Christian Today and SMH
By Situation Theatre 9/9/2018
He also preached about the need for the entire nation-state to pray for the farmers.
There are those who are needlessly concerned about the blurring of boundaries between Christianity and politics in this country.
They are disturbed to read that,
“Pentecostal leaders have warned their congregation that “darkness” will spread across Australia and Christians will be persecuted if Scott Morrison does not win the next election.
Others have been told that Morrison’s rise to power was a “miracle of God” that answered three days of prayer and fasting. They have been told that Morrison has made a public stand for Christian freedoms, and has promised to keep doing so, so God intervened to ensure he beat the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, in the Liberal leadership spill.”
There are no grounds for concern because Australia has clear boundaries between religion and politics, with virtually no exceptions.
The first ten of those exceptions are as follows:
1. All Australian parliaments are opened with a Christian prayer.
2. The Australian constitution talks about a “humble reliance on the blessing of Almighty God”.
3. Australia’s monarch is also the Governor of the Church of England.
4. Former Anglican Archbishop Peter Hollingworth was the Governor-General of Australia.
5. Religious groups have exemptions from anti-discrimination legislation.
6. The government gives significant funding to religious schools including $250 million for a national schools chaplaincy program.
7. Our Prime Minister is an evangelical Christian who attends the Horizon Church in Sutherland Shire. He is part of Hillsong’s Pentecostal movement and is mentored by Hillsong founder Brian Houston.
8. In his maiden speech to Parliament Scott Morrison said “So what values do I derive from my faith? My answer comes from Jeremiah, chapter 9:24: ‘I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things, declares the Lord.’ He added “Our task is not to claim whether God is on our side but to pray earnestly that we are on his”.
9. Our PM gave a speech this week in which he said “I pray for that rain everywhere else around the country. And I do pray for that rain. And I’d encourage others who believe in the power of prayer to pray for that rain and to pray for our farmers. Please do that.”.
10. He is also pushing new “religious freedom” legilsation which will weaken same-sex marriage laws and enable discrimination against LGBTQI people in daily life. He wants these special laws to protect Christian traditions like Christmas and Easter and encourage their celebration in the school system.
Alright, granted, we live in a Christian state, but so what? Jesus did some great stuff you know.