With the election just weeks away, the call has gone out from a coalition of conservative Christian groups to pray, pray and pray again for a 2019-style miracle to save the Morrison government.
The coalition, aligned with the so-called “Canberra Declaration”, claims to represent “80,000 Aussies who love their country”. It might exist on the fringes of political debate, but it has managed to command the attention of no fewer than three high-profile Liberal MPs.
Queensland Senator Amanda Stoker, South Australian Senator Alex Antic, and Victorian MP Michael Sukkar all agreed to front up to a national Zoom to commemorate Anzac Day last Monday and kick off a weeks-long “Prayer and Gospel campaign”.
Sukkar, the most senior of the government trio, has been assistant treasurer as well as minister for housing and minister for homelessness, social and community housing. Stoker has been an assistant minister covering three portfolios. Antic, the most junior of the three, is best known for siding with One Nation against vaccine mandates.
The Canberra Declaration group has worked itself into an apparent frenzy over who might be elected to federal Parliament on May 21.
“We need to see Godly leaders placed in our Parliament,” the group noted in an email which has found its way into the Crikey bunker, “but Australia’s greatest need is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and revival and transformation for our nation.” (Words bolded as per the email to supporters.)
The Canberra Declaration’s call to arms sets forth a plan that would swing into action with the two-and-a-half-hour Anzac Day Zoom call, which it called “a very historic occasion and a night not to be missed” (also in bold). The organisers also laid claim to the “Christian foundations” of Anzac Day.
Advance sizzle for the event also featured “special guest” Col Stringer, a Top End evangelist known in Christian circles as Pastor Crocodile Dundee. Stringer is also Australian President of the International Convention of Faith Ministries International. Queensland State MP Dr Mark Robinson, an outspoken conservative family-values LNP politician, was to be another headliner.
What else would four high-powered MPs funded by the taxpayer get up to on a Monday night?
The Canberra Declaration believes its “united prayer and fasting” efforts have so far brought a “major turnaround” in the lead-up to the election. It cites the “ongoing persecution of Israel Falou” as eliciting support “from both Christians and unbelievers”.
“The team at the Canberra Declaration have never seen such a level of unified pushback against overtly evil political policy in an election,” it said. “The prayer effort for our nation in the 18 May 2019 Federal Election was unprecedented and so was the miracle!“ it proclaimed, again in bold.
So why did the Liberal politicians sign up to the cause? Senator Antic chose to shoot the questioner rather than answer the question.
“I wasn’t even aware of Crikey until relatively recently but having read some of the content I have concluded that there is absolutely no point in me engaging with Fake News websites which pretend to report news but are essentially activists,” he responded in an email.
(The senator made a name for himself late last year by allegedly misleading Scott Morrison on whether or not he had been vaccinated and was directed to a COVID medical hotel after flying into Adelaide apparently unvaccinated. Just saying.)
Senator Stoker’s office said she had agreed to give a short talk on the importance of the Anzac spirit, but did not end up attending the call “due to other commitments”.
Crikey is yet to hear from Michael Sukkar and Mark Robinson.
The blatant hypocrisy by these bigots is gobsmacking. Morrison and his ilk, Alex Hawke, Stewie Robert, Stoker, use the convenient “mass market” banner of Christianity, to mobilise a group of trusting, gullible followers to their cause. I tend to form opinions based on what I see individuals doing, rather than what they say. I read a summary of various costs inflicted on the population by this Government’s “anything but Christian” behaviour. Refugees tortured by deliberate indecision and incompetence,at now $4 million per refugee per year, overall billions. Value for money? intended outcome?. The wonderful new AUKUS agreement, and open-ended budget for which the subs are a small part…costing possibly $400 billion over some years. The warmongering about China, pandering to the obscene lust for war by the US. BTW, NOBODY wins in a war with China. Nobody. Gawd help us, is there a flicker of intelligence or decency in the lot of them.? …A rhetorical question, with an obvious answer.
I agree wholeheartedly with your comments. So would many of my colleagues. I’m an ordained minister, BTW. We intensely dislike it when some fringe Christian group tries to speak on behalf of all Christians, like the ACL frequently tries to do, as one example. My faith leads me far away from their misappropriation of the way of Jesus.
A little ironic. Is not the Churches business model built on the few so called ordained speaking on behalf of the Almighty to the many? They actually believe they are ordained by god too and will surely rebuke you with Acts 5:39.
I especially dislike when a self-professed ordained minister tries to call the ACL as some “fringe Christian group”. Stop pretending like you follow the teachings of Jesus.
That last comment is uncalled for, Ryan.
Thanks for that.
Given that you think it “a good thing” that “I’m an ordained minister BTW.” you clearly have nothing to contribute to any rational discussion.
NO
I endorse your comments Oz. These conniving bunch of dissemblers in search of votes trying protect their respective extra curricular ventures (the word avarice comes to mind!). I’ll walk Pitt Street naked if these crooks posing as such a pious lot get back in. If they do, I’ll lose faith in our ability to spot a buffoon when it’s cloaked in Christianity.
Please ensure that you have sufficient bail money, secreted somewhere, when you get done for indecent exposure.
I’m still waiting for several hats to eaten, as promised prior to May 2019.
Steady on, Sid. though we can appreciate your enthusiasm .
Yes, for some reason my imagination lurched to seeing Scomo naked in Pitt St. It would fit perfectly the “emperor has no clothes” thing, which those of us with a flicker of intelligence have known for some time. Terrified crowds running shrieking into the night could be spun into some form of alien invasion from which we “must be protected”. Here’s you cue, Pete Dutton.
The chirpy child in the folk tale would today be beaten into silence with iPhones and canx for heresy.
Decency? This lot? No. It’s all just self righteousness, faux piousness, bigotry and derision for anything and anyone they disagree with, all with a side cruelty, utter contempt for the law and unbridled greed.
Yep, pretty well covered it…might I add “stupidity”.
Whited Sepulchres comes to mind, as their Jesus would have had it
Mathew 23:27 KJV
Quite so, Ozsraliain. Groups like the Australian Christian Lobby et al seem to be living back in the early 50s with Victorian attitudes. More and more GOP leaning. Against the education that encourages questioning, research, science and quite probably the decline in so many congregations since clerical abuse surfaced after being kept under wraps for so long. Faith, Hope and Charity and we’re told by Christ “the greatest of these is Charity”. Sadly – and hypocritically – this seems to be the one MIA for so many “Christians”. Pharisees most of them. IMO anyway.
Agreed. Father Bob does follow my view of Christian behaviour, IMHO.
If you mean Father Bob, late of TripleJ & John Safron, he was deposed and lost his living many years ago when he had put into action the outrageous idea of using his church resources to help the poor of his community.
Father Bob Maguire & John Safran 2002-2008.
Yes, that’s the guy. I see a bit of him on the news lately.
It’s good to know that he is still above ground.
A Church that tells its parishioners how to vote is shamelessly co-opting biblical teachings for false purposes.
Hillsong do this. They ‘correct’ Biblical interpretations – like: love of money, is the root of all evil, not money(Timothy 6:10) to permit and justify their accumulation of wealth. It provides an incentive for anyone who is rich or hoping to be, to join Hillsong and avoid ‘rich man’s guilt’.
Hillsong push a political agenda.
The Bible says Mark 12:17: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”.
Hillsong shows a shameless and shameful willingness to hitch their petard to Scott Morrison and the Coalition, unconcerned with:
– Misusing their influence and power over parishioners to direct voting.
– Misrepresenting the teachings of the Bible as being better represented by Coalition policies.
– Linking ‘Godly’ and ‘How to Vote’ with ‘Scott Morrison’ and the ‘Coalition’.
1. Misuse of power:
– Ezekiel 34:4 – The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.
2. Misrepresenting biblical scripture as if it concords with Coalition policy:
– 2 Timothy 1:7 – For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
– 2 Corinthians 11:13 – For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
– Matthew 23:13 – But woe to you… hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
3. Misrepresenting biblical scripture more generally:
o The core message of the Bible is: Love God (good) with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first commandment. (Mark 12:30-31).
o The second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:30-31).
Any Church should focus on what is ‘good’ (Godly) – meaning: stopping corruption and lies, avoiding hypocrisy and helping those in need.
If policies on homosexuality, abortion and transgenderism are the best the Coalition can offer, it shows they are scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of priorities and this is alone is a reason to vote for literally anyone else.
Scott Morrison enacts the exact things the bible warns of:
– don’t pray in public to show you are ‘good’ (Matthew 6:5) “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites…(who) pray standing in the synagogues and street corners to be seen….they already have their full reward… when you pray…. shut your door. And your father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Hillsong are known for publicising Scott Morrison while he publicly prayed as well as:
– Making MONEY, glamour, top 10 songs, wealth, fame, and fortune. They justify this focus by quoting:
o 1 Timothy 6:10 – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (not money) … God wantsyou to have money…
But:
Also:
What else are Hillsong known for?
The lack of focus on Hillsong by journalists is concerning. Although it is true that everyone has the right to practice their religion, Morrison and his pastor/guru – Brian Houston, have brought it into the realm of the public through their own actions. This shameless misuse of spiritual power for political means is akin to the actions of Houston’s father – who also misused his power, and it needs to be exposed for what it is: misuse of power, misrepresentation of coalition policy as in accordance with the bible and misrepresentation of biblical scripture more generally.
A less Christian mob than this LNP rabble has yet to be seen – and the so called religious right are just as bad!
Christians do not lock up refugees! Second Great Commandment forbids that!
Peter such a comment is disingenuous because true & natural justice is fulfilling the second commandment (to love your neignour as yourself). Have christians comitted injustices? I think you’re in the camp who belief that if they truly were christian they would not sin (or something of that vein)?
Let me ask you this…if fundmentalists controlled the sendate and lower house, how long would it take before you saw non-christians who say publicily declared that god is not real, being locked up by christians??
Are the religious right, the extreme left wing of the Pentecostel?
so are they saying Albanese’s Catholic “God” is a false god??
Good question. Same guy / gal, maybe, conveniently rebranded?
That is exactly what they are saying. The ‘outpouring’ that the group states is a reference to a revered so called prophet named Smith Wigglesworth. Therefore, the group who sent the email is Charasmatc in doctrine. They see only those who have the holy spirit of god as true christians (born-again) who worship the true god in spirit & truth. Anything and anyone else who doesnt have the spirit of god, their worship is offered unto idols. Therefore, they deem most (99%) of catholics as idolaters.
Yeah, pretty much.
From the early first millennium many groupings had different conceptions before they were wiped out by their less tolerant brethren
From Tyndall’s time, most revivalists, reformers, evangelists and assorted pentecostalist carpetbaggers have seen the established Roman cartel through the squint of the mushroom crazed John’s Revelations, either as the Great Beast hissownself or the Lady-of-Negotiable-Virtue (maybe that’ll sneak by the madBot) of Babylon.
Yes. That is exactly what they are saying.
There may well be a god. If so he/she will be very pissed of at the way they have prostituted his name and message to further their own personal agenda at the expense of everyone else. They will have an uncomfortable time when they attend for that fateful appointment at the pearly gates.
How can you be sure they will be at the pearly gates? I suspect some of them will be headed elsewhere.
“ We need to see Godly leaders placed in our Parliament,”
Yeah we tried that, it’s a miracle that the country has survived..
God save me from these strange fringe dwellers….
They are NOT Christian.
Oh Yes they are. Don’t waste your time arguing with them about semantics. Just oppose them with what ever you have at your disposal when you can.
It is mostly RWRNJ that go on about their own religious freedom. second R for Religious.
They are but Christianist, a term used by Andrew Sullivan a conservative, gay, Catholic author and blogger in 2003 concerning the then President, Dubya, The Faux Texan and his push concerning a “Faith Based Administration”, as we can see now here in Australia with Smirko The Happy Clapper and his Brethren.
“I have a new term for those on the fringes of the religious right who have used the Gospels to perpetuate their own aspirations for power, control and oppression: Christianists.
Interestingly Sullivan first used the word “Christianist” in 2003 to describe Eric Rudolph, the US religious terrorist, convicted for a series of anti-abortion and anti-gay-motivated bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed three people and injured 150 others. Rudolph also planted the bomb at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Sullivan extends the argument…
“Christianism is an ideology, politics, an ism. The distinction between Christian and Christianist echoes the distinction we make between Muslim and Islamist. Muslims are those who follow Islam. Islamists are those who want to wield Islam as a political force and conflate state and mosque. …It is the belief that religion dictates politics and that politics should dictate the laws for everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike.”
“But any pretense of a religious foundation for Christianism breaks down on many of the issues Christianists now consider their highest priority — cutting social services, blocking access to health care, lowering taxes, undermining public education, repealing restrictions on the ownership and use of firearms, endorsing harsh law enforcement methods and restrictions on the right to vote in communities of color, defending the Mexican border, and closing the door to refugees, to name a few.”
Sounds like he has the right idea, Hayward. No one has to force their religious views down your throat, nor do you have to allow them to do so. “Quiet Christians” – unlike “quiet Australians” are not paraded in speeches or politics.
How about ‘quite Australians’ – kinda sorta, but not really?
A phenomenon well attested and observed – in Canada, UK, NZ & here, post Tianamen – was that as soon as the new passports were safely in the pocket of a well tailored suit or Gucci handbag, the majority hightailed in back to HK to loot what they could and skedaddle before the End.
Same with Mutti‘s 1M+ tearful, fearful refugees – mostly fit young men of military age – who could scarcely wait to return to their previous hellhole places of origin, waving the new passports at penurious families with excess virgins on offer.
Like your vote on 21st May.
What is a Christian really, I have never seen one who doesn’t fail the mirror test.