Scott Morrison has asked a national conference of Christian churches to help him help Australia, while revealing his belief that he and his wife, Jenny, have been called upon to do God’s work.
In video that has emerged of the prime minister speaking at the Australian Christian Churches conference on the Gold Coast last week, Morrison also revealed that he had sought a sign from God while on the 2019 election campaign trail, and that he had practised the evangelical tradition of the “laying-on of hands” while working in the role of prime minister.
He also describes the misuse of social media as the work of “the evil one”, in reference to the Devil, and called on his fellow believers to pray against its corrosive effect on society.
While Australians are familiar with the non-evangelical Christian beliefs of John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull, Morrison is the first Pentecostal Christian to hold the office.
Morrison has been open about his faith, inviting journalists into the Horizon church in the Sutherland shire during the 2019 election campaign, and describing his subsequent victory as a “miracle” win. Footage of him calling for prayers for state and territory leaders during the Covid pandemic has also emerged.
The prime minister travelled to the conference from Sydney using his taxpayer-funded aircraft. No video of the address has been promoted on his Facebook or official pages, nor has his office released a copy of his speech, as usually occurs when he is speaking in his official capacity as prime minister.
The video, which was broadcast by Vineyard Christian church then distributed by the Rationalist Society, gives rare insight into Morrison’s personal religious practice and the beliefs that guide him and the rapidly growing Pentecostal movement in Australia.
Asking the audience for their help and prayers, Morrison reveals that when he became prime minister, his pastor gave him the advice on election night to “use what God has put in your hands … to do what God has put in your heart”.
‘Scott, you’ve got to run’
Talking about a difficult time during the final fortnight of the election campaign, Morrison shared a story of asking God for a sign before visiting the Ken Duncan Gallery on the New South Wales Central Coast.
“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.’”
He told the conference that he and Jenny had been grateful for the “amazing prayers and support” sent from Christians across the country, and shared with the crowd that he had practised the laying on of hands, a Pentecostal tradition of healing and encouragement to faith.
“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,” he says, referring to a visit to Kalbarri in the Pilbara in the wake of Cyclone Seroja.
“It’s been quite a time, it’s been quite a time, and God has, I believe, been using us in those moments to be able to pride provide some relief and comfort and just some reassurance.
“And we’ll keep doing this for as long as that season is. That’s how we see it. We are called, all of us, for a time and for a season and God would have us use it wisely and for each day I get up and I move ahead there is just one little thing that’s in my head and that is ‘for such a time as this’,” Morrison said in reference to a biblical verse seen as a call to arms for Christian practice.
Talking about the importance of community, Morrison also discusses at length the work of the former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, praising his book Morality for highlighting the “dignity and value of each and every human being and the responsibilities that they have one to another”.
“He was talking about community and that you can’t replace community with governments, the market, with other institutions; you can’t you can’t replace the family, you can’t replace marriage, you can’t replace the things that are so personal and ingrained and come out of us as individuals with systems of power or systems of capital.
“You know, you cancel out one human being and you cancel community, because community is just human beings that God loves and intended to connect us one to another.
“It’s so important that we continue to reach out and let each and every Australian know that they are important … that they are significant, and as we believe they are created in the image of God, and that in understanding that they can go on a journey that I’m very confident you can take them on, and I’m relying on you to do that because that’s not my job, that’s yours.”
He also talks about the threats to the sense of community, singling out identity politics as being “corrosive” to society, while suggesting prayers are needed because Facebook can be used by “the evil one” to undermine social cohesion.
“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 identity politics was an “absolutely corrosive” threat to society, which negated the value of the individual while promoting tribalism and misunderstanding.
“If you look at each other not as individuals but as warring tribes you know it’s easy to start disrespecting each other; it’s easy to start not understanding the person across from you.”
He also draws on conversations he had with his father-in-law about his faith when he started dating Jenny as a 16-year-old.
“He’d get very frustrated with me because I wouldn’t answer all the questions and I said, ‘Roy, you know, I can’t fix the world, I can’t save the world, but we both believe in someone who can,’” Morrison said.
“And that’s why I’ve come here for your help tonight, because what you do and what you bring to the life and faith of our country is what it needs.”
Early in the speech Morrison also acknowledges “the other members of my band of Christian believers in Canberra”, including “Brother Stuie” – Stuart Robert, the minister for employment.
‘Australia is very secular’
A political historian, Judith Brett, said Australians were “wary” of religion in politics, and Morrison’s religious beliefs stood out in the same way that Tony Abbott’s Catholicism was out of step with the view of most Australians.
“Australia is a pretty secular society and our politics has not been driven by religion as much as it has in the United States,” Brett said.
“Essentially Australia is very secular, and the sort of things that he is saying if it was in the 19th century it wouldn’t stand out as being particularly peculiar, where people praying for you and doing God’s work was much more part of widespread common sense even if people weren’t particularly churchgoing, but it makes him seem odd in what is effectively a secular society.”
But she said the address was “contentless” and didn’t call for any radical religious policy changes on issues like abortion law or same-sex marriage.
“It doesn’t seem to have much policy content, it isn’t making him more compassionate to people trying to live on Newstart, but on the other hand he isn’t trying to ban abortion, and he is not trying to wind back same-sex marriage legislation.
“He is not a warrior, he is not a political warrior. It may be a guiding philosophy, but it is rather nebulous.”