Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church

Popular author Anne Rice recently announced she’d quit Christianity. She wrote on Facebook that she refused to be anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-artificial birth control, anti-Democrat, anti-secular humanism, anti-science and anti-life any longer. This, she feels, is what Christianity has become.

She adds she’s left Christianity, not Christ: “My commitment to Christ remains at the heart and centre of my life.” She plans to attend church to pray in private, “as long as nobody there is offended by my presence,” she told the Los Angeles Times.

Rice wrote about vampires (The Vampire Chronicles series of novels) before it became popular to do so. She wrote these books as a “pessimistic atheist.” She says, “Those novels are all about what it’s like to live in a very dark world, a meaningless world. . . . I can’t go back to that, I don’t believe that anymore.” Now she writes about angels.

Still, she’s walked away from organised Christianity, and in doing so she’s identified three issues Christians need to address.

1. Without attempting to defend or challenge her “anti” list, it shows a major tragedy with today’s Christianity. What Christians stand for is being drowned out by what they are perceived to stand against. God must weep at this.
2. She says it’s impossible for her to belong to this “quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious . . . group.” So many Christian groups act like dysfunctional school children when there needs to be respect and honour for one another—1 Corinthians 13 is a good guide.
3. Finally, she asks whether “the decisions of people in organised religion are related to any deep-rooted theology of Jesus Christ.” Is it stating the obvious when we say Jesus Christ must be central for those who are Christ-ians?

I’m sorry Rice feels she has to walk away from Christianity because it’s best experienced in a healthy body of Christ (the church). I hope she discovers one soon.

Dr Bruce Manners
Senior minister
Avondale College Seventh-day Adventist Church

In a remarkable performance on 60 Minutes this past Sunday, Mark Latham, former leader of the Australian Labor Party and wannabe Prime Minister, announced he’s going to the polling booth to put in an empty voting form.

His message (in case you missed it): “When it comes to good ideas for Australia’s future, Gillard and Abbott have given voters a blank piece of paper, so let’s give them a blank piece of paper in return.”

He’s inviting us to do the same to send a message to our politicians.

That’s a bit rich coming from someone who, a few years ago, was out and about seeking votes for himself and his party. Does he think politics has gone downhill so much since his party rejected him as leader? Is this personal? Or after his recent run in with Julia Gillard, is he merely planning a career as a walking headline?

More important, though, is this question: What would happen to democracy if no one participated? Do we search for a benevolent dictator—and what guarantees do we have they would stay benevolent?

We have this messy, inefficient system called democracy where our politicians are accountable every few years to the people. It’s complicated by the fact that there are parties involved, which means our representatives, at times, have divided loyalties between their constituencies and their party. That adds to the messiness.

What this messy, inefficient system has done, however, is build a stable nation that allows for divergent views—like Latham’s. That must never be discounted.

It’s easy to be the critic. It’s certainly easier than trying to find solutions. And, it must be admitted, it isn’t always easy making a choice at the polling booth.

However, there’s something healthy about a nation that encourages everyone to vote (that’s the law), and allows anyone to stand. The range of parties and individuals attempting to represent New South Wales in the senate is a fascinating insight into Australian life.

You’ll find on the ballot paper groups such as the climate sceptics, communist, secular, sex, and shooters and fishers parties. Mostly they’re special interest groups that will secure much less than one per cent of the vote. Then there’s a long list of independents, unknown to most of us, who have put their names down.

So while, realistically speaking, none of these parties or individuals has a chance of being voted in, the fact they’re there says something positive about our nation. And they’re “having a go.”

It’s a cop out to go to the polling booth and do nothing. Here’s a chance to make a statement that is meaningful—by voting. Leaving the paper empty means you’re asking someone else to make the decision for you. That’s when you become a bystander, and God hasn’t given us life to live it as a bystander.

So, sorry Mr Latham, while I’m still waiting to be impressed that any party can actually lead Australia strongly into the future, I’ll be making my mark on the voting form. It’s both a responsibility and an opportunity.