Australian High Court rules against public school chaplains

[Justtristo]

Australia is a much less religiously observant country than America. To give an example a Christian organisation (Olive Tree Media) in their Australian Communities survey reported that 50% (18% of that were spiritual but did not identify with a religion) of Australians did not identify with a religion, compared to less than 20% in the United States. In contrast Evangelical Christians are around perhaps 5% of the population.

http://www.olivetreemedia.com.au/resourc...ry-web.pdf

Well of course. Land of the free, home of the brave, and dumping ground for Europe's puritans. Besides that, the christians here are far more militant about it. It's like this constant battle to keep America christian.

I know of Christians here in Australia who are just as vocal and strident of those you encounter in America. However there are far fewer (in both numbers and proportionally in the population) of them in this country.

Thus a lot of Australians don't really encounter this sort of Christianity in their day to day lives. At most the sort of Christianity they encounter is really watered down in comparison. When many Australians encounter that sort of Christianity you and I are familiar with, they are honestly deeply shocked.

[KnockEmOuttt]

Well of course. Land of the free, home of the brave, and dumping ground for Europe's puritans. Besides that, the christians here are far more militant about it. It's like this constant battle to keep America christian.

I know of Christians here in Australia who are just as vocal and strident of those you encounter in America. However there are far fewer (in both numbers and proportionally in the population) of them in this country.

Thus a lot of Australians don't really encounter this sort of Christianity in their day to day lives. At most the sort of Christianity they encounter is really watered down in comparison. When many Australians encounter that sort of Christianity you and I are familiar with, they are honestly deeply shocked.

The same can be said of Europeans. I've got a lot of European friends who aren't remotely as into the atheist thing as I am, and a lot of what they see over here actually scares them.

[Polaris]

[quote='Justtristo' pid='309675' dateline='1342227960']
This country needs a bill of rights like that of the United States with same strict separation between church and state clause.
[quote]

I could be wrong, but doesn't the concept of the Separation of Church and State in the US not arise until roughly 1802 (Jefferson could have held these beliefs prior, but this is the first instance I see of it being in written form) and not really become the legem terrae (the term was used in 1868 I believe by the US Supreme Court, but I think it was actually used to protect religious freedom) until Post-War America when the US Supreme Court ruled that the inclusion of religion into secular life had an adverse affect on personal liberty?

[KnockEmOuttt]

There is no complete separation of church and state in the United States. There is no government document which directly states verbatim that they must be separate. There are some separations, such as article 6 of the constitution and the first amendment, but there is no all-encompassing separation, nor is there anything that says the state must be secular. Just non-denominational.

[Polaris]

That fits into the understanding that the 1st Amendment section about religious freedom was backed by religious groups who did not want to become subservient to a single religion as was the case in Europe.