Origins of the Family First Party
Posted by Brian on Sat 11-Jun-2005 at 1:24 pm
1. Australian Pentecostals
What is Pentecostalism all about?
Can’t go past Barney Zwartz’s summary, ‘The Hallelujah Chorus’, Melbourne Age, 24 Dec. 2004:
From their birth in Los Angeles in 1906 they have become about a quarter of the world’s Christians. They are very strong in Africa, Asia and Latin America where they are a grassroots movement with a strong emphasis on the supernatural, such as miraculous healing and victory over demons. In the US and Australia they are middle class and more conservative, often with an emphasis on the prosperity gospel (God wants his people wealthy and healthy here and now) …
Zwartz explains that many Pentecostal-type believers called ‘charismatics’ attend and often dominate particular mainstream congregations - Anglican, Catholic etc. - adapting Pentecostalism to suit their own traditions.
I would simply add that many Australian Pentecostalists also strongly emphasise supernaturalism - faith healing, ’spiritual warfare’ against demonic hordes etc. - and that these particularly superstitious Pentecostals are often closely associated with Religious Right organisations and policies.
So what exactly do they believe?
Just think of them as being a special kind of ‘evangelical’ Christian. Zwartz again:
Evangelicals believe the Bible is the ‘inspired Word of God’. This ranges from fundamentalist literalism [to less extreme interpretations]. They believe in being ‘born again’, which involves a personal experience of God … They believe Christ died on the cross to pay the price for humans’ sin. Pentecostals share evangelicals’ beliefs, but add an emphasis on the Holy Spirit’s miraculous activity today in healing, prophecy and ‘tongues’ (special spiritual languages). As well as water baptism, they believe in a separate baptism in the Holy Spirit … [often indicated by the practice of 'speaking in tongues'].
How many Pentecostals, including charismatics, are there in Australia?
Writing in 1995, Humphreys and Ward estimated that about 175,000 people were attending about 1,900 Pentecostal churches on a typical Sunday, and that about as many again shared ’somewhat similar views’ (i.e. were ‘charismatic’), but were attending non-Pentecostal churches (R. Humphreys and R. Ward (1995) Religious Bodies in Australia: A Comprehensive Guide, 174).
We can compare this with the 2001 National Church Life Survey - www.ncls.org.au - which provided the following weekly attendance figures for the main Pentecostal bodies: Assemblies of God (AOG) - 104,600; Christian City Churches - 11,400; Christian Revival Crusade - 11,400; and Apostolic Church - 9,100. Note that Pentecostal churches rarely call themselves by that name. Look for such titles as ‘Vineyard’, ‘Foursquare’, ‘Full Gospel’, ‘Bethesda’, ‘Life’ and ‘Rhema’, or often just ‘Christian’. Overall, a current combined estimate for Pentecostals and charismatics is probably not far short of 400,000 people, or about two per cent of the Australian population. Bear in mind, however, that a lot of these people are ‘adherents’ rather than active members, and that a hefty proportion of recruits to particular Pentecostal churches come from other churches, including other Pentecostal ones.
Who are the most important Australian Pentecostals?
My candidates for the top three would be Brian Houston, Phil Pringle and Andrew Evans. Houston, President of the AOG, runs the 18,000-member Hillsong Church in Baulkham Hills, Sydney, the destination of recent pilgrimages by John Howard and Peter Costello. Note that this single church constitutes about one-sixth of the entire national membership of the AOG. Phil Pringle heads the very successful Sydney Christian City Church and is something of a rival of Houston’s within the Australian Pentecostal movement. Andrew Evans was General Superintendent of the AOG from 1977-1997, during which period this body’s membership multiplied 13-fold. Evans was instrumental in founding the Family First Party and is now a member of the South Australian Legislative Council. I will look at Evans more closely in a later blog item.
You may know some overseas Pentecostals, particularly if you watch (very) early morning television - heard of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer? And who can forget Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart?
Where do Pentecostals fit into Australia’s Religious Right?
They are one of the three most important sources of support, along with conservative Baptists and Catholics. The Family First Party (FFP) is basically a Pentecostal front. The Australian Christian Lobby and Salt Shakers are both heavily dependent on Pentecostal support. Fred Nile’s Christian Democratic Party in NSW took a severe hit in last year’s Senate election when former Pentecostal campaign workers shifted allegiance to the FFP. Pentecostals in general tend to favour creationism and increased levels of censorship and to oppose abortion, gay rights, school sex education etc.