Editorial – Proselytising the demise of democracy

According to most political commentary last week, the reason for the former prime minister casually screwing up parliamentary democracy is to be found in his overweening, narcissistic nature.

When he was in office he secretly helped himself to extra powers simply because he could, and he had no more thought for the damage he was causing than a two-year-old kid has in a tantrum. Clearly he had no actual plan in mind, as is proved by the laughably weak excuses he has given for his behaviour.

The comforting implication of assigning the scandal to Morrison’s own character is that there is nothing to see here, and once we’ve replaced the half-witted governor-general and made it illegal to assume multiple cabinet positions in secret, we can go back to sleep.

However, Morrison’s character is bound up in his membership of a cult, and this aspect of his career has not been properly examined in the mainstream media because it is part of his personal life, and therefore off-limits.

The cult in question is Pentecostalism, and the Hillsong Church in Sydney is its most well-known Australian platform, not least for the paedophile tendencies of its founder. 

It is important to distinguish the practices of Pentecostals, who fit broadly into the evangelical fundamentalist movement, from those of traditional Christianity.

Churches like Hillsong do not follow the adamantine doctrines of Augustine, or the subtle arguments of Aquinas. 

Their practices can be summed up as: ‘If you are rich then God must love you; here, get lost in this hypnotic music, and help yourself to a handmaiden on your way to the donation plate.’

Even if Morrison’s spiritual home is merely a happy-clappy operation teaching misogyny, right-wing politics and how to extract cash from simpletons, the press should still have investigated his government grants to at least two Pentecostal organisations in Sydney and Perth, and the weirdness of his co-religionists being encouraged into parliament and, in the case of the clueless ‘Brother’ Stewie Robert, into the cabinet itself.

There is, of course, no imaginable path to theocracy in Australia. Nevertheless, even an acre of Gilead has sinister implications. 

Like all fundamentalists, the ex-PM believes that God gave humans total dominion over the world, and most fundamentalists further assert that we should not limit that dominion by regulating industry or protecting the environment. 

Either the godless scientists are wrong in their warnings, or God will intervene.

In the meantime, just proselytising for new followers is not enough. 

Started in the USA and enthusiastically supported by hardline ‘prosperity gospel’ evangelicals like Kenneth Copeland, the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ is a plan for believers to infiltrate and take over all aspects of society.

The phrase ‘seven mountains’ derives from the Book of Revelations and the seven aspects of society to be conquered are: education, religion, family, business, government/military, arts/entertainment, and media. Once the church has taken control of the world, Jesus will return.

Needless to say, the mountaineers were ecstatic with Morrison’s rise in Australia, although it’s not likely that the man himself thought his power grab was enough on its own to change the secular status quo.

In the end, those purloined ministries probably were the result of his egotism rather than a deeply-laid plot. 

But they were nonetheless a small rehearsal for the centralised control that Morrison and his gang of religious authoritarians would like to impose on our liberal society.

David Lovejoy, Echo co-founder

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