Jesus was unhappy, and we wanna be like Jesus.

Also you killed god sooooo 👉👈

DO YOU SEE THE PIPELINE? Do you fucking see it?? Read it again if you’re not sure.

Ok, guess what else:

Jesus wasn’t unhappy. They called him a drunk and a glutton because he was so lit at his friends’ weddings.

Canonically, jesus had a lot of sex worker friends and you don’t hear him giving them shit. All his dialogue is in red btw, it’s pretty easy to find.

Jesus spent a lot of time with groups excluded by previous dogma and repeatedly let his disciples blow off textual rules when it better served those around them in their present context.

He’s really pretty emphatic about food security and healthcare. As in bending the laws of physics to get lunch for strangers and cure them of weird diseases. It’s pretty neat.

I don’t know or care who Jesus Christ is to you, but I’m just gonna set the record straight that he was killed in a rough way after hoofing it around the Middle East with his twelve weird friends and some hoes. Do and think what you want but for the love of God, don’t let a mofo in front of a praise band use my guy to guilt trip you out of basic happiness and humanity.

Anyway, I am a Christian adult. This is what I and plenty of other Christian adults believe. I have 0 desire to control you or your relationships, I do not believe in hell, much less that you, precious beloved child, are going there. I am shouting at you hopefully over anyone who tells you that you are not enough and you deserve the pain you are in.

I love you so much. I wish you joy and nonviolence and authenticity. I wish you healthy food and cool tattoos. I wish you someone to love and loyal friends and an acceptance and a dope fucking jacket. I love you so much. Please be free, glorious, beautiful creature. It’s ok to be happy.

I might not be your mom but I am a mom. For what it’s worth, you deserve the world exactly as you are. If someone else disagrees, fuck that guy. Literally fuck that guy.

Palestine is being bombed the shit out of and the Orange One is running again. These are bad times. My blog is a safe space for you.