Questions have been raised about the separation of church and state after Prime Minister Scott Morrison angered critics by travelling on a tax-payer funded plane to attend a Christian conference over the weekend.
Speaking at the Australian Christian Convention on the Gold Coast, Mr Morrison admitted he’d 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.”
Mr Morrison’s comments about social media were also the target of scrutiny after he said it could be used as a weapon by the “evil one”.
The comments caused quite a stir on social media.
In a bid to figure it all out, The Feed spoke to two experts with contrasting views, on how they saw any blurring of lines between church and state.
What is the prime minister’s religious background?
The prime minister’s Pentecostal Christian faith has long been the attention of media scrutiny.
But he’s far from the only Australian Prime Minister who has held a strong religious faith.
Philip Almond, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Queensland, believes Mr Morrison is “more overtly religious” than former Australian prime ministers.
But of Kevin Rudd, who would often give media interviews outside church on a Sunday, Professor Almond said, “he was a card-carrying member of the Anglican Church, you never felt his whole world was inspired by Anglican religious belief.”
Scott Morrison was a speaker at the Australian Christian Churches national conference last week. Source: INChurch Melbourne, Facebook
“At the other end of town, we did have Tony Abbott, who was in some ways the Roman Catholic conservative equivalent of Scott Morrison.”
While Scott Morrison held high positions in tourism before entering parliament, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott once studied to become a priest, before moving into journalism and then politics. Professor Almond commented, “there was a strong sense in which Tony Abbott's very conservative Catholic Catholicism was playing out.”
On the topic of our current PM, Professor Almond sees him as inspired by an “old fashioned, conservative Christian worldview, which is biblically based.”
“Pentecostalism is a particular version of Christianity that focuses on the gifts of the spirit. And once upon a time, it focused particularly on the gift of speaking in tongues,” Professor Almond said.
Professor Almond said Pentecostalism also focuses on healing which occurs by “Christians laying hands on people”.
“And we heard the Prime Minister rather staggeringly admit that while he's busy patting people's shoulders, out of pity when they're in trouble, he's actually doing Christian ministry,” he added.
“And he's actually engaging in a religious practice, unbeknownst to the people.”
Pentecostalism also holds a conservative view of the Bible - seeing it as the inherent Word of God, Professor Almond said.
“And if you want to know what's absolutely true, then you look to the Bible, and that's where you'll get the truth.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media during a press conference in Sydney. Source: AAP
The intersection of politics and religion
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said faith was a personal matter and he respected people's spiritual beliefs.
"But it's also important that we have separation here of church and state," he told ABC radio.
Mr Morrison has insisted his religion is but Professor Almond believes the Prime Minister’s Pentecostal faith informs his worldview.
“He spoke of his election as a miracle. ‘I believe in miracles’ he said.”
Professor Almond believes the weekend’s events were “a disgraceful blurring of the boundary between church and state.”
He said it was “no coincidence” that Mr Morrison had quoted a passage from Psalms 23, verse five which said, “Thou God has prepared a banquet within the presence of my enemies."
"Scott Morrison belongs to that form of Christianity, which divides the world into two groups of people, those who are Christians, and among those Christians, those who are saved, and on the other hand, those are the enemies of God, and so on,” Professor Almond said.
Dr Helen Pringle is a senior lecturer at the University of NSW’s School of Social Sciences.
She said while some may think the current Prime Minister should keep his views to himself, you could also argue he has the right to practice his religion.
“You want to know what's motivating your politicians. So, in a sense, he's kind of telling us well, this is where I'm coming from. And that's a valuable thing to know,” she said.
Dr Pringle believes Mr Morrison’s speech over the weekend was not one of “fire and brimstone.”
“It's really not that controversial. I don't think it tells you much about him that we didn't already know,” she told The Feed.
“I'm not really sure that it's threatening stuff or that it's threatening to secularism.”
Dr Pringle was critical, however, of Mr Morrison doing “his own private business on the taxpayer’s dime” by using a tax-payer funded plane to attend the conference.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese Source: AAP
A spokesperson for the prime minister told AAP, "The Prime Minister was invited to address Tuesday night's event the same as he attends many other stakeholder events, including for other religious groups such as the Copts, Maronites, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim.”
"The usual transport and security protocols were followed as they are for any event the prime minister attends."
While he feels it informs his world view, Professor Almond believes Mr Morrison’s religion has not yet influenced his policy decisions.
“He didn't stand up vehemently against same-sex marriage. He hasn't stood up in terms of policy about things like abortion,” he said.
Along with Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce, the prime minister in the 2017 plebiscite on same-sex marriage.
Former PM Tony Abbott says he would respect the verdict of a plebiscite on same-sex marriage. (AAP) Source: AAP
But in 2019, Mr Morrison claimed he now because it has allowed people to “get on with their lives” and he “always supports the law of the country”.
Dr Pringle said despite the backlash by some online, she believed the Prime Minister’s speech was fairly mild.
“[His speech] gave [the audience] some pre-digested verses from the Bible, some fairly well-worn verses and things like that and I think that's exactly what they wanted.”
“They didn't want somebody to preach them into a frenzy and he didn't do that.”
The Feed contacted the Prime Minister’s office for comment but did not hear back by deadline.
