Dean Dwyer/Australian Correspondent.
As recently reported, Australians huddled around their devices on the evening of 11 August 2026 to complete the census. Although the results will take time to tabulate, many are impatiently awaiting the results of one key question in particular: What is the person’s religion?
Although this is an optional question on the census, secular groups have invested significant resources in urging Australians to tick the “no religion” box. Why? Because they argue that the number of Christians in Australia has been artificially inflated over many years through counting those who are nominal Christians but hold no personal conviction or belief. Therefore, their stated motivation is to see balance returned to government budgets which they claim heavily favour public funding of Christian institutions and services.
You see, at this critical juncture, there appears to be significant disagreement over what role Christianity should play in Australia’s future. It is a full circle moment because this is the same attitude which was encountered soon after Christianity’s introduction to Australian shores at its colonisation.
After the American War of Independence, Britain was faced with overcrowded prisons and prison ships and no suitable destination to transport their convicts. James Cook’s discovery and annexation for Britain of the east coast of Australia in 1770 aroused the interest of the British, who determined that a convict settlement be established. The First Fleet (containing 850 convicts and their Marine guards and officers) arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788. Finding the area unsuitable for settlement, they settled at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson (or Sydney Harbour as it is better known today) on January 26, the date now celebrated nationally as “Australia Day.”
The first official church service was held on February 3, 1788, led by Reverend Richard Johnson, an evangelical Anglican clergyman. He was recommended to the role of chaplain to the new colony by some well-known names – John Newton and William Wilberforce.
In his own words, Johnson’s mission was simple: “It is my duty to preach to all, to pray for all, and to admonish everyone.” However, from the outset, Christianity was subjected to limitations. While Johnson sought to convert convicts and Aboriginals alike utilising deep evangelical and theological preaching, Governor Arthur Phillip preferred the church focus on moral teaching to elicit social order and control. If Johnson felt stymied under Phillip’s governorship, worse was to come. After Phillip returned home, Lieutenant Francis Grose arrived in December 1792. A military man, Grose had been wounded during the American War of Independence and was now handed control of the New South Wales Corps.
Public worship came under fire soon after Grose took control of the colony. Sunday services, still led by Johnson at that stage, were to commence at six in the morning and could only last forty-five minutes. Even then, services were routinely interrupted by regimental drummers who signaled the movement of soldiers out of the congregation mid-service, leaving only a handful of convicts.
Then came a subsequent order in which Grose forbade convicts from attending church services. It quickly became obvious to the inhabitants of Sydney that public support for Johnson’s ministry was neither politically nor socially acceptable. The situation was so dire that on Christmas Day 1793, only thirty to forty people attended worship even though the service was held in the newly opened church building that had room for five hundred. In the words of Johnson, the actions taken by Grose were “a most effectual step to throw aside all regard or reverence for the Sabbath Day, and to render all public solemn worship utterly contemptible.”
So, in many ways, this is where we come to Australia’s full circle moment. Those in power are tolerant of Christianity when they are able to harness it for the promotion of moral and social order. They also discovered long ago that by appearing to be welcoming of Christianity, they could legitimise policy goals, unify voter bases, and present their political platforms as those not just in step with culture but in alignment with higher ethical truths. But the trend we are now seeing is that Australian powerbrokers have clearly grown tired of Christianity’s influence in Australia, particularly as it grows more critical of the direction Australian culture is heading.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the dominant view across the political spectrum in Australia is that we should welcome a shifting cultural landscape which is diversifying into secularism, multicultural faiths, and pluralistic community values. However, what is not understood by the ruling class is that Christianity is not simply another religion which seeks to promote a set of personal and communal values. Though each day’s dismal headlines cast a long shadow over what often seems to be our hopeless culture, Christianity exalts the one, only and true hope of every people, tribe, and nation—Jesus Christ.
Only a handful of nations throughout the world have affirmed that belief in Christ is deemed so precious a liberty that government is forbidden to regulate, prohibit, or interfere with it. A righteous government will uphold that principle. In contrast, a wretched government will trample on it, disparaging Christian belief in the process. Johnson’s ministry was conducted at a time when the denigration of the gospel was being woven into the structural framework of politics and culture. The goal was to stymie faithful witness in the public square through the direct use of government policy.
Despite ongoing political hostility, Johnson remained true to the faith. Yes, he grew discouraged and battled with depression—his diary provides an honest picture of that. Yet, he pressed on at great personal and financial cost, seeking to fulfil the call God placed on his life to bring the gospel to this faraway land. It is also a reminder that we must continue to preach and proclaim the good news of salvation in Christ even if we must strain under significant political and cultural pressure. “Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples” (Psalm 96:2-3).
