Principles, pragmatism and power: Another look at the historical context of section 116

This article examines the historical and theological background to the recognition of God in the Preamble to the Australian 'Constitution' and the insertion of section 116. We challenge the account of that context, and the implications for the understanding of section 116, presented in Luke Beck's recent work 'Religious Freedom and the Australian Constitution: Origins and Future'. We argue that the campaign for constitutional recognition was driven by deep theological convictions about the role of religion in public life, not power. Further, contemporaries did not believe in a separation of religion and state and were not, for the most part, suspicious of the influence of religion. Section 116 therefore cannot be plausibly understood as intended to establish a separation between religion and the state, or as being intended to guard against the influence of religion.