St Kevin's halo may choke him

The ABC's Chris Uhlmann writing in this morning's The Weekend Australian: Now his post-church sermons have become a regular feature of Sunday political fare. Pause for a moment and imagine what the reaction would have been if John Howard had done that. We have some idea what Rudd would make of it because in two essays for The Monthly in 2006 he railed at "how right-wing Christian extremism has become John Howard's religious handmaiden in his political project to reshape Australia". It is hard to imagine that Rudd would have stayed mute if Howard had appropriated a church as a backdrop for political statements. Much was made of the rise of the religious Right in the Howard years and some ministers, such as Tony Abbott, did wear their beliefs on their sleeves. Howard did not. He was old enough to remember the great divide in Australian history was sectarianism and, save for funerals, he scrupulously avoided pictures at church. But Rudd has made a parade of his beliefs and is given to cloaking political arguments in moral garments.

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