2. More on Australian Pentecostals

Are Pentecostals theocratic? Do they believe that Australia should be governed by Christian politicians committed to implementing ‘the law of God’?

They say no; I say yes. According to Brian Houston, National President of the Assemblies of God (AOG) in Australia:

One thing we are not is a political movement. The Assemblies of God in Australia does not have a political vision and we don’t have a political agenda. (Linda Morris ‘Church expands horizons’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 May 2005)

The title of the conference at which he made this claim was ‘Take the Nation, Shake the World’! Houston pushes the line that, while Pentecostals are being urged by many of their pastors to become deeply involved in politics, it’s really all a matter of ‘individual Christian decision-making’. It’s always funny when highly political animals like Houston, Andrew Evans of Family First, or Cardinal George Pell try to distinguish between the actions of their organisations and those of their individual members. Since most members wouldn’t have touched politics with a bargepole unless they thought it was a church instruction - i.e. that their souls might be endangered if they failed to act - Houston’s is a distinction without a difference.

Houston adds that although his Hillsong Church hasn’t deliberately set out on a partisan political path, his flock is ‘naturally interested in the direction the country’s taking’ (ABC 7.30 Report 14 July 2004). And what direction would that be? Well, Houston ‘would like to see creationism taught in schools and abortion banned’. Homosexuals are ‘unwelcome’. (Greg Bearup ‘Praise the Lord and pass the chequebook’, Good Weekend, 25 Jan. 2003, 17) Can you see where we’re going here?

Pentecostals of the Houston/Evans variety - and these are the dominant type in Australia today - have strong theocratic and authoritarian tendencies and these appear to be increasing over time.

Are Pentecostal leaders unusually prone to involvement in sex scandals?

They certainly seem to be, but so are leaders in all religious bodies centred on strong, controlling personalities. Just look at the Catholic Church. Priests who represent God on earth, hierarchical structure, obedience seen as the main virtue - throw in compulsory celibacy and you’re just asking for trouble.

Pentecostals don’t favour lifelong celibacy but there is enough wrong with their church set-ups and highly emotional worship practices to ensure plenty of problems. (Don’t let anyone tell you that a Pentecostal church is a democracy.) In the US, televangelists Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, both leading AOG personalities, fell victim to sex scandals, and a full listing of their erring co-religionists would take a long time, going right back to Aimee Semple McPherson and beyond.

In Australia, Humphreys and Ward’s Religious Bodies in Australia (3rd ed., 1995) contains a number of discreet references to Pentecostal leaders who were removed from the ministry ‘for sexual immorality’ etc. (see, e.g., p.199), some of them causes celebres such as evangelist Clark Taylor of Christian Outreach Centres (190). Closer to home, Brian Houston had to sack his own father, Frank, after the latter admitted having sexually abused a boy in New Zealand many years earlier (Stephen Gibbs ‘Hillsong farewells a lost sheep pioneer’, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 Nov. 2004). And Greg Bearup reports that:

Houston had to sack one of his senior preachers and good friends, Pat Mesiti, after it was revealed he’d been visiting prostitutes.(19)

Finally, some AOG members do not confine themselves to sexual transgressions. Take Gregory Eric White, for example:

… [A] devotion to the Assembly of God Christian Church and an IQ of 127 could not disrupt [White's] dance with the devil. White became a professional armed robber who declared war on society, terrorising mostly bank and TAB staff over 28 months. ‘I want the money’, White typically screamed at his victims … ‘Just give me the money or I’ll blow your f—ing head off.’ (Steve Butcher ‘”Beast” drove man to rob banks, TABs, court told’, Melbourne Age, 14 Nov. 2003)

How do other denominations view Pentecostalism? And are there any divisions among Pentecostals themselves?

Other Christian denominations know exactly what Pentecostalism is - a mixture of traditional Christian doctrine, highly-charged emotional ritual and plain old belief in magic; the ultimate quick fix, if you like - but for political reasons they generally shy away from direct criticism. They don’t wish to appear envious of the growth in Pentecostal numbers and they like the way that AOG and similar churches push conservative social values - pro-censorship, anti-abortion and gay rights etc.

Try reading between the lines here:

The Sydney Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell, says the Hillsong style of worship seems to be ‘courting excitement’, and acknowledges it’s attractive to many people, ‘at least initially’. The Anglican Bishop of Western Sydney, Bishop Ivan Lee, says the style of worship is ‘very positive, very contemporary’ … But he is concerned that the extreme emotion of Hillsong services could be manipulative … Senior Lecturer in Religion at the University of Sydney Dr Carole Cusack says Hillsong’s style of worship is more attuned to secular values in the community … (Sarah Price and Matthew Benns ‘Hillsong’s true believers’, Sydney Sun-Herald, 7 Nov. 2004)

Get the picture? This is about as close as the major denominations will come to saying, ‘This is a fairly strange sort of Christianity’. Here’s some more:

Hillsong has been dogged by criticism of its message emphasising wealth and the individual. Cardinal Pell says while it was good people were coming to know Christ …, there was nothing in the gospel to say that if you followed Christ you would be more prosperous and successful … (ibid.)

Brian Houston’s best-known book is called You Need More Money. Enough said!

As for divisions within Pentecostalism itself, these are legion. In particular, there is a major rift between more traditional Pentecostals, who accept the practice of ’speaking in tongues’ but will go no further, and ‘new charismatics’ who punctuate services with uncontrollable laughter, animal sounds, collapsing etc. and who believe in the utterances of ‘modern prophets’. There are several books on this intra-Pentecostal clash, the best of them being Michael G. Moriarty (1992) The New Charismatics. For (partisan) Australian references to the same phenomenon, see Philip L. Powell et al. (2000) Unmasked … Benny Hinn and related texts, available from Christian Witness Ministries - www.christian-witness.org

Evangelical commentator Don Prout gives us a good idea of the range of Pentecostalist controversies in his reply to a letter published in New Life (18 Mar. 2004):

… I have been suspicious of latter-day prophets for a long time. Having heard and read scores of these so-called prophecies over the years, I have yet to come across one that can unequivocally be proven … It is all very vague. But if and when the day comes, for example, that I hear a latter-day prophet announce exactly when the next terrorist attack will take place, and where, then I may be able to assess that prophet’s claim to speak for God …

How is it that a prophet from one branch of the Charismatic church will espouse dispensationalism [theory that God has divided history into specific periods] while another is partial to the [opposing] view? … And why do some proclaim that all the gifts [e.g. prophecy, healing] are available to every Christian while others deny that teaching? How is it that some prophets believe speaking in tongues is ‘the initial evidence of the Spirit’s baptism’ while others say it is not? … Why did no prophet speak up and expose Jimmy Swaggart’s immorality before it brought disgrace to the Pentecostal movement?

And a great big Amen to that, brother.

In Part 3, I will examine the career and views of Andrew Evans, earliest parliamentary representative of the Family First Party.

Filed in: Christian Right, Pentecostalism, Politics