I’m a religion-weary Australian. I’m a product of a country where our ancient race of original people were ripped away from their roots by ‘well-meaning’ Christians.
But I love Jesus. I get the story, it’s good – Jesus came to Earth 2025 years ago with a message of peace. Two messages actually – 1. Love the creator 2. Love each other. That is all.
Organised religions on all sides are still causing division all these years later. I don’t think the majority of Australians want any of it. We want peace. We want sunshine. We want to enjoy being the ‘lucky country’. Part of that ‘luck’ (for us non-Indigenous Aussies anyway) is the fact that the country was colonised only 200 or so years ago so we’ve managed to avoid many wars. We don’t want that luck to change.
Australian immigration has continued to open its borders to people from all over the world. It makes for an interesting nation (and amazing food), and our multiculturalism is a part of Australia’s identity.
‘We are one, but we are many, and from all the lands on Earth we come. We share a dream, and sing with one voice. I am, you are, we are Australian.’
We can not forget the shared dream. We can not divide ourselves over the choices that other nations’ governments decide.
We should not boycott Russia, Israel, Palestine, Iran, or even New Zealanders because they don’t know the real name for thongs.
We should not fight other’s wars. We should not be swayed by other governments. We should not put our resources into other country’s agendas. We should not be bribed by other nations’ governments to become a voice for them and their agenda. We should not treat anyone as lesser than ourselves. All lives matter. All souls are equal in the eyes of the truth.
We are one and we are many. We are not taking sides and we should always remember the peaceful message of that wise little guy born 2025 years ago.
Love the creator. Love each other. That is all.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
