Did you know..?
Australia is not the United States of America!
That may seem a statement of the obvious but, over the years, we have discovered that many people are actually quite confused about that seemingly obvious truth.
American television programmes; American movies; American books; the vast array of American Internet websites; the spread of American email messages (including all those ‘pass on to everyone in your address book’ chain-letter emails/spam), have all contributed to blurring Australians’ understanding of some very distinctive differences between Australia and America – in areas as diverse as culture, politics, law, taxation, faith and religion.
Constitutions are not the same - the Australian Constitution is very different to the American Constitution with its ‘famous’ First Amendment; unlike the USA, Australia has not had an enshrined Bill of Rights.
Political issues are not the same – many of the issues that excite and divide the general community (and especially the US Christian community) are NOT the same issues that impact most Australians - nor is there quite the same extreme polarisation in Australian political as that often expressed in the USA - Australian political parties are not as religiously aligned as in the USA (in spite of the influences of media and Internet);
Religious thinking and history/heritage are not the same - America’s Puritan Fathers had nothing in common with Australia’s convicts and British State funded Church of England chaplains and clergy - both the historical and current ‘religious culture’ is very different between Australia and the USA;
Tax laws are not the same - The ATO (Australian Taxation Office) is not the IRS ([USA] Internal Revenue Service). They operate under different rules and laws e.g. while in the USA all gifts to churches, religious organisations and many charities are both tax exempt and donation to such groups are tax deductible, this is NOT the same in Australia. Church offerings and donations are NOT automatically tax deductible (though the Mormon Church {LDS} has managed to find a loophole allowing their members to claim a substantial tax deductibility for church offerings - to our knowledge the only church in Australia doing this). The ATO is very selective, and has very clearly defined rules on which groups and organisations can offer tax deductibility and for which specific purposes.
Gun laws are not the same - Australia has much tighter gun controls across the country than the USA. In America there is a current debate about having church members coming to church personally armed, in case someone comes into the church to cause damage and harm during a service or meeting. Many churches already have armed guards protecting the church and congregation during meeting times.
Health systems are not the same in both countries - Many Americans would regard Australia’s health system as ‘too socialist’ in that we have both private and Government insurance; many medications are subsidised by the Australian Government and we have almost free access to public hospitals. This is far from the case in the USA (though President Obama is wanting to improve the US system, especially for the poor). If you cannot afford private health insurance, you really can’t afford to get sick - surgery in the USA could easily send you bankrupt.
Government regulations in many areas of public life, such as commerce, gun laws, health (and much more) are definitely not the same - Australia has many public controls, safeguards and support systems which, in the US, would be regarded very unfavourably as Government interference of personal liberty and responsibility; as too socialistic; and more. Many American perceptions of freedom and democracy tend to be more individualistic and less centred on community needs and responsibility than in Australia.
Capitalist and free enterprise perceptions and approaches are not the same - in the last few decades, especially, the very individualistic, entrepreneurial American approach to capitalism and free enterprise with its emphasis on the power (and greed) of CEO’s has brought the world to economic disaster and ruin. The emphasis on mega...(everything), including mega-(personal) profits and payouts, has infected thinking in many areas of life in America and elsewhere. It is even seen with the Christian community with the emphasis on the (unquestionable power) of church leaders from Pastors to TV-Evangelists; teaching that Jesus and his disciples were healthy and wealthy entrepreneurs - Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, is regarded by some as an entrepreneurial farming businessman out to fatten his sheep in order to make a profit (according some USA consultants on church growth and development); ‘big is best’ and big churches (mega-churches) are regarded as Jesus’ way for building the Kingdom of God and has led to lowering of interest and support for small, struggling congregations in many denominations in the USA, Australia and other countries influenced by USA free enterprise church consultants. The American individualistic free enterprise approach to everything, and the ‘big is best’ understanding, is not consistent with traditional Australian cultural community concepts with its emphasis on the ‘underdog’, helping each other, the value of small communities, its suspicion of the ‘big-shot’ CEOs. Australians are often less parochial and more understanding of other countries, cultures and communities, than many Americans.
In spite of very significant differences in how many things are approached between Americans and Australians, many people are still confused and unaware of these differences and how these may affect our understanding; our values; our participation; our perceptions of many things from politics to church and other faith issues. What MAY work in (some parts/places of) America, may NOT work in Australia; what MAY be a big emotive issue in (some parts/places of) America, may NOT be a big deal in Australia; what MAY be a culturally significant issue in (some parts/places of) America, may NOT be of cultural significance in Australia, etc.
AND YET...
Yet some Australians, and others (e.g. Singaporeans, British) get involved in American political and religious issues (which they often get wrong) - especially through the Internet with website information (often disinformation and misinformation) and erroneous misleading emails.
The following is part of an email sent several times to hundreds of people in November 2008 by a parliamentary-hopeful member of a Christian political party:
From: ..... [...@westlink .net.au]
Sent: Saturday, 1 November 2008 12:43
To: .....@westlink.net.au
Subject: PLEASE! PLEASE!PLEASE! - IF YOU’VE EVER WONDERED WHERE OBAMA GET’S HIS FABULOUS WEALTH FROM - please read and relay on...Babies lives are literally hanging in the balance.
Dear Friends, - this is a special circumstances email in need of your prayer and support. Could you please pray for the following and If you haven’t got time to read all this - please! please! please check the links! - especially the last one and consider sending on to others. IT’S REALLY LIFE AND DEATH STUFF!...
...And oh yes - if Obama get’s in there will be virtually NO LEGAL PROTECTION for unborn babies for the next 30 or more years.. We must do what we can while we can. Otherwise 3,750 American babies will be aborted every day. That’s close on 42 000 000 (million) babies over 30 years - and God hates the shedding of innocent blood!
Thanks and blessings, ...... (Quoted: Prov 31:8 and Prov 24:11,12)
—— Original Message ——
From: ..... To: .....Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 4:46 AM
Subject:USA ALERT IF YOU’VE EVER WONDERED WHERE OBAMA GET’S HIS FABULOUS WEALTH FROM - please read and relay on...
Dear Church Leader/Editor
With barely 3 days to go before possibly the most critical U.S. elections ever, I’ve finally come across some information that makes sense of all the ever increasing, questionable associations that keep surfacing around Barak Obama and the seldom asked question - where does he get his fabulous campaign wealth from? It’s defies belief that such a relatively new, and obscure politician, could raise more funds than the high profile favourite and former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, and then go on to effortlessly pay off her campaign debts from his surplus having out spent her at every turn. If something sounds too good to be true, it’s most probably because it is too good to be true.
...I see that this has made him extraordinarily vulnerable to exploitation and corruption. And the more I’ve researched the more the mask is beginning to crumble.
So now on top of his questionable, ongoing associations with convicted terrorists .....; ..... of housing financiers fame,and alleged involvement with vote rigging registration over some 10 years; ..... a racist, U.S. detractor; So even if Barak has been exploited by others for their ends, he has also skillfully allowed himself to be exploited for the perceived benefits to his ambitions. Isn’t this Machiavellian back-scratching and a selling out of principles in exchange for position? What else can explain consistently consorting with your countries ideological enemies over such a long period of time?
After weeks of prayer and persistent investigation to try and find out why and how such an obscure and unlikely politician as BarakObama has, in such a short time, risen to such phenomenal heights, potentially taking over the reigns of the worlds greatest and only superpower, I finally came across something that stopped me dead in my tracks. It gave me goose bumps. The following link .......... reveals the person that’s behind Barak Obama and has bankrolled his career. He’s one of the world’s wealthiest men - Saudi Prince Al Walid.
PLEASE READ AND CONSIDER FORWARDING TO ALL YOUR U.S.CONTACTS ASAP - we have a God given window of opportunity to bring about ‘Godly change’ by ‘mini-line media’ - David’s sling and stone as opposed to Goliaths armour.
This goes beyond Party Politics - this is WAR of a covert kind.Thanks in anticipation for your interest and assistance in sharing this information.
God bless you, .....Fremantle
Subject: The MISSING LINK - 9/11, 11/4
Dear Friends,
So sorry the final link in the PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! email didn’t open. I’ve been having so much trouble trying to get this out. - I wonder why??? I believe it’s key to understanding Barak Obama and who and what are the forces at play behind.him - in the natural. The original title of this video is AMAZING! 911/114 - The (Islamic) Plan To Control America.
This appalling misinformed rumour sharing is full of manipulative emotive language (just count the ‘PLEASE’s - which in the original emails were all in bright RED). The emphasis at the beginning of the emails is on the anticipated, but unsubstantiated volume of abortions under the potential Obama Presidency. Christians, generally are concerned about abortion issues, and so are drawn in through emotional sympathy, but the REAL issues are the results of the spouse’s ‘weeks of prayer and persistent investigation’ - how and where Barack Obama gained his financial support; his associations; his hidden Islamic agenda, described as: ‘This goes beyond Party Politics - this is WAR of a covert kind.’
If this email is an accurate reflection of the approach to research, objectivity, accuracy, dealing with political issues, information sharing by this political hopeful and pastor-spouse, it raises concerns for being able to fairly represent community constituents.
This person used position and contacts gained through the network of a Christian political party to promote spurious US conspiracy theories as fact - supposedly researched and prayed about by the political-hopeful’s pastor-spouse. What was the source of this ‘researched information’?? - the Internet and YOUTube. ‘Hey, if it’s on the Internet/on YOUTube, it must be true!’??? Those concerned for truth and real research would have little confidence in a source such as: ‘livingonplanetZ’ (responsible for anti-Obama conspiracy YOUTube videos) - not exactly a reliable source of accurate information to pass on to Christians and others so they can pray in an informed way. The blatant distortions of the truth promoted through these emails clearly implied that President Obama was either a pawn, or a willing participant, in an Islamic plot to take control of America. It accuses him of being an ‘associate’ of ‘convicted terrorists’; ‘housing financiers’ allegedly involved with ‘vote rigging registration over some 10 years’; ‘a racist’. President Obama ‘has also skillfully allowed himself to be exploited for the perceived benefits to his ambitions’ and has been involved in ‘Machiavellian back-scratching and a selling out of principles in exchange for position’. And all this for ‘The (Islamic) Plan To Control America.’
Spreading this sort of unsubstantiated malicious garbage is unbecoming of someone wanting to get into parliament and represent citizens in the community; it is unChristian - unBiblical: EX 20:16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour - MT 19:18 Jesus replied, “...do not give false testimony”; it is unAustralian (and, for that matter, unAmerican).
Beware of passing on distortions, lies and untruths - Christians, above all, need to be recognised for their desire to know and share TRUTH - in accordance with our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, who declared himself to be ‘the way and the truth and the life.’
(First published in TAKE A CLOSER LOOK, Vol. 30 No. 1; Jan-Feb 2009)