Letter to The Editor - Census Results

to THE AUSTRALIAN
     News of the ‘seismic shift away from religion’ in our nation is alarming (‘Losing our religion but Hinduism on a high’, 28/6). This means that nearly a third of our population believes that there exists no foundation at all for ethics and morality. Choice of behaviour in all contexts then becomes arbitrary.
     The census figures also show that there is a widespread tendency to simply ignore the obvious mystery of the universe in which we live, including the role of human beings as a species privileged by abilities not shared by other life forms. Only a little logic is needed to reveal that logic itself and the rational mind are insufficient to penetrate the great enigmas.
     Why has this happened? Firstly, the churches for too long have clung to outmoded and foolishly exclusivist theology, thus gradually discrediting themselves. Secondly, the scientific revolution has led to an education system that is far too concentrated on dialectic to the deprivation of other modes of cognition from intuition to the mystical.
     And the result? A society that is becoming more selfish, more violent and more confused.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic