Comment and Opinion

Hillsong Church

Here are a few things I have had to say about Hillsong Church. Please note that when I started writing about Hillsong the latest claim from the "church" for annual income was $18 million. By November 2004 the admitted gouge had risen to $30 million per year. All tax-free.

Some people felt compelled to write to me about what I said, and you can read the correspondence here.

The Right Honourable Happy Clappy, MHR (10/7/2004)
The framers of the Australian Constitution were very clever people, and one piece of evidence of this is Section 116 of the Constitution which ensures that the country has freedom from religion. Not only was the separation of church and state explicitly stated, but it was done in words which are more precise and less "interpretable" than those of the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Australians don't particularly care if politicians have religious beliefs, and members of parliament are quite free to worship whomever they want in any legal way they want. There are certain religious events where it is appropriate for politicians to attend in their official categories (installation of a new Archbishop perhaps, state and VIP funerals, ecumenical services, ...) but these are rare and attendance is usually bipartisan. What is almost unheard of is what we saw in the papers this week - a very senior politician appearing as the star turn at a fundraiser for a religious organisation which is so far out of the mainstream that it resembles a real religion only to the extent that the congregation occasionally choruses the name of Jesus.

The religious organisation (it could hardly be called a church, and even the word "religious" seems inappropriate) is called Hillsong, and it claims to attract 15,000 "worshippers" every Sunday to its auditorium near my place. I know someone who was encouraged to go there a couple of times by her neighbours, but as she is a single mother on a disability pension she felt a bit out of place in a room full of people worshipping money. What really frightened her, though, was being in a room full of thousands of people who could be encouraged to simultaneously salute Pastor Brian by raising their arms to a 45º angle. She thought that she had seen pictures of this sort of thing somewhere before. She asked once about pastoral services like having a quiet place to come during the week for reflection and contemplation and the availability of someone who could offer some counselling if she had problems. The person she asked looked at her in bewilderment, unable to comprehend why anyone would expect a "church" to do these things and do them without payment. Churches are places where you sing, pay, pray, pay, sing, pay, salute, sing, pray and pay. And tithe, in case you can't get there one weekend to pay in person. (She eventually went to the Salvation Army, who offered her emotional support and paid her outstanding electricity bill.)

Hillsong claims an income of $18 million a year, but as it also produced what was supposed to be the biggest selling music CD in the country last year and there were no costs for artists' fees or record shop commissions, it is quite possible that this amount could have come from merchandise sales alone. With 15,000 people throwing money into the place each weekend, plus the admitted $10 million collected at the annual conference there is a lot of cash floating about, and when it comes to avoiding taxes and accountability, cash is king. Pastor Brian "donates" his salary back to the "church", so he has no income subject to income tax. It is remarkable, then, that on no income he manages to have a house in a suburb where if you walked into an estate agency with only $2 million to spend on a house the agent wouldn't bother to look up from the form guide, and he has a weekender with extensive frontage to the Hawkesbury River north west of Sydney. (In his case it is probably a "weekdayer".)

One of the reasons that churches are exempt from income taxes is that they are expected to do social and charity work. Hillsong is quite happy to comply with this law and proudly donates $400,000 out of the $18 million towards good works each year. To put that in perspective, the Salvation Army spends about $30 million a year to pay for all its operations in the two states of New South Wales and Queensland, but that salary and expenses bill supports more than $160 million of welfare and charity work. The brother of the politician who appeared at this week's conference fundraiser has said of Hillsong that "It is the total opposite of what Jesus preached", but he is probably biased as he is a genuinely ordained Baptist minister and also the CEO of World Vision in Australia.

It is the matter of taxation which makes the appearance of the politician even more inappropriate. Peter Costello is the Federal Treasurer, the second-most senior member of the government and the minister responsible for all commonwealth expenditure and taxation. That he would appear on stage with and offer wholehearted support for someone who is using a façade of religion to avoid paying millions of dollars in tax and who boasts to the papers about giving his salary away is not only offensive to people who like to see the church kept well away from the state, but also to followers of legitimate religions and the large numbers of ordinary taxpayers who are continually harassed by taxation officials for minor errors and infringements.

Telling lies for God (and Mammon) (17/7/2004)
Amnesty International is a very well-known human rights organisation and the word "amnesty" doesn't sound much like any other English word, so if someone came up to you in the street and said something which sounded very like "fund-raiser for Amnesty" you probably would assume that the benefactor was going to be Amnesty International and not, say, the Partridge Protection League or Save the Woodchips. After I published my piece last week about Hillsong I was contacted by someone who had been approached in a local shopping mall by a girl who invited her to a fund-raiser for Amnesty. The girl went on to say that the event was being run by Hillsong. My informant knew enough about Hillsong to not want to have anything to do with them and was also suspicious that there would be any connection between Hillsong and Amnesty so she declined the invitation. The girl from Hillsong then said "God bless you" and went looking for another prospect.

The event being run by Hillsong was part of their annual "Gouge a few million more tax-free bucks" convention, but I suppose there is the remote possibility that they were going to donate one night's proceeds to Amnesty, so let's look at the financials. Hillsong have claimed, and nobody has denied, that they were getting full houses each night, so that means there would have been about 16,000 people in the Homebush Superdome that night. If everyone donated $100, a reasonable assumption given the Hillsong target market, then $1.6 million would have been collected. Deducting a reasonable $150,000 for venue hire and other associated expenses would have left $1,450,000 over to give to Amnesty. As Amnesty International Australia's total revenue from fundraising during the financial year ending December 31, 2003, was $1,436,092 a fund-raising event bringing in more than this on one night would have caused celebration in the Amnesty office loud enough to disturb the neighbours.

I rang Amnesty for a comment and, unsurprisingly, I was told that their fund-raising coordinator knew nothing about this, there were no fund-raising activities carried out by or on behalf of Amnesty in Sydney that week, and that they were in no way connected with Hillsong. They are further investigating the use of their name. Unfortunately there are no laws which prohibit anyone claiming to be raising money for a charity unless none of the money goes to the charity. As much of the money collected at religious revival meetings is cash which can be made to disappear, all Hillsong have to do is produce a receipt for a few dollars donated to Amnesty the day after the "fund-raiser" to win a defamation case against anyone who impugns their reputation or comments on their morals. By the way, Hillsong's unaudited, admitted income is $18 million a year (and is quite probably much higher than that) from their "church" in an industrial estate. Amnesty's total, audited income from all sources across Australia was $10,644,955 last year. I know which one I will be giving my money to.

Strangely, there is one thing that Hillsong and Amnesty have in common - they are both evidence of the non-existence of God. If there really was an omniscient, omnipotent and just God then there would be no need for an organisation like Amnesty, because such a god would not allow the suffering, injustices and atrocities which the organisation exists to fight. Similarly, if there really was an omniscient, omnipotent and just God it is hard to imagine why He would tolerate a pretend church which defiles His name by its worship of wealth.

Hillsong "Church" (27/11/2004)
I have mentioned Hillsong "Church" a couple of times in the past (see here and here). This pretend church runs its business from an industrial park near my place. It is very big on taking money, but when it gives any back it is in small amounts which the "church" would not miss. As an example, at the time of writing this there is a proud boast on their web site that the "church" has just donated $AU106,000 to help World Vision feed people in Sudan. This represents 0.3% of the "church's" admitted yearly tax-free income. Remember that the vast majority of the income is in the form of unaccountable cash.

While looking at the Hillsong web presence, I noticed a couple of strange things. The first is that with all its money and commitment to life in Australia, it has its web site hosted in New Jersey. The second is that it has registered at least three domain names in Australia - hillsong.com.au, hillsong.net.au and hillsong.org.au. When you enter any of these names into your browser you are taken to hillsong.com and the New Jersey host. According to the rules of Australian domain names, .com.au and .net.au are restricted to Australian commercial businesses and .org.au domains are only available to non-profit organisations and charities. I have asked the appropriate authorities how it can be possible for the same commercially-registered company to have use of all three names. I realise that Hillsong is really a business pretending to be a church to avoid tax, but I would have thought that their lawyers would have advised them not to be so open when leaving traces in public records.

Hillsong and charity (2/3/2005)
Parishioners of this pretend church keep writing to me to tell me of the great charitable works performed with the $30 million extracted from the faithful each year. Now we find that this great charitable organisation has been firmly locked on to the public teat in order to pay for the charity. Since 1999, Hillsong has received almost $800,000 from Australian taxpayers to fund the things the "church" would be paying for itself if it was not just a business to collect unaccountable and tax-free cash. In the last financial year, Hillsong received $300,000 from a federal department which is supposed to be responsible for industrial relations. It was mere coincidence, of course, that the "church" openly sponsored a candidate in the latest federal election and that that candidate just happened to belong to the party in government at the time. I suppose you could say that the $300,000 had something to do with workplace relations. It allowed Hillsong to save that amount of money and to spend it elsewhere and someone got a nice new workplace in Parliament House, Canberra. As I said, pure coincidence.

Hillsong: An open book (16/4/2005)
I recently met someone who has been commissioned to write a book about my local Church of Mammon, Hillsong. She is (or at least, was) a member of the church. It is quite usual when writing books to contact any people who might be mentioned or who can provide information which allows a balanced view to be presented. The author wrote to Pastor Brian Houston to try to arrange some interviews with him. (The letter has been edited here only to remove the signature which would identify the writer.)

Dear Brian and Bobbie,

I hope this finds you well.

As you may be aware, I have recently been given the opportunity to write a book. My publishers, Allen & Unwin, have asked me to write a book on my experience growing up in Australia as the daughter of a Jewish mother and an English father, who both became born again Christians, and then Pentecostals.

The story is very much about what it is like to grow up in a small church, leave, only to come back and find that the church is anything but small and is now influencing governments and communities in a way that I believe is uniquely Australian.

The rumour mill, reliable as it may or may not be, has questioned me as to why I have not contacted you for an interview. My immediate response was that I had not wanted to waste your time – I am still trying to get my head around everything that’s going on. However, I think it would be appropriate for us to meet, so that my attending Hillsong does not become an issue for anyone, particularly for you. Meeting with you would be an opportunity for me to extend a formal courtesy and to minimise unnecessary sparks from the rumour mill. To me it seems simplest for Hillsong members to know that the leadership are working with me directly, and thus they have nothing to fear.

Ideally, I would like to meet with you every month or two if your schedules allow over the next few months. This is a big work for me, and I have by no means begun to write. A one-off interview would not serve the personal purpose I am trying to achieve, any more than a one-off visit to Hillsong would depict the big picture.

Perhaps a cup of coffee in the next couple of weeks would be a good start. Look forward to hearing from you.

I have been told on several occasions that Hillsong is open to any investigation and has nothing to hide. (I always ask the defenders of the "church" to fax me a copy of the accounts. Nobody ever does.) Here is the response to a perfectly legitimate request to meet to clear the air and gather reliable information. Note that the reply did not come from Pastor Brian, but instead from someone with the title of "General Manager". Does your church have a General Manager? Probably not, but then your church could very well be a church, not a business enterprise.

Thank you for your email dated Friday 8th April 2005.

Your email has been forwarded to me, as we are aware that during your attendance at our recent Colour Your World Women's Conference you caused significant disruption to the meetings you attended.

It is for this reason that we ask you to refrain from attending any future Hillsong church services or events; including accessing Hillsong's land and premises at any time.

In relation to your request, Hillsong Church's leadership and staff are unable to provide assistance for your proposed book.

Yours sincerely
George Aghajanian
General Manager - Hillsong Church

Hillsong Church (4/7/2005)
My local Pentecostal cash collector, Hillsong, is back in the news this week. Their annual conference is now on and initial reports are that the venue which nominally holds a maximum of about 16,000 people is packed to its 30,000 capacity. I assume that loaves and fishes are on the catering list. Again, prominent politicians are appearing on stage and offering support for the organisation, although how much of this is because they believe in the principles of the organisation and how much is vote chasing is unknown.

Hillsong doesn't like talking about money, but Pastor Brian Houston, who runs the place, appeared on television over the weekend and said that the income was "about $40 million" but he wasn't quite sure. I suppose that when you don't have to account to anyone for the money then weighing it and making a guess is as good as counting it. When I say that they don't like talking about money I am referring to the executives who run the corporation. The parishioners are very ready to talk about money, and are eager to assure me that spending about $700,000 out of an income of $40 million on good works is extreme generosity. They also like to tell me about how the Bible commands tithing. Someone wrote to me back in April with all the usual comments, and then wrote to me again this week with a subtle accusation of hiding from the truth. You can read his original email here.

(Daniel's follow-up and my reply are here.)

The Chaser's War on Hillsong (27/5/2006)
One of each week's delights on Australian television is a program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation network called The Chaser's War on Everything. On Friday, May 26, 2006, Hillsong Church received an accolade. The video can be seen on the Chaser site at http://www.abc.net.au/tv/chaser/war/video/

Self-censorship (31/3/2007)
Last year there was outrage in the Australian literary community when the Australian Broadcasting Corporation cancelled publication at the last minute of a book about Alan Jones, the country's highest-paid and (some say) most influential radio personality. Jones has a radio audience of such a size that politicians almost climb over each other to be interviewed. The book contract wasn't cancelled because the author didn't know what he was talking about or it might have been inaccurate. (Chris Masters is probably Australia's best investigative journalist and his record of research is impeccable). The problem was that the ABC thought that they might be sued. The author kept his considerable advance and the book was published by Allen & Unwin. Jones may well have lawyered up, but the book was a best seller and as of yesterday was on prominent display in at least three large Sydney bookshops.

You might think then that Allen & Unwin would be just the publisher to take on a church, especially as they had been the Australian publisher for the drivel of The Da Vinci Code which offended a lot of Catholics with its fantasies about how the church works. Well, you might think that.

In late 2004, Allen & Unwin commissioned a book about my local money magnet, Hillsong. The author had been a member of the church and knew the management well. Hillsong has been aware of the book for a long time but declined to participate in any way, even going as far as to ban the author from entering church property. (This could be difficult, as Hillsong is reputed to be a rather substantial landlord in the area surrounding the theatre that they use for "worship".) In 2006, Allen & Unwin promoted the book, People in Glass Houses, to European book sellers at trade fairs. I was in line to get an advance copy so that I could have a review ready to publish here when the book came out in March 2007. I never got that review copy, because Allen & Unwin abandoned publication of the book in February. The excuse given was that they were afraid of being sued. One wonders why they didn't worry about this sooner, especially as they had told the author that they had good legal advice that the book was not a target for defamation action and they had had the final manuscript since last October.

I feel sorry for the author, who has put several years of her life into the book and now will receive nothing in exchange for the time and effort. I feel sorry for the people who might have read the book and been prepared for what they would find if their friends took them to a Hillsong hysteriafest. I feel sorry for the editors at Allen & Unwin who were startled by shadows. And I feel sorry for free speech.

(I tried to contact the author but, quite reasonably in the circumstances, she has made herself invisible and none of the email addresses I have for her work. If you are reading this, Tanya, or if someone reading it can get a message to her, I would love to get together for a coffee. And we won't be going to a coffee shop in that chain.)

Good news (4/8/2007)
In March I mentioned that a book about my local congregation for the collection of cash, Hillsong, had been abandoned by the publisher just a few days before it was supposed to be in the bookshops. The good news is that the author found a new publisher and People in Glass Houses is now available. According to Sydney's best bookshop (Abbey's) my copy should go into the post on Monday, and I have registered to attend a function with the author at Sydney's second-best bookshop (Gleebooks) next week. The publicity that the book has been getting is the sort that most first-time authors can only dream about (full page review and interview in Saturday's paper, many minutes on Australia's only serious television interview show, ...) so the book has every chance of becoming a big seller. I hope it is, and I hope that the gutless publishers who dropped it at the last minute regret the lost income.