Israel Folau comprehensively upstaged the recent election campaign. But both leaders fled from the issue of his sacking by Rugby Australia over his social media posts, despite its obvious importance to ordinary people.

Why does religious freedom matter...because it does matter, I think, from a Christian perspective.

Conversion can be described – wholly or partly – in many ways.

Repentance, faith in Christ, regeneration, new birth, salvation, made alive, translated, sanctified, washed… To name a few.

But a word that does not describe conversion is “therapy.”

The truth of Easter speaks to the very attacks which have overshadowed it.

As most will know by now, at least three Sri Lankan hotels and three churches were bombed during Easter services at the weekend. Roughly 300 are dead, 450 wounded.

We must pray for these people in the hour of their suffering, and for their persecutors, as Jesus reminded us to do.

But Sri Lanka speaks of a reality that’s common on the global scene.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe…” (Rom 1:16)

There was once a society very similar to our own.

Children were seen as a burden. They were routinely left to die in the hours after their birth, for the convenience of their parents, in a primitive abortion-like practice.

Just because a law exists in a statute or precedent does not make it right.

Psalm 94:20 speaks of “wicked rulers… who frame injustice by statute,” making a clear distinction between what is right, and what is law.

Most people resonate with that idea.

“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt 6:33)

It’s budget night. The election is about to be called.

The government couldn’t be happier about the timing, because many people vote with their hip-pocket.

Some weeks back, James Boyce penned an opinion piece for The Monthly titled, “the Devil and Scott Morrison.”

Boyce “outed” the Prime Minister’s beliefs in a personal Devil, the return of Christ, the fall of man, and the depravity of the unregenerate soul, to name a few.

To which I say this: if that’s what it takes to be “outed” as a fruitcake, then put me on the fruitcake menu.

These are nothing more than timeless, mainstream Christian beliefs.

The issue comes with what Boyce claims to be the implication of these beliefs.

"I’ve had the privilege of being able to operate on little babies that were 25, 26, 27, 28 weeks’ gestation, and I can guarantee you they can feel. They can react. You have to give them anesthesia if you’re going to cut them, believe me. But they can also respond to comfort and to warmth. And for somebody to say that’s a meaningless bunch of cells, honestly, is just totally ignorant.” - Dr Ben Carson

It took me a while to realise that people mostly assume your actions are all about you.

The assumption is that a person’s motives are basically self-interested.

I recall dining in a small town called Lititz, in rural Pennsylvania. After a particularly good meal and great service, I left a very large tip on the table for our waitress to find after we’d left.

I walked away hoping it would make her day.

But when my travel companion saw it, I was loudly accused of trying to boost my own ego.