If you’ve been following the news, in recent weeks, Hillsong Church has been caught up in yet another scandal. This time, it involves allegations against its leader, Brian Houston, with claims that he was involved in covering up the child sex abuse crimes of his late father, Frank Houston, who helped found the church.
Last week, Houston was charged by the Australian government and will face trial in court for these allegations.
To be clear, Houston is not charged for partaking in any of these abuse incidences nor have these allegations been made against him. He is being charged for allegedly concealing the allegations against his father after he found out about them when he was required by law to report them to the police.
Since then, media outlets and social media have been ablaze with discussions about Houston. Hillsong released a statement threatening legal action against these media outlets and even social media users who, according to the statement, are spreading “rumors” and publishing “untrue and defamatory claims that smear Pastor Brian’s reputation as a Christian leader.”
The statement reads, in part:
Over the past few days there has been numerous media reports and comments on social media about our senior pastor Brian Houston and references to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, at which Pastor Brian gave evidence in 2014.
Much of this commentary is factually incorrect and highly defamatory, and we call on the media and others to immediately stop making these spurious claims. We have directed our lawyers to review several articles that have published untrue and defamatory claims that smear Pastor Brian’s reputation as a Christian leader. Furthermore, we remind those who seek to spread rumours and baseless information via social media that these comments may also be subject to a defamation action.
Other scandals include NYC Lentz’ telling CNN that he may be open to affirming homosexuals at some point and his daughter caught on camera taking part in an anti-police protest as she screeches and screams at police. And gay advocacy groups have claimed that Hillsong is secretly pro-gay, but won’t announce it publicly. Hillsong’s CEO, Brian Houston, says that we shouldn’t “judge” homosexuals because God is a “God of love” and threw Chris Pratt under the bus after Pratt publicly supported a biblical view on sexuality.
Hillsong has hosted Roman Catholic masses, has put on literal circus performances, held sleazy Christmas performances and paraded scantily clad women across the stage, and featured a “naked cowboy” at a women’s conference followed by a “naked Santa” at another conference. It’s easy to see why so many Bible-believing Christians refuse to even allow their presence through music in their churches — Hillsong is a prosperity gospel cult and a breeding ground of false converts. And their leaders are dropping like flies — including Marty Sampson, the worship leader who renounced his faith altogether after the fame and glory Hillsong offered him was no longer enough to satisfy his carnal desires.
