In this article Katharine address the very issues critical for us to understand, I got consumed thinking about this and had to write this long reflection on Morrison and his faith, because it really bothers me, #auspol https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/may/01/scott-morrison-wants-australians-to-know-hes-a-pentecostal-christian-but-questions-about-it-make-him-uneasy

apologies to those who muddle through reading this.
When the execution of government is conducted by a leader so enamoured, we all are misguided, apart from the Pentecostal 1%. Fervorous faith that guides a life is one that is difficult to break away from, when making decisions,

it holds the believer captive. This is where the leadership of Morrison and his ability to be a leader for a secular nation come into conflict. As Katharine says we could use a prime minister who doubted himself a bit more. There is nothing wrong with a faith that is held as a

personal guide, but when that faith becomes a way to live life above all others, or the only way to interpret life, that is when it becomes a concern. Morrison’s brand of faith should concern us all. Fervorous faith like Morrison’s does not give much room for any other

interpretation. There is a way to live and not much else. You are held captive by the beliefs of the group, or “community” as Morrison describes. When he doubts his direction, I am sure he gathers with the “community” and those doubts are washed away, faith is restored to

maximum fervour. As Morrison himself said in the speech in Queensland, when speaking of his father-in-law and faith when 16 “I can’t fix the world, I can’t save the world, we both believe in someone who can”. In this case it is God. This I see as a weakness interpreting the

critical issues in one’s life. As his interpretation of fixing problems does not come through rational evidence and knowledge, it comes through revelation, symbolism, a transcendent source that he draws upon. Once again in that speech he demonstrated this with the search for a

sign from God, which he then interpreted as the Eagle in Ken Duncan’s gallery, using it as a faith crutch to lean on. This is worrying and makes you consider things like, does he wait for religious signs, are we not getting action on climate change because he has not seen a sign.

Forget the science, lets wait for an Eagle. Or has he been given religious signs that he has decided are set in stone and cannot be changed. Commentary is always on the fact that decisions and actions by the Morrison government are not implemented, maybe it is in this inaction

we can interpret that if it was meant to be delivered God would have given him a sign, if there was no sign then the whisperings of faith would suggest that it was not meant to be, the unholy (all of us who don’t sit inside the Pentecostal community, or are of substantive wealth)

don’t deserve to be healed or helped, there is no salvation for us. The rational responsibilities of decision making, have been bequeathed to the crutch of faith. This crutch is an easy way out of accepting responsibility for anything at any time because it is not him who decides

it is that imaginary guy in the clouds. His responsibilities lie is not with himself but with an “other”, God. Relying on the big guy for your life decisions is a bit coo coo to me. Furthermore, decisions and understanding are interpreted through a frame of reference that is

thousands of years old, the bible. A reference he uses constantly through the speech to interpret life. Except his is one further from conventional Christianity, it is the Pentecostal prosperity gospel, a new neo liberal Jesus. Morrison’s conduct is as clear as mud, he lives by a

moral code so alien that it is only held by 1% of our population and this code is not explained to us non-believers but has been presented in ways that we have seen through his political life, the win of the 2019 election where he said “I have always believed in miracles”

as though he has been chosen, “If you have a go, you get a go” prosperity doctrine 101, those with wealth are those of god, those with nothing are not. Placing hands on people without consent, as an act of prayer or comfort, as though his code demands he acts as the purveyor of

salvation, he is the purifier of our souls. Therefore, it is within the Pentecostal “community” that moral clarity is found, nowhere else. As he said to fellow brethren at the speech on the Gold Coast, “we have to raise our spiritual weapons against the evil one”. As though the

devil sits behind keyboards like the one I write from, as I do not belong to his “community”, I am obviously one of the dammed, its as simple as that in this code of morality, you are with us or against us, there is only salvation for those with us. Yes, Morrison needs to open

himself up to inquiry of his faith and where it stops. Because the way the man carries himself, it does not present the air of rationality, rather the trappings of a faith doctrine, narrow focused and uncompromising.
Rationality, is based in reason or logic, has principles of

procedural investigation, that provides evidence to demonstrate certainty to a claim of belief and once demonstrated as truth, gains authority. Fervorous Faith like Morrison’s is not the correct way to guide a nation, it has no authority, just an assent to a transcendent force

and this is wilful ignorance to anything else that provides a rational solution. No authority, just illusion.