Australia's Religious Communities: Senior Version

Modern, western political thought usually emphasises religion as private and personal, and politics as public. This chapter demonstrates that, throughout Australia’s post-invasion history, religious organisations and commitments have had many and varied public effects, both shaping and being shaped by political, social and economic factors. After examining theoretical questions about how religion should be understood in relation to politics, it examines how religion has contributed to debates about nationhood national identity and belonging. It then investigates religious communities’ involvement in formal political processes: in relation to the party system, as political actors, and as contractors of services