Listening key to restoring faithful’s faith

Parties on the left of politics are starting to wake up to what has been happening for quite a while now. They have been losing touch with people of faith.

Now, to be fair – you could say they have deliberately alienated people of faith but whatever the cause, they now realise it is hurting them at the ballot box.

I wish they had realised this for more noble reasons – like wanting to serve all of the people not just some of them – but anyway I will take it.

So after the election loss – here in Australia – the labour party has said they will be listening to people of faith. Co-incidentally, that same process is going on for the Democratic party in the United States.

Years after Hillary Clinton’s last campaign was criticized for its poor outreach to faith groups, the Democratic Party has hired a new religious outreach director and launched a round of listening sessions with faith leaders in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

As we have seen in the past week – shutting down debate never helps – listening does.

I’m Russell Powell for the NSW Council of Churches.

Broadcast on 2CH Sydney  30 June 2019