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The short answer to this question is "YES".
We have an official national religion that was inherited and established through the Coronation Oath, the State and Federal Constitutions, and the English Imperial Acts. But we could lose all the benefits of this if we become a republic.
The 1900 Commonwealth Constitution Act that acknowledges Almighty God entrenches Christianity as the national religion. The Federation contract is also entrenched by the word "indissoluble" in the Preamble, and by the fact that the U.K. Act includes no means whatsoever for changing the Federation Contract between the Sovereign of the United Kingdom, God and the people of the States of Australia. It is an entrenched law and no referendum can be lawfully used to remove the Queen or the God to whom she swore allegiance at her Coronation Service in 1953.
Our Queen promised she would never violate the Christian beliefs embodied in Magna Carta and the other ancient laws, but would retain them intact forever for the protection and benefit of all her subjects and their descendants or successors, throughout Her Realm. Magna Carta has been re-affirmed many times between 1215 and 1953.
The Queen's Coronation Oath is a matter of National importance because it guarantees the religious freedom of all who are under allegiance to the Queen, as she is under allegiance to God. Our parliamentarians, under their Oaths of Allegiance, are duty bound to maintain the Law of God and the Reformed Faith without violation.
To remain beneficiaries of these Charters of Freedom and Liberty and the Christian legacy they give us to enjoy - political and personal peace, safety and security - Australians must remain loyal to Almighty God, Crown and Constitution and not seditiously and unlawfully rebel against the Sovereign whom God has given us. Remember the Queen's Coronation Service in 1953, and the very significant words spoken to her :
"Receive this Orb set under the cross, and remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer."
"She is never to forget that she is not the Sovereign - she is the servant of the Sovereign." (Sovereignty in Australia by Arthur Tuck, ISBN No.0-646-34124-3) Similarly the Ministers of the Crown and all others who make up Parliament are to remember that neither are they any more than servants - they are not Sovereign, but under Christ the King of kings.
The Oaths by which Parliamentarians pledge themselves to serve God and Queen, and the Oaths of Office taken by all Ministers of the Crown, and Governors-General pledge themselves to do their duty under the Constitution, bind all of us and them to uphold and maintain the freedom of Christianity to influence lawmaking and law enforcement, under the Kingship of Christ, as signified by the Orb under the Cross.
The State and Federal Governments' prime responsibility is to protect its law-abiding citizens from law-breakers and agressors, which would mean maintaining an army, police force, and Law Courts (Romans 13.1-5 and 1 Peter 2.13-14). Peter in v.14 reminds us that the King is supreme over governors (Parliament). God promises abundant blessings for the nation that obeys His law (Deuteronomy 28). Disobedience brings God's judgment.
God wants the world to be governed by good laws and policies, so that human lawlessness may be restrained, and everything conducted in good order. Civil rulers have the task, subject to God's law, of removing every obstacle to the preaching of Christ's true Gospel and every obstacle to man's complete worship and obedience to God. Civil rulers must ensure the Word of God has free course, the Kingdom of Christ may make progress, and every anti-Christian power may be restrained. Civil rulers must be obeyed in all things that are not in conflict with God's Word. Christians must pray for Kings and governors that we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all piety and decency. (Sourced from the Belgic Confession of Faith used by the Reformed Churches of Australia.)
All civilized nations (societies) have a moral code expressed in Law. The Australian Colonies and later the Commonwealth were founded under God, by Christians, for Christians, and the moral code expressed in law in Australia is the Christian ethic. The Christian ethic is found in Christ's Sermon on the Mount and related texts in the Bible. Christians can agree on this Christian ethic, irrespective of differences in their methods of worship, because Australia is a Christian pluralist society by law, with one community standard based on the Christian ethic.
This Christian ethic is enshrined by law in our Constitution as firmly as is Free Trade between States. People of other faiths, or no faith, are free to live under our Christian moral code and not worship God, but our moral code must not be legally broken down just to please them. Any society that departs from its nation's religious base will not survive for more than a few generations. Sociologists and historians have recorded that no society in history ever has. That is the present great danger for Australia.
The status of Christianity in England's Law was highlighted by Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634) Chief Justice of England when he said "If the judgments of Parliament are not consistent with the Ten Commandments then they are invalid." He said English Common Law is the best birthright the subject has for safeguard and defence, not only of his goods, lands and revenues, but of his wife and children, his body, fame and life also. Ex-Prime Minister Menzies also said that no one could do better than live in a Common Law Country. Our Governors and Governors-General should have refused assent to many laws that were repugnant to God's law, and not in keeping with Common Law.
In 1879 Lord Chief Justice Kenyon (in the Williams case) stated that the Christian religion is part of the law of England. The Christian religion was therefore also the law in the Colonies of Australia. Mr.Justice Kelly also later confirmed in Australian Courts that "Christianity is part and parcel of the law of this land."
The opening prayer to Almighty God, "through the mediation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ", which is said every day in our Queensland Parliament, likewise shows that Christianity is part and parcel of the law of this land. It shows rulers that they are to honour God 's Laws in the formulating of their laws, so that laws will be enacted "for His glory, for the good of Christ's Church etc." There is to be no violation of Christ's faith. But there IS. No Royal Assent is to be given to any Bill that is inconsistent with Christianity. Rulers are not to deprive us of our rights to the blessings of Christian government in this nation. But they DO.
Examples of historical evidence, that for centuries Christianity has been the basis of British Justice and lawmaking, demonstrate conclusively the validity of our claim that Christianity is, and has always been, Australia'a worldview:-
1. It has been frequently ruled in Court cases in Australia that Christianity is still "part and parcel of the Law of the land." (Kelly J is just one of the Judges.)
2. Christianity as the Law of the Land for England began in the ninth century with King Alfred the Great's adoption (about 880) of the "Ten Commandments" to be the basis of his Code of Laws for England. He made sure the Courts did their duty, judging according to the Ten Commandments, and history records that crime became a thing of the past. He introduced compulsory education, and the death penalty for murder, both of which are sourced in the Bible.
3. The Rt.Hon.Sir Alfred Denning wrote that for 700 years -
Australia has been a Common Law country since colonization.
All the Australian Colonies were founded under English Christian Law, and when the individual Australian States passed their Imperial Acts Application Acts in the 1980s, Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights and other inherited Imperial Acts were listed by Queensland, and other State Parliaments, as being established Christian law. They were confirmed as unalterable State law forever (and therefore also unalterable Australian law forever because of Sections 106 to 108 of the Federal Constitution). These constitute forever the official Law of the Land. They give us Christian liberties, peace, safety and security, and must be preserved for Australians yet to be born.
Long before the Imperial Acts Application Act re-entrenched the Bill of Rights, all citizens of Australia had right to common law due to their being British citizens under the Crown. Common law takes in the Imperial Acts.
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