Letter to The Editor

To The Australian
Peter Waterhouse rightly warns against ‘an endarkenment of cultural common sense’ in today’s Australia (28/3) and calls for ‘public leaders who can speak a grounding prophetic word’ to us. What would such leaders say?
They would begin by calling for a rediscovery of the sacred - of metaphysical truth and its nature as the indispensable basis for any programme of political action that is truly ethical. This in 2017 requires a far-reaching reappraisal of our Christian tradition and a readjustment of its theological doctrines more drastic than the Reformation of the 15th and 16th centuries.
Secondly, such leaders would emphasise that social restoration can only occur if sufficient ordinary people base their lives on genuine truth-seeking and unselfishness. The current consumerist ethos and leftist fanaticism are equally incompatible with this ideal.
NJ, Belgrave, Vic