The Abbott Government's Budget has been widely criticised for its un-Australian character, an underlying unfairness and lack of equity. Less noticed is its Americanism and adoption of American religious values. One might say that the 'black hole of the deficit' is as much a religious shortcoming as a financial gap.
Many commentators are noting that a number of Cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, are Christian, yet the policies lack any Christian emphasis on caring for the poor and disadvantaged. They have a point, but there is more to it.
America has a history of an idiosyncratic interpretation of Christianity, heavily influenced by the doctrine of the Franco-Swiss theologian John Calvin, whose ideas were followed by the Founding Fathers. It leads to the extraordinary conclusion that the poor are not blessed, as described by Christ. Rather, they deserve their plight and may well be abandoned by God.
Meanwhile, the rich who work hard for their wealth are demonstrating that, by making money, they are preparing themselves for heaven.
How did they come to this conclusion? At one level it is a form of self-delusion, a way of justifying a materialist way of life. But it is also informed by a fundamental illogic.
Calvin subscribed to a doctrine of double predestination. In Catholicism and most mainstream Christianity, it is believed that there is a single predestination: that is, God wants everyone to find their way to Him.
Calvin, however, believed that God, being all-powerful and all-knowing, predestined men and women to two destinations: heaven or hell. His will is inscrutable, the story is already written. All that remains is to uncover God's preferment by making money. Greed is not just good, it is spiritual.
To Australian ears, this is barely believable. Hence, perhaps, the incredulity at the Government's priorities. But by actively moving to create an underclass, Abbott is doing something totally at odds with the social doctrine of the Catholic Church to which he belongs. Instead, he is taking the country in a Calvinist, American direction.
By attacking welfare and public education, just to name two things, he is ensuring much greater social stratification. But the wealthy, especially investors, are completely untouched. Which from a Calvinist point of view is protecting the righteous who have been chosen for salvation.
German nihilist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche despised Christianity because of its compassion, which he held in contempt because of his belief in a superman. At one level he was right. Christianity was a social revolution, which gave it its long traditions of care for the poor and an ethic of compassion, as embedded in its institutions.
Nietzsche's distinction between Ubermensch (supermen) and Untermensch (subhuman) bears a striking resemblance to Calvin's distinction between the elect and the damned. Such distinctions lend themselves to the kind of savagery exhibited by the Nazis, who were deeply influenced by Nietzsche. In the American context, the distinction tends to be between captains of industry and the financial system, and everyone else.
It is hard to imagine a more complete rejection of the revolutionary claims of the Sermon on the Mount.
In modern America it would seem that the economic views of ultra-conservative Ayn Rand are making a comeback. In a grotesque vision that virtually combines the views of Calvin and Nietzsche, she argues that compassion and altruism are for the weak. Rather, each person is responsible only for themselves.
Consequently, selfishness becomes a virtue. She proposed that taxes are not paid by citizens to maintain a compassionate and civilised society, but are the weak stealing from the strong.
In ultimate terms, the truth cannot be bypassed. During the horror years under Stalinist rule, Russian Catholic spirituality remained alive in spite of often terrible martyrdom. For Russian Catholics, the poor, the oppressed, the persecuted will always be Christ's beloved. Those who suffer have solidarity with the crucified God.
But as Pope Francis has commented repeatedly, solidarity with the poor is the essential mark of any real disciple of Christ. Happily creating an underclass, as the Abbott Government seems intent on doing, has no justification in Christian social teaching.
It is to that history of Catholic social teaching that the Labor Party can turn to refurbish itself. Catholics, especially Irish Catholics, played a large part in the party's origin. Labor has recently developed something of a phobia about the religious strand of society and politics, to its detriment. If faith and religion are bleached out of our culture — not that we want them to dominate — our society will be less human.
And religion cannot simply be wished away, it just tends to go underground — and distorted religious values can be toxic, as can be seen in America's Calvinism.
Christianity is not a political creed, and seeking to apply it in politics will always be problematic. As the author G. K. Chesterton said, 'The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.' But few have given up on the effort more enthusiastically than Abbott and his government.
Right Rev. Archpriest Dr Lawrence Cross is the chaplain to the Russian Catholic Community in Australia and Honorary Fellow in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy of ACU.