It was a comment by Greg Sheriden on Richard Glover's ABC local radio program on Thursday that suddenly captured for me what's been happening this week. He said there was a new hard-nosed and dangerous sectarianism in Australia.
Sheriden was referring to the remarkable, almost hysterical reaction in some parts of the press and politicians to Tony Abbott's answer to the question about sex before marriage. The comment rang true. There is something very strange going on.
Perhaps the Deputy Prime Minister's attack on Mr Abbott as creating what all women fear should just be dismissed as a cynical political exercise. As could the Prime Minister's taking the high moral ground with his "I am not going to talk about what I'd say to my children" response.
However, in a world in which politicians cannot cease but tell us how to live our lives, on questions of binge drinking, obesity, global warming, photographs of young women/children, even Gordon Ramsay, the sudden discovery that one must never talk about sexual morality suggests something else is going on here than just sheer cynical politics.
The reaction from many of the overheated and very moralistic commentators attacking Abbott certainly make you suspicious. There is something rather odd about the way in which the discussion of sexual morality, particularly involving women (it was, after all, Abbott's daughters he was talking about), still touches a very deep nerve in our society.
Of course, some time ago, you probably would have thought that to suggest anything other than remaining celibate before marriage would be regarded as inappropriate. Now even to suggest in any way the position of Christian morality is now taken as immoral! In fact even to talk about it is immoral.
A new anti-Christian sectarianism indeed.
I can't help but wonder what's really going on here. Is there a bad conscience at work? Are people still fighting old battles and feeling anxious they haven't quite won?
Certainly you get the sense that there is something about the present morality of do-what-you-like-don't-worry-about-it that people don't quite buy. Or at least are fearful enough, to not have it discussed.
Whatever it is, Christians need to take heed because this kind of debate does show us that we are going to find a number of things that we just take for granted as consistent with Christian discipleship regarded not merely as not agreed to but as not able to be talked about at all.
