Background to Christianity in Australia
The Christian churches have sat in an uneasy place in Australian society, ever since Europeans arrived to the continent in the eighteenth century. It took many years, and much pressure from immigrants, for British churches to consider the communities of convicts, emancipists and free settlers as mission fields (Breward, 1988: 1). Rather than conscientious opposition that grew in North American societies, it was apathy that halted the establishment of a national Church in the colonies.
The same apathy allowed for the growth of religious diversity and the development of a unique religious character for the land that would be a nation. Colonial governments supported the importation of both Protestant and Roman Catholic clergy and professionals to build charities for migrants and freed convicts, the majority of whom were Irish Catholics (Breward, 1988: 11, 13). The copper and gold boom of the mid 1800s attracted both miners and evangelists who gained followers more by their practical piety than formal theological education. It was in this period that Methodist and Baptist churches grew rapidly, by the deployment of lay preachers (Breward, 1988: 28). Finke and Stark notice a similar expansion in the history of the United States’ expansion. In the absence of an established national church, as in Europe, religious diversity thrived and the growth of denominational communities were fuelled by a process akin to market forces: those that grew were those that could provide religious products that the wider community would be attracted to consume (Finke and Stark, 2005: 15-20).
Even this early in the history of White Australia, common sense pointed to an ecumenical Christian presence, if at least a common Protestantism. Anglicans, Presbyterians and Wesleyans shared resources to build churches in marginal areas, including the support of clergy (Breward, 1988: 23-24). This common sense survived into the next century, where a federated Australia saw the union of all Lutheran churches (previously divided by ethnic origins), a Baptist Union, and an Australian Anglican General Synod (Breward, 1988: 66). Even Methodism, Congregationalism, and most Presbyterian communities were lost to a Uniting Church in Australia.
It is argued that this ecumenical sensibility fuelled the separation of church from state in the nation’s development. For example, a passion for justice united Christians to the campaign of state-funded education in the second half of the nineteenth century, that led to the dissolution of most Protestant schools. It could have ended all sectarianism, but it paved the way for a Roman Catholic system that aimed for a religious alternative to secularist education, and then new Protestant schools that aimed for prestige and refinement (Breward, 1988: 32-33). The same passion in Christian community service led to the ideal that the professional skill is more important than the religious affiliation of service agencies’ staff, and would eventually mean the independence of many from their Christian roots (Breward, 1988: 86-87). Examples include the Brotherhood of St Lawrence, Mission Australia and the Australian Workers Union. Even organisations that carry a denominational label, such as Anglicare and UnitingCare, ensure the culture of the workplace remains primarily secular, even where chaplains are employed.
Against the historical backdrop of consensual secularism and latent ecumenism, the mid 1900s saw a convergence of various global social and political factors that led to a watershed in Australian religious history, among the effects of which the Australian emerging church now sees itself. These include, but are not exhausted by, the Billy Graham crusades, the Second Vatican Council, the arrival of television, the Asian Wars, the World Council of Churches, the Death of God, and communism.
