Australia’s latest prime minister is a Bible-believing Christian
Scott Morrison became prime minister in August when the centre-right Liberal Party voted him in as successor to former PM Malcolm Turnbull.
a Christian home and made a commitment to Christ as a child
Morrison is a member of Horizon Church, a Pentecostal fellowship in Sydney.
Morrison opposes same-sex marriage but abstained during the vote to legalise it.
When Morrison was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2008, he said: “My personal faith in Jesus Christ is not a political agenda. As Lincoln said, our task is not to claim whether God is on our side but to pray earnestly that we are on his. For me, faith is personal, but the implications are social – as personal and social responsibility are at the heart of the Christian message…
“This is a nation where you have the freedom to follow any belief system you choose. Secularism is just one. It has no greater claim than any other on our society. As US Senator Joe Lieberman said, the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not from religion. I believe the same is true in this country.”
While many of Australia’s PMs have been Anglican, Presbyterian and Catholic, Morrison is the first Pentecostal and first from the ‘new churches’.
The Australian Christian Lobby’s Martyn Iles commented: “Religious freedom must be a priority for the Morrison ministry in light of increasing numbers of Australians who are getting in trouble with the law for living out their faith.”
Iles also called for help for the refugees on Nauru and Manus island, “where hundreds of asylum seekers have languished for five years.”