The emptiness of the idea of values

The use of the concept of Aussie values in screening would be immigrants to this country are even more laughable than an appeal to Christian values. Common values are trotted out and identified with being Australian. They include the one unique value of "a fair go" otherwise known as natural justice.

The current affirmation of loyalty to Australia is fairly brief: "whose democratic beliefs I share, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I will uphold and obey". But this does not seem to be enough for those anxious about being swamped by cultures other than our own. We want immigrants to show, among other things that they be "involved in community and sporting groups and charities." Should we add that they must support football, drink beer and behave in a generally boorish manner?

There is something disturbing about wanting only the most morally pure people to come here. Criminality, domestic violence, deviousness in work practices, misogyny, avoidance of tax and racism are not unknown in this country. We risk applying standards for immigrants that assume a moral purity that many Australians could not possible pass. How we devise tests to ensure the moral purity of immigrants is beyond me. Members of the Church cannot boast of their virtues. While we may talk about virtue we cannot measure it in ourselves or in others. This makes the moral hurdles we build for immigrants an absurdity. Virtue is often found in the least likely places.

Kelly's article is not all bad, like the curate's egg. I agree that there exists in our society a utopianism that would legislate people to be good and do the right thing. The resulting political correctness limits freedom, as the Catholic Archbishop of Hobart helpfully points out in the same edition of the Weekend Australian. It is also true, and regretful, that such efforts are largely associated with the Left of politics. Here we need to remember some Pauline theology about how observance of the law, while necessary, can never make us righteous.

This is but a further illustration that we are in the process of losing a rich culture of the human preserved in the witness of the Church. Surely, this is the real worry.