And so it begins...

c/o Crikey's mailing list

This is scary:

The Assemblies of God backed Family First Party is having an impact far from its birthplace in South Australia. It announced on Monday that it will be fielding a Senate team and candidates in every seat in Queensland - more wannabe MPs than the local Libs and Nats and the same number as the ALP. While Bob Brown continues to make much of his preferences, with an effort like this in such a key state Family First votes could end up becoming a crucial factor in determining the final election outcome.

Could this be the first step to US-style, incompetently one-eyed political dabblings from the Australian churches or will they be different?

I checked out their website. Under 'Hot Topics' they listed three issues, metal health - impressive, the major parties don't seem to care on that one; unflinching support for the 'war on terror' - *sigh*; and stem cells - a difficult issue but often at risk of being over done by Christians.

Their page on their philosophy
is interesting. Highlights were a commitment to social justice, positive comments on asylum seekers (with some concerning reservations) and a few good ideas regarding aged care. The negatives were that many of the ideas were nice sounding but made no concrete suggestions, a dubious chauvinism for families, an expensive and possibly infeasible national pornography filter, further details on the unflinching commitment to "win" the war on terror and the fact that throughout - as with Liberal party publications - there were unspecified qualifications and reservations that continued to raise doubts.

But these guys are new, let's see where they end up after being chewed up by the political machine. No sign yet at least of any Falwell's or Buchanan's.

I guess my biggest concern is that they epitomise that middle-class "I want to keep my family safe and comfortable and to hell with everyone else" mentality - the 4WD mentality, which is so thoroughly unchristian.

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