Letter to The Editor - It is a new idealism, based on the mystery of the holy rather than on ecclesiastical dogmatism

To The Australian          Steve Chavura rightly focuses on "a deeper uneasiness about what we stand for" and on public confusion about what is in the best interests of Australians as a whole and the best deliverer of harmony in our political order ("Religious bill to test our identity", 8/1). He contrasts the pre-1960s "strong Christian underpinning of public morality" with "a post-Christian humanism" that has tended more and more to undervalue freedom of speech. He asks how a religious freedom bill can possibly reconcile the adherents of these two very different worldviews. The answer is that it should be based on a third option - a radically different and reformed understanding of Christian sacred tradition. Antiquated and exclusivist theology needs to be abandoned. Legislation needs to be based on what Rene Guenon called "the transcendent unity of religions." Such a perennialist approach can safeguard us from the twin evils of relapse into inquisitorial mediaevalism and sinking into the mire of hedonistic and ultimately repressive selfishness. It is a new idealism, based on the mystery of the holy rather than on ecclesiastical dogmatism, that can protect our free way of life and unite Australians.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic