In Australia, the far right religious nutters aren't anywhere near as prevalent or powerful (so emigrate here!). But there's enough of a whiff in the air to make me afraid (our deeply conservative Catholic leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, has been dubbed the 'Mad Monk' and recently, in a chat with a women's mag, talked about the 'special gift of a girl's virginity' and other things that sounded fresh and coherent in, oh, about 1840).

I think the thing that always staggers me - as a non-Christian, but one raised as a Christian and who knows the teachings pretty well - is how these deep-fried fruitcakes seem to miss the central tenet of Christ's teachings. Not the Old Testament, no, they're all across that Bronze Age nomadic law - it's Christ's thoughts about love, and compassion, and finding god in each other that seems to have flown right past this lot. These are ostensible followers of a man who argued for gentleness and peace, and there they are, outside Heath Ledger's funeral, screaming at his family about how he's going to Hell. And they're shoving photos in the faces of young, desperate women as they walk into abortion clinics, not for a second thinking of offering love and compassion. Do they honestly imagine that JC would be beside them, yelling, "Murderer!" and throwing bloody rags at these frightened children?

I hate the way a message of peace has been co-opted into a fanatical straitjacket in a bid to keep women in check.