Abbott's obstruction of gay marriage is a defence of privilege and the power of shame

If only Christians fought like this for refugees. Imagine if the Coalition’s big men of faith threatened to tear down their own government unless it brings home the wretches we’ve imprisoned in the Pacific.

Surely there couldn’t be a greater service for Christ?

Or what about crossing the floor for the poor, the homeless, for battered wives and illiterate Aboriginal kids. No. What excites these Christian warriors is beating up on gays. I’ve watched it all my life.

They fought like hell to keep sex between men a crime. As they lost the backing of the public they went about their task more urgently. The rules of heaven were not to be swept aside by opinion polls. Sin had to be punished.

Mealy mouthed, they reckoned they didn’t want to send us to jail. Oh, heaven forfend! But they demanded the states set an example – a Godly example – by leaving criminal laws just as they were. That meant 14 years jail for buggery in New South Wales.

As the numbers drifted away from them the Christian warriors grew, if anything, more determined, better organised and nastier. Again and again, the end of the world was nigh.

They fought no-fault divorce law with everything they had. They fought legal recognition of de facto relationships. They attacked anti-discrimination laws and were given extraordinary exemptions from them. And they kept on fighting LGBTI reform until the last state, Tasmania, fell over the line in 1997.

Spectators look on bewildered. Times have changed. This is a secular country. Why these brawls? Surely these bigots know they’re on the wrong side of history?

We shouldn’t be bewildered.

Nothing is inevitable in the imagination of Christian warriors and no battle is quite as righteous as a battle lost. The God-given imperative is to fight and keep on fighting. Winning even a little delay is a triumph.

So much is at stake. But these days the warriors are a little shy of saying the truth: they’re doing Christ’s work on Earth. The euphemism de jour among the conservative Christians is “saving Western Civilisation”.

Only a handful of secular warriors are fighting with the army of the faithful. Of course, many Jews and Muslims share their Old Testament disgust. But right now in Australia they are leaving the latest battle in this old, old war to the Christians.

But not many of their leaders and the faithful in the pews.

It’s a commonplace of the campaign for equal marriage that it has the support of most Christians in Australia. Catholics are particularly keen. And a Galaxy poll published a few weeks ago also showed their disquiet that crusaders against reform are claiming to represent all Christians in the country.

The bigots have been deserted even by their own followers.

That raises two big questions. First, what’s in it for the warriors to keep on fighting? God’s word, of course, but also the business of these men is shame.

Times change but people don’t. Nothing gives conservative faiths such power as preying on human disquiet about sex and pleasure. So they preach against masturbation, adultery, divorce and, of course, homosexuality in all its forms.

There is so much more to Christianity than this. But for bishops of wrath and for hell fire preachers there’s no winner like shame.

First they work up guilt and then set their terms for forgiveness. And for half a century, as a great shift occurred in secular thinking on sex, Christian leaders have wanted the state, its laws and its institutions, to keep backing their business model. Think of it as spiritual rent seeking.

The second big question is one for politicians to grapple with. Where are the numbers? When kow-towing to angry bishops isn’t even going to win over their congregations, why give them such leverage?

Fear is the answer. Tony Abbott stood at the doors of parliament on Wednesday morning and declared in the tones of a desert prophet: “And I say to you if you don’t like same-sex marriage, vote no. If you’re worried about religious freedom and freedom of speech, vote no … ”

That argument resonates with Australians. It scares politicians. We are a secular country. We don’t want to worship, but we highly value the freedom of others to worship. This is a decent compact of a tolerant people.

No wonder the battle over equal marriage is represented by opponents of change as a great struggle for freedom. But what freedoms?

Archbishops of Sydney will not be forced to marry lesbians in their cathedrals. Keen young Pentecostal males – however they might like to let off steam after a hard day’s speaking in tongues – won’t be forced to marry. No preacher will be prosecuted for reminding Australians of God’s wrath as set out so vividly in Genesis.

But Abbott and his mates aren’t talking freedom. It’s time this was said absolutely clearly. Freedoms are something we can all enjoy. These people are talking about the rights of institutions. They want the church to have the power to dictate for all Australians the laws of marriage.

That’s not a freedom. That’s a privilege. Ireland has stared down the church. Conservative governments in the UK and New Zealand have ignored religious demands. Germany and most of Europe have turned their backs on furious bishops. Even plucky little Malta said no to the church the other day.

But Australians find this so hard. It’s as if we feel guilty about the slow collapse of faith on this continent. Perhaps apologetic is a better word. Either way, there’s an old habit in this country of politics paying far too much heed to the least attractive demands of Christianity.

We’ve said no before and we will again. But it takes so much time and such an extraordinary effort. Eventually we will clear a path through the obstructions of abandoned faith and get on with the real life of the country.