Someone once said that all publicity is good publicity, but I’m not sure I agree with that. The most incredible publicity war is being waged against the historic Christian faith right here in Melbourne by Dr Francis McNab, minister of St Michael's Uniting Church, declaring boldly in massive billboards above the freeway that the Ten Commandments is the most negative document ever written.

It would an interesting hypothetical to ask what would happen to anyone of an evangelical persuasion who chose to say something similar about the Koran for example, but really, that doesn’t get us anywhere.

It would be a much more productive hypothetical exercise to try to imagine life in a world where the Ten Commandments were ignored. It would be like having a car park without any white lines, or junctions without any traffic lights!

Close your eyes and picture the chaos: a world where children are taught to disrespect their parents, where you could not trust human relationship because commitments were taken lightly and lies were commonplace, where life was viewed as frivolous and expendable and your property could be taken from you on the whim of a neighbour with impunity.

Sadly, that’s exactly the world that we are increasingly creating for ourselves as we move further and further away from the Biblical roots that have underpinned our heritage for hundreds of years; and it is particularly distressing to see a Christian minister, who ought to be helping people to understand how to live and love with respect for one another, advocating the anarchic rejection of the very foundations of civilised society.

On Wednesday evening, our Session (body of elders) agreed to publish a statement that offers an alternative view of the Ten Commandments to passersby in the centre of Melbourne.

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