Kevin Rudd's own values are shaped by faith, says Doug Hynd, but there are conflicting responses from within the churches to the way in which Christians should and should not engage a plural political process.

Pope Benedict has used the occasion of the official receipt of the credentials for the new Italian ambassador to the Holy See to issue a defence of the alliance of church and state, an arrangement facing increasing criticism in a plural, post-Christendom Europe.

Even in modern Europe, there is an undercurrent of racism often linked with the notion of preserving 'a Christian heritage' says Savi Hensman. Minority groups are excluded and people are made to feel insecure. A better theology and practice of God's radical grace is needed.

The place of baptism in the Established Church, and consequently wider society, has changed greatly in the last century, a new book from the Church of England acknowledges. It offers assistance with developing the rite but does not explore post-Christendom in any depth.

Following an earlier comment about the unravelling of establishment, the Church of Ireland's new primate, Archbishop Alan Harper, has warned churches that they can no longer base their mission on the idea of having “a place as of right” to exert influence in the public arena.