Politicians make a joyful noise, too
Politicians make a joyful noise, too – National – smh.com.au
“I like the idea of Christianity shorn of its medieval accretions. I like the idea of each believer reading the Bible and finding his or her path to individual salvation. I also like the spontaneity and informality of Hillsong’s worship: it’s actually very Australian.” (Bob Carr at Hillsong Annual Conference)
Ouch – I’m the exact opposite Bob, though I admit that I’m a very small minority. I like it that I go to a church and participate in rituals and sacraments that go back thousands of years. It gives a me a feeling of being connected with my ancestors, with the history of the world. Contemporary worship just leaves me cold.
Sure, as an Anglican, I’m also a fan of being able to read the bible for myself without having to rely on the interpretation of a priest. But I argue that pentacostal churches don’t have a path to individual salvation. They are far more homogenous than Anglicanism. The amount of social pressure in pentacostal churches creates parishioners that are caricatures of themselves. I think most pentacostal christians don’t even know who they are once they’ve taken all the brainwashing on board.
There’s been a bit of media beat-up about hillsong lately but I don’t feel too threatened by them. Things can’t get too much worse. I have a vague hope that Hillsong will be a bit of a thorn in the governments side on issues like our foreign aid, koyoto, indigenous reconciliation and asylum seekers. If family first are really committed to families then they’ll have to acknowledge that all of these things have negative family impacts. That is if they recognise that some families aren’t white and middle class.
(edit: fixed spelling)
Posted: July 5th, 2005 under Big Questions, Social Justice, Environment, Moralising.
Comments: 1
Comment from rollsy
Time: 6/7/2005, 2:16 pm
I’m not Hillsong material either, in that the culture there doesn’t really suit me, but I do need to clarify a common misconception that you’ve mentioned.
As a pentecostal (ish), I feel entirely individual as opposed to a homogenous “characature” (won’t be to fussy about your spelling) of anyone! I will agree, there is certian pressure to conform to a culture – but this is true of any congregation of any denomination … or any group for that matter.
My own appreciation of scripture and salvation is based on my own questioning – sometimes in agreement with pentecostal church opinion and at other times in direct opposition to it.
Hillsong cops a ribbing from people because it has a profile, and as is ussually the case, its critics don’t have any first hand experience of it. I agree that it should be open to scrutiny, but thoughtless or baseless criticism does more to reflect the ignorance of the critic than anything else.
I’m sure it has plenty of room to improve, just like every other flawed church.