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In God they trust?

By Roy Williams - posted Wednesday, 3 July 2013


Since Federation, excluding "stop gap" appointees, Australia has had 23 prime ministers. Almost all of them thought long and hard about God. In general, they were much more spiritually-minded than the people they led.

I have come to agree wholeheartedly with an observation of the late Kim Beazley Senior: "In our secular age, biographers rarely give a person's spiritual life the attention it deserves".

If we accept that religious feeling is a key determinant of personal behaviour, it follows that anyone interested in Australian history or public policy ought to know what our leaders believed about God, particularly during their terms in office. The record shows that their decision-making was often affected by their faith, and not merely as regards matters patently "moral" or "spiritual". It extended to the perennial issues of practical politics: the distribution of wealth, wars and national participation in them, and the recognition and enforcement of human rights.

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Of course, a degree of caution must be exercised. It is hazardous to be dogmatic about the content and sincerity of anyone else's faith. Ultimately, faith is a personal thing: only you know for sure what is in your heart, and only God sees our every step (Job 34:21). But, for an outsider, I suggest a few useful rules of thumb. Actions – church-going, Bible-reading, evangelism, charitable works, peace-making, humility, piety, kindness – speak louder than words. And words written or spoken in private are more likely to be reliable than those for public consumption.

How many of our 23 prime ministers were believers in God? By that I mean believers in God as at the time of their death, or, in the case of the still-living prime ministers, as at the present day. My own count is sixteen believers to seven unbelievers. There may be room for argument about a few, but even the clear-cut unbelievers have a fascinating "religious" story to tell. Harold Holt's is the only open-and-shut case of lifelong agnosticism.

Our prime ministers can be grouped into eight broad categories. To some extent these are artificial, but they serve to highlight the various religious "types" who have directed the nation's affairs since Federation.

The good and faithful servants

  • Andrew Fisher (Labor: 1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15)
  • James Scullin (Labor: 1929-31)
  • Joseph Lyons (United Australia Party: 1932-39)

Each of these thoroughly admirable men was born into the Christian faith and married a woman from the same denomination. None were theologians of any note, but each adhered assiduously to his church's tenets – or sought to. Only one of them, Fisher, was a Protestant. Scullin and Lyons were Catholics, and, at the height of the Great Depression, they fought the December 1931 election. In retrospect, that election can be seen as marking the beginning of the long and tortuous process whereby religious sectarianism was (more or less) eradicated from Australian society. Fittingly, and not coincidentally, Joseph Lyons was a key figure. His wife Enid (nee Burrell) converted from Methodism to Catholicism prior to their marriage. On May 8, 1938, both Lyons and Scullin attended the laying of the foundation stone of the new St Christopher's Catholic Church in Canberra, where they both became parishioners.

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The ardent seekers

  • Alfred Deakin (Protectionist: 1903-04, 1905-08; Commonwealth Liberal: 1909-10)
  • William (Billy) McMahon (Liberal: 1971-72)
  • Kevin Rudd (Labor: 2007-10, 2013-)

All three of these men were university-educated and spoke and wrote extensively about their faith. Each of their spiritual journeys was different, but they had one major trait in common: a genuine passion for theology. Deakin was the most prolific author and the most unorthodox in his beliefs. He was an exceptionally intelligent and well-read man. So is Rudd. McMahon, though not in their league, should not be underestimated in either capacity. Both Rudd and McMahon moved from Catholicism to Anglicanism, and were accused by their opponents – within and outside their own parties, of using "religion" for political advantage. In my judgment the charge was (is) largely unfair in both cases.

The righteous straighteners

  • Joseph Cook (Commonwealth Liberal: 1913-14)
  • W. M. (Billy) Hughes (Labor: 1915-16; National Labor: 1916-17; Nationalist: 1917-23)
  • John Howard (Liberal: 1996-2007)

All three of these men were theologically orthodox. But they held a determinedly

Old Testament view of the world. These were tough, resourceful characters who rose from hard-scrabble, lower-middle class origins and expected others to do the same. They did not readily feel pity. Unloved by many of their colleagues and despised by their opponents, they commanded respect and clung doggedly to power. Though mostly upright in their personal conduct, they understood the darker side of the Australian character – and were not above exploiting it. They waged war. Both Cook and Howard moved away from the kindly brand of Methodism to which they had been exposed in their youth. Only Hughes had a discernible sense of humour – though of a sardonic, biting sort.

The more-than-tribal Catholics

  • Ben Chifley (Labor: 1945-49)
  • Paul Keating (Labor: 1991-96)

The parallels between Chifley and Keating are striking. Both were raised in devout Irish-Catholic families and attended modestly-endowed Catholic schools. Both joined the workforce in their mid-teens. Both advanced by hard work and wide reading, before devoting themselves to the Labor movement. Both served long and distinguished stints as federal Treasurer under a strong Labor leader (Curtin, Hawke), before assuming the top job. Both secured one famous election victory in their own right (1946, 1993) before suffering a heavy and galling defeat the next time around – to men who would become a Liberal Party icon (Menzies in 1949, Howard in 1996). Both are too frequently dismissed as mere "tribal" or "cultural" Catholics. The weight of the evidence establishes that both of them were deeply religious. If Tony Abbott ever reaches the Lodge, he will belong fairly and squarely in this category.

The enigmatic Presbyterians

  • George Reid (Free Trade: 1904-05)
  • Robert Menzies (United Australia Party: 1939-41; Liberal: 1949-66)
  • Malcolm Fraser (Liberal: 1975-83)

All three of these men were born into proudly Presbyterian families. However, none wore his heart on his sleeve – in public, at least. Down the years questions have been raised as to the nature and sincerity of their personal faith. It has been frequently charged or hinted at, especially by critics from the left, that they were mere "formal" Christians and essentially areligious. In Menzies' case, in my view, this notion is quite wrong. Reid and Fraser are more complicated studies. Interestingly, Fraser's grandfather, Sir Simon Fraser (1832-1919), was Reid's closest and most reliable personal friend.

Labor's lapsed?

  • John Curtin (Labor: 1941-45)
  • Bob Hawke (Labor: 1983-91)
  • Julia Gillard (Labor: 2010-13)

Each of these three Labor Prime Ministers was exposed to extensive Christian teaching in childhood. Of the three, Hawke's (Congregationalist) faith lasted until his early twenties and Curtin's Catholicism until his early teens. It is not entirely clear whether Julia Gillard was ever a Christian, but she had certainly renounced any (Baptist) faith by her late teens. All three substituted the Labor movement for the Church. The key questions are: (i) why each of them lost their childhood faith (if any), (ii) whether Curtin regained a Protestant form of faith before he died, and (iii) whether there is any serious prospect of Hawke and/or Gillard regaining theirs. It is interesting that, of the six past Prime Ministers still living, Bob Hawke was by far the most supportive of Julia Gillard – certainly in public and, one imagines, in private as well. Gillard, by the way, is not correctly categorised as an atheist.

The fellow-travellers

  • Chris Watson (Labor: 1904)
  • Stanley Melbourne Bruce (Nationalist: 1923-29)
  • John Gorton (Liberal: 1968-71)
  • Gough Whitlam (Labor: 1972-75)

The term "fellow-traveller" was coined during the Cold War. It was used by anti-Communist hardliners to describe people who, while not Communists themselves, were broadly in sympathy with the goals (if not the methods) of people who were. In 1973 Gough Whitlam applied the term to himself. He did so tongue-in-cheek in answer to a question about his religion: "Let's say I am a fellow traveller with Christianity". It is a resonant and useful term, in my view, and perfectly captures the state of mind of four of our former leaders. None of them could be classed as practising Christians. But all four admired Christianity and followed its basic non-theological precepts. It is possible that one or more of them did rather more than that.

The gentlemanly agnostics

  • Edmund Barton (Protectionist: 1901-03)
  • Harold Holt (Liberal: 1966-67)

Barton and Holt were both from the upper-middle class. Both belonged on the non-Labor side of politics, but were essentially moderate in their socio-political views. Both were lawyers and capable administrators. Both served less than a full term as prime minister. Both were urbane and well-liked, with a hedonistic streak. Both were capable of concentrated spells of work when the inclination took them. Both were nominally of the Church of England. Were either of them anything more than nominal? In Barton's case there is some basis for doubt – but not much. In Holt's case it is virtually certain that he had no religious convictions to speak of.

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This is an edited extract from In God They Trust?, a new book by Roy Williams about the religious beliefs of Australia's prime ministers from 1901-2013, just published by the Bible Society of Australia. It features extensive interviews with John Howard and Kevin Rudd.



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About the Author

Roy Williams won the Sydney University Medal in law in 1986. He practised as a litigation solicitor in Sydney for 20 years, before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of God, Actually, an award-winning and best-selling defence of Christianity published in Australasia by ABC Books and in Britain and North America by Monarch Books.

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