Reason, repentance, and the individual are three of the principal roots of Western civilization. They are, moreover, roots that are set firmly in the rich soil of our Judeo-Christian heritage. But the danger is that as our commitment to that heritage weakens, so, too, does our capacity to defend the roots of the West that sustain our society, our democracy, and, indeed, our civilization. Indifference to those roots might well pose a significant threat to the fabric of Australian society. And in Australia, the problem appears to be more than one of mere indifference. This Occasional Paper argues that the West cannot remain the West if it becomes indifferent or hostile to its religious heritage. The task, therefore, is to recover an understanding of some of the principal ways in which Christianity serves as the very foundation of the secularism that characterises Western Civilisation.
