Christianity is here to stay in western democracies despite challenges like superstition and muddled agnosticism, Cardinal George Pell says.
In an address to right-wing think tank the Sydney Institute, the
Catholic Archbishop of Sydney spoke of the ongoing relationships
between religion and democracy.
Pell said there were positive signs for religion in this country,
even though Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures showed
the number of people calling themselves Christian had fallen from
68% in 2001 to under 64% in 2006.
Catholics remained Australia's largest religious minority, with the
overall numbers increasing to 5.1 million people.
Pell said the contribution of religion to the renewal of social
capital in democracy is part of its day to day work.
Citing the recent uprising of monks in Burma, and his own arguments
against stem cell research in NSW, he said there were other "fault
lines...likely to give rise to tension between religion and
secularist democracy in the years ahead."
"Another fault-line concerns Islam and democracy, or more
precisely, the presence of growing Muslim minorities in Western
countries," he said.
Violent Islamic groups tarred the image of moderate Muslims, said
the cardinal, and more terrorist attacks "would change the
religious scene dramatically and provoke ferocious
retaliation".
"We have to acknowledge, too, that the ideological struggle against
Islamist violence in the Muslim community is one in which most of
the heavy lifting has to be done by Muslims opposed to extremism,
but we should be prepared to help them in this task in ways which
are effective and which build trust and openness instead of fear
and ghettoisation."
Pell has previously courted controversy through his comments
linking Islam and violence.
He said religion provided an ethical and moral base for secular
society.
"Challenges to Christianity are more likely to come at a popular
level from a variety of superstitions, from muddled agnosticism,
and for the more sophisticated, from some forms of pantheism, of
semi-religious and personally undemanding environmentalism," he
said.
Positive examples of religion in Australian life could be seen
through next July's World Youth Day in Sydney, he said.
Pope Benedict XVI's arrival is predicted to draw the largest crowds
Australia had ever seen.
"Based on the registrations of Australian pilgrims, and again with
nine months to go before the Holy Father arrives, we are looking at
a forecast participation rate among young Australian Catholics
almost three-and-half times higher than the participation rates of
locals at the two previous World Youth Days in Germany and
Canada.
"Australia has never seen anything quite like it."
