Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has managed to pull off a successful state visit to the United States, with announcements of a $150 million investment into the American space programme, and opening a new Visy cardboard plant in Ohio. It is a pity that media outlets have appeared to create a false story about Scott Morrison allegedly inviting controversial Hillsong pastor Brian Houston to attend the official state dinner at the White House. Despite a strong denial from Houston, the story persists. Furthermore, the author of the ABC article (see link below) is clearly uncomfortable with Morrison's Christianity, and his association with Houston, or the Christian faith of senior Trump Administration officials such as Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, even though it is of dubious relevance to the premise of the story.
Why do some journalists appear to be uncomfortable with politicians or public officials being Christian? I cannot help but speculate that some political journalists, in writing these stories, have a latent fear of Christian politicians or public officials using government power to transform their countries into fundamentalist Christian theocracies. Prime Minister Morrison has clearly said that "the Bible is not a policy handbook." Surely he cannot make it clearer. Quite frankly, this is alarmist nonsense.
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