Scott Morrison is a Pentecostal Christian

Before the last federal election I was well aware that Scott Morrison, now immigration minister, was pandering in opposition to Australian racists. There were a few things he did before the election that were spectacularly racist. So it's been not the slightest surprise to me that his current portfolio of Immigration Minister has seen him continue in that light. Notably the decision to separate an asylum seeker mother from her new born baby as well as the hateful rhetoric he addresses to asylum seekers in general.

What does come as somewhat of a shock, but not particularly a surprise, is finding out today that he's a Pentecostal Christian. Yes darlings, in John Howard's words, he's "the worst of the worst" (pun there). I mean as far as I'm concerned he's the worst kind of Christian imaginable. Being as I was in such a church many years ago, I wouldn't know where to start with in describing his religious insanity. For me, he's an extremist.

Morrison is now a Pentecostal and thus part of the most rapidly growing denomination in the land. He worships at an American-style mega-church called Shirelive in his constituency, where the gospel of prosperity is preached in an auditorium that can accommodate over 1000 evangelicals. With its water baptisms and designer-shirt pastors, Shirelive has close ties with the better-known Hillsong community. The founder of Hillsong, Harley Davidson–riding pastor Brian Houston, is one of Morrison’s mentors. In Who’s Who Morrison lists the church as his number one hobby, and his maiden speech reads in part like a personal testimony delivered on the last night of a church retreat. It included passages from Jeremiah and also the Book of Joel: “Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” more

How the fuckin hell did we end up with this fuckwit as our new immigration minister? I suppose Abbott's love affair with Christian nut bags is all starting to make sense now? Just forget that this is entirely unrepresentative of the Australian population as a whole.

As I've said before, I would put secular morality up against Christian "morality" any day. Fuck knows what Morrison thinks of me then: an HIV+ gay.