I was reminded last week of a fable I heard in my younger days about a man and a camel. The man went to sleep in his tent, with his camel outside, but was woken in the middle of the night by his camel, who complained of having a very cold nose. After much complaining by the camel he finally agreed to allow it to put its nose in inside the tent, and they both went back to sleep.

Some time later, the man was again woken by the camel, who complained that it's ears were nearly frozen off. Reluctantly, the man agreed that there was really enough room to allow the camel to put it's head inside, so they both went back to sleep.

To cut the story short, the process continued with more and more of the camel being allowed inside the tent until the whole camel was inside. However, the camel then decided there was no room for the man in the tent, so pushed him outside!

This fable seemed to be a fair picture of what has been happening to Christian values in our society, especially in relation to the treatment of human embryos. The decision by the Prime Minister last week to reject the advice of Church leaders with regard to Stem Cell research, and capitulate to what the Labor State Premiers were advocating, has almost reached the point of the total rejection of Christian values in the 'tent' of Government.

Although the Church has never been 'established' in Australia, in the sense of having a formal role in the government of the land, from earliest times it was seen as the custodian of moral values. Especially in matters where the Protestant and Catholic churches were in agreement, it was almost unthinkable for politicians to walk a different path. Some Catholic Archbishops, in particular, have wielded enormous political power.

However, over the past forty years or so, the role and influence of the Christian church has been steadily waning. Beginning with the rebellious counter-culture of the baby-boomerss in the 60s there has been a steady march towards secularisation, and the marginalisation of the Church in the public arena. The Church, as an institution, has increasingly been treated as irrelevant in the affairs of ordinary life. Christendom, in the sense of a nation where Christian values are the norm, has gone.

This has been seen especially in the treatment of the human embryo. The first attack came over the issue of abortion, and the very emotive arguments that were put forward concerning the "right" of a woman to have control over her own body. The fact that the foetus is a developing human being was largely brushed aside in the pressure of the younger, sexually active and largely irreligious generation, who wished to avoid the consequences of their unbridled behaviour. While, technically, abortion is still illegal in most cases, no Government today has the moral fibre to do anything about it.

The issue of embryos has been much more subtle. The ability of doctors to fertilise human eggs outside the mother's body, and then implant the embryo into her womb, or another woman's womb so that it develops into a living baby, is truly remarkable. This technique, known as IVF, has resulted in hundreds of couples, who were previously infertile, being able to have children. In itself, it is perfectly reasonable to put these unwanted embryos to good use, since they are going to be destroyed anyway. However, as our Archbishop pointed out in a radio interview, this is the same kind of utilitarian argument that the Nazi doctors used in the Concentration Camps to experiment on Jews who were destined for extermination. This view that the end justifies the means is never acceptable from a Christian point of view.

Regardless of the fact that they supposed benefits from Embryo Stem Cell research are still very speculative, the underlying issue is how we treat what are essentially fellow human beings, albeit in the most primitive form. Even a murderer condemned to death is treated with dignity. We have increasingly harsh laws against those who would harm children. Yet we encourage scientists to experiment with defenceless embryos!

Such moral madness will surely bring the wrath of God unless we as a nation repent. However, as I have pointed out before, if the moral state of the nation has gone bad, it is because we, the people of God have failed to fulfil our role as the salt of the earth.

John Davies
7 April 2002