There’s never been a more religious prime minister than Scott Morrison. We’ve long known he is a devout Pentecostal, a regular congregant at the Horizon Church (née ShireLive) in Sutherland, and met his wife Jenny at a Christian camp when they were teenagers.
But yesterday we got an astonishingly clear-eyed insight into Morrison’s religiosity after a video of his impromptu address at the Australian Christian Churches conference surfaced online. In it he says he was called to do “God’s work” in Australia. He rails against the evils of social media and identity politics, and describes literally putting his hands on people and praying for them — apparently without them knowing.
To the audience of Pentecostal faithful gathered at the Gold Coast conference last week, the speech was a show-stealer. But in a secular Australia, where church attendance has been dwindling, and we generally expect our leaders to keep their religiosity toned down, Morrison’s speech struck an odd chord.
What he believes
Since Morrison invited the media into his church during the 2019 election campaign, and later called his shock win a “miracle”, he has kept his religious and political lives relatively separate.
But those worlds collided in his speech last week.
In a rambling, often animated address, he praised the growing “band of believers in Canberra” providing “encouragement and fellowship” to each other, described social media as the work of “the evil one”, and hit out at the “absolutely corrosive” impact of identity politics, which he said was dividing society into warring tribes.
“They [people] think of themselves as the things they can describe and collect them with others,” he said. “One’s ancestry, one’s gender, where one’s from. If you’re from the Shire, well that’s great, you’re starting ahead of everybody else.
“But there is a tendency for people not to see themselves and value themselves in their own right.”
He then outlined engaging in the Pentecostal practice of “laying on of hands” by praying for people at disaster centres by touching them.
“I’ve been in evacuation centres where people thought I was just giving someone a hug, and I was praying, and putting my hands on people … laying hands on them and praying in various situations,” he said.
Things got even more bizarre when he described having a kind of epiphany while looking at a picture of an eagle at the Ken Duncan gallery on the Central Coast during the 2019 campaign.
“The message I got that day was, ‘Scott you’ve got to run to not grow weary, you’ve got to walk to not grow faint, you’ve got to spread your wings like an eagle to soar like an eagle.”
What does it all mean?
Pentecostals are one of the fastest-growing religious denominations in the world, but church attendance is still declining in Australia. In the 2016 census, just over half the country identified as Christian, compared with 88% 50 years earlier. About 30% identified with no religion.
And we are, legally speaking, a secular country. Section 116 of the constitution blocks the Commonwealth from making laws establishing a religion, or prohibiting free exercise of a religion.
But Morrison’s address wasn’t targeted at the atheists or unbelievers. Nor was it an attempt to impose his religious will on the country. It was a message targeted with laser-like precision at the narrow sliver of Pentecostals who make up a small but influential fringe of the evangelical movement.
Clinical social worker and former evangelical insider Josie McSkimming says the speech was absolutely “talking to the in crowd”. Many of Morrison’s claims, seemingly weird to outsiders, had more deeply coded meanings familiar to those in the Pentecostal world. His warnings about social media and identity politics, for example, are a reminder to believers of the primacy of Jesus.
“This is about saying people have their worth in Jesus and the church community rather than in the LGBT community or whatever other identities you might have,” McSkimming said.
“Social media can be used to undermine the basic message of the gospel, and that message is your worth is in Christ.”
Morrison’s references to laying on of hands, a bizarre crossing of boundaries for outsiders, is a common practice among Pentecostals who believe believers can use the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“He sees himself as being able to be used by God in this way,” McSkimming said.
And for those outside the church, the speech gives us a kind of guide to Morrison’s real worldview, the beliefs he deeply holds about life, morality and faith when he isn’t performing for the cameras.
“He’s saying, unless you’re a Christian and have your faith in Christ, you’re being used by the evil one. That’s his worldview,” McSkimming said.
Does Morrison’s faith put him at odds with the rest of the country? Write to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say section.
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‘Doing God’s work’…secretly buggering off to Hawaii while the country he ‘leads’ burns, shaking people’s hands when they don’t want to be touched, directing tax payer money not where it is needed but to where it will gain political favour, locking up refugees indefinitely in detention, stripping out the scheme to support people with disabilities, aged care facilities which are anything but caring for our senior Australians, not respecting or supporting our first people, actively backing the industries whose products are desecrating and destroying the beautiful planet and all its flora and fauna, refusing to commit to reduce carbon emissions, refusing to listen to protestors voicing the concerns of over 50% of the population, supporting unethical, immoral, disrespectful and misogynistic behaviour to retain political power, lying and telling half truths, not listening to experts, supporting scheme that create more wealth for his benefactors and the already wealthy in favour of schemes that help those in need, and, and, and, the list goes on…’Doing God’s work’…either he’s failing miserably or he’s praying to a god who is a right proper arsehole!!!
Morrison government is continuing its push to legislate for more under the guise of the Religious Discrimination Bill (RD Bill).
Attorney general Michaelia Cash has indicated a new draft of the RD Bill will be released by December. The initial two iterations released in the second half of 2019 drew great consternation, as the laws prioritised the right of the religious to discriminate against others in line with their faith.
A pet project of the Pentecostal PM, the Christian Right of politics has been pushing for what it prefers to term “religious freedoms” since marriage equality became the law in December 2017.
And coupled with this isa broad push from conservative Christian elements who have been attempting to infiltrate the ranks of the Coalition in order to shift policies in line with the way they choose to interpret their faith doctrine.
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/despite-pms-2018-promise-religious-schools-can-still-expel-lgbtq-students/
Morrison government is continuing its push to legislate for more under the guise of the Religious Discrimination Bill (RD Bill).
Attorney general Michaelia Cash has indicted a new draft of the RD Bill will be released by December. The initial two iterations released in the second half of 2019 drew great consternation, as the laws prioritised the right of the religious to discriminate against others in line with their faith.
A pet project of the Pentecostal PM, the Christian Right of politics has been pushing for what it prefers to term “religious freedoms” since marriage equality became the law in December 2017.
And coupled with this is a broad push from conservative Christian elements who have been attempting to infiltrate the ranks of the Coalition in order to shift policies in line with the way they choose to interpret their faith doctrine.
I saw a picture of Morrison laying his hands on people while he was getting some fresh air in Hawaii during the bush fires, before he went to any evacuation centre.
Father McFeely also laid hands on people.
I just feel sorry for all the innocent little children.
It is to be hoped but since homosexual at is no longer a criminal offence that they join the Jones toilet loitering brigade and consummate their desires with an adult
I’m told that certain Catholic clerics have done as much.
Well the father of his spiritual mentor,to whom he granted an exemption to travel abroad before his spiritual mentor was served with a court attendance notice , was definitely more than a layer of hands to little children
“I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
Praise or not, the concept of god is so outrageously ridiculous it astounds me that any sane person can believe in it
Indeed, its the 21st century and its still being discussed.
It is, of course, arguable that no sane person does believe in it.
It’s a bit of a worry when we have an PM, who actually believes he has the divine right to rule.
That’s the part that worries me too.
God is supposed to work in mysterious ways, but, a lightweight incompetent like scottie from marketing?
Too mysterious for me and I think the United Kingdom put paid to that concept of “Divine right to rule” with Charles the first and second.
They seem to have lost their heads over it.
Charles I did come unstuck exactly as you say, but his son, once he was put on the throne, avoided any provocations that might have occasioned another bout of such unpleasantness. His friend (who is counted among “the most outrageous, scandalous, and provocative poets in all of English literature”) John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, wrote this epitaph for the second Charles, some years before Charles finally carked it:
Here lies our Sovereign Lord the King,
Whose word no man relies on,
Who never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.
A huge worry. A touchy feely (by his own admission) southern Bible Belt preacher…
In fact a touchy feely who grabs woman’s hands if they are not extended for him to feel and touch
Sco Mo, you can go tell it on the seven mountains, or even Hawaii, but keep your hands off me!
Does Morrison’s faith put him at odds with the rest of the country?
Quite possibly, but there is no evidence in the article that it has done any harm to the country. Just a foundation-less scare story. We all have “faith” (beliefs, ideologies) that are not held by the majority of our fellow citizens. But we can still behave in a civilised and rational way.
We don’t all have “faith” which explicitly adopting a belief system regardless, or even in spite of, the evidence. “strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.” This is, by definition, not rational behaviour. It might not always be harmful, but it can be.
Not to diverge from your point about “faith” too much.
My grandfather was born in 1898 in Cologne to a Jewish mother.
The 1908 pogrom (Killing of the vermin Jews) caused my great grandmother’s death and the destruction of my grandfather’s family.
My grandfather, not quite 11, went to sea and worked his way around the world, first on sailing ships, traders and later on steam ships.
He jumped ship a number of times and had a look at South Africa, Argentina, Chile and Brazil before permanently jumping in Australia on the second look.
The shortened version of my family’s life, is that most of my paternal cousins did not know that grandad was a Jew.
He was married to a Catholic woman and was buried with a requiem mass.
We were all raised Catholic.
During WW11 my father became an avowed atheist.
The only reason I found out about my grandfather’s previous life was that I had badgered my father a WW11 veteran about my “German” heritage and my father swore me to secrecy as he divulged the information.
I did not disclose the secret until well after my father’s death.
“Faith” has been the root cause/ excuse for so much hurt, disharmony, distrust and downright hate.
I once heard a receptionist employed by me making very clearly antisemitic comments, I was appalled.
I privately challenged her about her comments as we give health service to everyone and I expect all of our patients to be treated kindly and with respect.
She did/ does not know of my family story.
I sincerely believe that anyone who needs to wrap himself in his religion has a great deal to hide, in the same vein as “a scoundrel always wraps himself in the flag”.
Scottie from marketing is a lightweight out of his depth, bumbling middle manager.
After seeing him switch from crying crocodile’s tears about his widowed mother, to a cold rage when questioned about his political management of the Brittany Higgins alleged rape.
I personally believe that he is stone cold former child actor and psychopath who will do anything and say anything to remain in Kirrabilli House.
The rise of the right in Australia is a very dangerous place for us all.
100% correct. This is who I see as well. An incredibly dangerous man. When the mask slips & Daggy Dad disappears, I recognise that man.
Yup. The nearest politician I can compare Morrison with is Baby Bush. Just look at the smug perpetual self-righteous smirk on both their faces.
Don’t forget John Howard, such a controlling, evil piece of work..
KeithT, you write the word faith as “faith” when you say we all have one, which I take as meaning that you too can see the diff between a religious faith, and a social code of behaviour or human-based ideology.
Taking imagined orders from an invisible being who can’t be proven to exist, is just writing yourself a blank cheque to say and do whatever you want, then adding “it’s God’s will”at the end to shut people up. In fact, you can cut out that step because you can just go straight to “God put me in this position of authority, so clearly whatever i decide to do is okay by God ipso facto”.
Regardless of not being mentioned in the article, there are a stack of Morrison decisions and announcements that promote his Pentecostal beliefs.
Persecute the poor. Reward the rich. Fund religion, defund welfare. Keep women in their place. Ignore expert advice that doesn’t align with what your God tells you.
Also, if the key event underpinning the PM’s sincere faith is the second coming, do you really want this guy in charge of your family’s personal safety? Won’t he just be thinking “No biggie – you were never part of his plan anyway”.
So as to whether this harms the country or not, I would say yes, it does, imo.
There is a reason for the division between church and state, and it is to stop this sort of thing in the first place. Australia has become increasingly slack in enforcing this division in the past, with opening and closing prayers in parliament and stuff like, and I guess the public let it through to the keeper because we figured it’s all just lip service.
Well now we’ve got a real one in charge, he’s fair dinkum about his particular brand of lunacy, and we’ve given him the keys to the castle.
Bad move, and we will pay unless we fix it.
Oh, excuse me, but if our country is so wonderful why are there ‘sponsor a child’ ads currently on the radio for poor, disadvantaged Australian children. Looks like third world conditions have arrived on our own doorstep!
As Mark Twian put it;
” Faith is believ’n in things you know ain’t so”
Australia is at least nominally a secular nation hence religion should not be part of any PM’s duties or public persona; virtual signaling and encourage observance to authority.
Would have to agree Keith. My religion is a self-imposed universal one of ‘doing the right thing’. I can’t be critical of a man who has faith but doesn’t need to knock on my door and tell me but more uses it to believe in himself and gets on with his job of running the country.