The Bible is a mainstay of Western life

The Bible has almost always been an instrument for free speech. Where the Bible has been freely available, a society has usually become more tolerant, more progressive and better off. This is admittedly sometimes hard to believe, especially in the light of terrible abuses of power by the church or Christianised political movements. But usually their transgressions are in fact transgressions against the teachings of the Bible, and over time history works that out. The teachings of the Bible bend the long moral arc of the universe in the right direction.

At the moment, presenting such a view can sound a bit like suggesting VHS tapes are still the way to go. Public sentiment seems to have drifted, in some cases charged, into post-Christian territory, especially in the areas of personal and sexual identity. What was not long ago the "mean and median" view on such matters is now presented as peripheral and dangerous. That explains why prominent figures such as chief executives of large companies would take a strong stance, petitioning government for change. And why an IBM executive such as Mark Allaby, who does not join this movement, can be publicly "outed" and his company challenged to take action on him.

But even in the face of this new activism, the same deeper questions remain to be addressed. What is the moral basis of marriage? What is sex for? Not to mention other pressing topics such as refugees, tax reform, work and human dignity, questions about the beginning and end of life.

This is where the Bible still deserves to be part of the discussion. It's not an old VHS tape; it's electricity. It's still charging the debate, notwithstanding all the other sources of knowledge that now complement it in various areas.

As the philosopher Jurgen Habermas wrote: "Christianity has functioned for the normative self-understanding of modernity as more than a mere precursor or a catalyst. Egalitarian universalism, from which sprang the ideas of freedom and social solidarity, of an autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, of the individual morality of conscience, human rights, and democracy, is the direct heir to the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love.

"This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it."

Time may reveal that ignoring, belittling or opposing the Bible is a fruitless exercise for a society that values freedom, individual rights and social care. These things sprang from its very pages, and it is not at all clear that they would have emerged otherwise. China, Korea, many African nations and much of South America are all realising this. Europe is starting to see what it has lost. Australia is already, constitutionally speaking, "humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God". Can we bring it Lazarus-like back to life into public discourse, without fear or prejudice?