SPC is convinced of the urgency of bringing the social thinking of the churches into a more robust conversation with contemporary policy debates. SPC offers a forum in which to help develop a renewed vision of a more just Australia, and to invite into the public arena voices more fully informed by Christian social values. SPC draws from the deep streams of scholarship in Australia to contribute strongly to the public philosophy of our nation. Being an independent organisation, SPC can often advance its views on contested issues more freely and directly than church leaders themselves.
Church leaders are constrained by political considerations, and do not wish to jeopardise the future of their many activities, especially of government funding for their social agencies, schools or health care enterprises. What formal church organisations can say or do is further restrained by the need to respect the different political and social views of members of their congregations. Churches of course still seek to articulate the values of social justice and charitable activities, but try to avoid divisive issues that could alienate members.
Moreover Church leaders are busy enough attending to their responsibilities as administrators and in ministry, and are often reluctant to speak on wider social issues, understandably so if they lack the expertise needed.
The result is that the churches at times fall silent when critical moral issues have a political dimension. Such was the case in places with the debate over the Iraq war and with the industrial relations legislation. Yet these are areas of traditional high priority for the churches. The churches are not only key custodians of the just war tradition, but played decisive roles historically in the shaping of that tradition. What could be more central to Christian morality than the command not to kill?
Again, the area of industrial relations has been of central concern to the churches, and particularly the Catholic Church for more than a century. Yet there has been little robust commentary from the churches on the ethical aspects of recent changes in industrial relations. This left many people concerned at the inability of many church leaders firmly to defend principles of social equity and participation in the workplace.
