A video of Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking at a Pentecostal Christian conference has given a rare insight into his faith, in which he apparently thinks he’s doing “god’s work” and called social media “the work of the devil”.
His speech at the Australian Christian Churches national convention on the Gold Coast last week has since gained traction online after it was shared by the Rationalist Society. It’s one of the most charismatic speeches Morrison has given in recent memory, and the audience appeared to lap up every second of it.
“Sure, social media has its virtues and its values and enables us to connect with people in ways we’ve never had before, terrific, terrific, but those weapons can also be used by the evil one and we need to call that out,” he said, coincidentally preempting the ban of former Liberal Craig Kelly from Facebook.
Roughly 1.1% of Australians are Pentecostal Christians. It’s a denomination which involves things like speaking in tongues and laying hands (something Morrison revealed in his speech that he’d done covertly while PM), and is known for its megachurches.
Morrison flexed his clout in the community by calling out to a whole bunch of different leaders by their first names, as well as former Hillsong pastors Joel and Julia A’Bell.
While he said he didn’t want to talk too much about politics, Morrison did in fact say he was given a sign from God in the lead-up to the last election.
“I must admit I was saying to myself, ‘You know, Lord, where are you, where are you? I’d like a reminder if that’s OK,’” Morrison says.
“And there right in front of me was the biggest picture of a soaring eagle that I could imagine and of course the verse hit me.
“The message I got that day was, ‘Scott, you’ve got to run to not grow weary, you’ve got to walk to not grow faint, you’ve got to spread your wings like an eagle to soar like an eagle.’”
As for the laying on of hands reference, Morrison said: “I’ve 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.”
Although Morrison did say some nice stuff about how morality is about what’s on the inside, this point was merely used to shit on so-called “identity politics” without any meaningful policy points.
“It’s corrosive, it’s absolutely corrosive and I think it’s undermining the community and I think it’s undermining self-worth of Australians,” he told the crowd.
Most people could probably name a few things that are more corrosive to society than “identity politics” but hey, go off.
A spokesperson for the PM’s office confirmed to The New Daily that “usual transport and security protocols” were followed in flying Morrison up to Queensland to make to the speech.
It’s not scandalous, and it was never a secret that Morrison was a big churchgoer, but it sure is interesting to watch him speak to this specific crowd openly, candidly and, dare we say, charmingly.
