Australian PM invites religious leader to White House...

[Darkforbid]

It's exactly what happened. Your belief has very little to do with it.
Again, if you're interested in the issue, feel free to read something about it;

Frank Houston recording challenges Hillsong narrative about responses to child sex allegations

And that proves the white House story,, how

 

[lewisnotmiller]

'Hillsong Church's founder says he doesn't know whether the prime minister's office tried to get him invited to the United States for an official state visit.'

So you believe in guilty by press

*blinks*

Nope. I believe a PM should respond to a simple question asking whether he wanted a man to come to the White House on an official dinner with him.
I believe, based on White House sources, as well as independent journalists on BOTH sides of politics, that he did want that man to come with him.
I believe it's possible that man (Houston) didn't know about it.
I also believe you don't know anything about this issue, but are taking a side because I'm an atheist, our PM is conservative, and you're so eager to scream 'Fake News' that you've lost the ability to independently assess the veracity of reporting.

That's what I believe. Thanks for asking.

 

[Howard Is]

But like I said since Tony Abbott left I really haven't bothered with Oz

Tony Abbott was a legendary ****head.
Only chauvinistic Royalists regret his descent into irrelevance.

 

[Howard Is]

Re Tony Abbott, and the Australian ‘religious right’...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Christian right

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That's a pay to view site, and the article isn't even about the story

So...you can't read the article, but you know the article isn't about the story?
C'mon man...is it too much to expect you to argue in good faith? I'm not even asking you to justify why you want to defend this behaviour, since I don't really care. It's your right. But your arguments aren't on point or related to the topic in any detail at all.

Apologies on the paywall, for whatever reason I can get to the article directly (it offers me a subscription, but let's me through) but when linked here it goes via a paywall.

From the article;

The definitive story has yet to be told about the White House invitation and the apparent refusal to allow Houston to attend the recent function with Morrison and Trump. But it seems almost a dead certainty that the Prime Minister, or someone second-guessing him, wanted Houston at the function, regardless of Morrison’s obfuscation on the matter.

NSW police confirmed to The Weekend Australian this week they are still investigating Brian Houston for allegedly failing to report the crimes against the witness, 58-year-old Brett Sengstock.

The commission heard the victim, who today is suffering life-threatening lymphoma, was offered just $10,000 at a meeting with Frank Houston and a Hillsong elder in 2000.

Hillsong and Brian Houston stridently maintain that the Hillsong leader has done nothing wrong, claiming he acted in the best interests of the victim, who was repeatedly abused by Frank Houston in 1970.

Frank Houston, who died in 2004, had extensive child sex abuse form. With the support of NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, Sengstock is not surrendering his campaign against Houston, Hillsong and others. He accuses Brian Houston of being “very unkind’’.

“I am looked at like a leper,’’ Sengstock tells The Weekend Australian. “They just hammered me. He just wiped me.’’

Pastor Bob Cotton, of the Maitland Christian Church, declares that Sengstock was treated “reprehensibly and disgustingly’’ and has vowed to continue to campaign against Hillsong and Brian Houston. The Weekend Australian sought unsuccessfully to interview Houston, who has always vehemently denied doing the wrong thing by Sengstock.

It may be that the police investigation into the handling of the father’s abuse comes to nothing, as is so often the case with historical sex offending, time erasing most things except the victim’s memory.

But the controversy, as well as being a stain on the Houston family name, is unlikely to disappear even if the Hillsong global leader is cleared by police. The Trump administration and the NSW Greens are unlikely to be the only political outfits to run the ruler over the Houston family’s past.

I can quote other parts from the article, for context, but in general terms the article suggests Hillsong church has reformed some of it's initial messaging and actions (it was very much in the style of a Prosperity Church) and does a lot of good in the community. This isn't a negative article, and the source is a a very credible Australian newspaper which leans right (slightly...it's a pretty balanced publication all in all).

 

[lewisnotmiller]

And that proves the white House story,, how

This isn't a court of law, so I don't need to have a dead body, a motive and a murder weapon. Honestly, the things people believe these days...sheesh...
Nobody has denied the claim. That's all it takes. 'Nup, didn't happen, I didn't invite him'.
That's it.

But he won't. Because...why?

I don't blindly trust the media. Far from it. But this is being universally reported, and there is no voice if dissent.
If someone accuses me of something, I would at least say 'No I didn't...'.
And this isn't just some ratbag journalist throwing questions. This is a huge number of different outlets reporting it, and a public who wants to (and deserves) an answer.

 

[Darkforbid]

Yep, a

So...you can't read the article, but you know the article isn't about the story?
C'mon man...is it too much to expect you to argue in good faith? I'm not even asking you to justify why you want to defend this behaviour, since I don't really care. It's your right. But your arguments aren't on point or related to the topic in any detail at all.

Apologies on the paywall, for whatever reason I can get to the article directly (it offers me a subscription, but let's me through) but when linked here it goes via a paywall.

From the article;




I can quote other parts from the article, for context, but in general terms the article suggests Hillsong church has reformed some of it's initial messaging and actions (it was very much in the style of a Prosperity Church) and does a lot of good in the community. This isn't a negative article, and the source is a a very credible Australian newspaper which leans right (slightly...it's a pretty balanced publication all in all).

You are joking right, someone in the press saying it obviously true carries no weight at all

 

[lewisnotmiller]

First time I've heard of it.

Yup. I figure (understandably) that it would be a pretty minor story in the States.

 

[Darkforbid]

This isn't a court of law, so I don't need to have a dead body, a motive and a murder weapon. Honestly, the things people believe these days...sheesh...
Nobody has denied the claim. That's all it takes. 'Nup, didn't happen, I didn't invite him'.
That's it.

But he won't. Because...why?

I don't blindly trust the media. Far from it. But this is being universally reported, and there is no voice if dissent.
If someone accuses me of something, I would at least say 'No I didn't...'.
And this isn't just some ratbag journalist throwing questions. This is a huge number of different outlets reporting it, and a public who wants to (and deserves) an answer.

Yes, it has been denied

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Yep, a


You are joking right, someone in the press saying it obviously true carries no weight at all

So...in your world...who saying anything carries any weight?
And you're mischaracterizing what's happening here. By all means, find other journalists pushing back. Even from the conservative side of politics.

So, no...I'm not joking. As has ALWAYS been the case, it behooves someone to take on information from the world around it, sift through it, and determine an opinion from the evidence available. Of course, it's possible to place hands over ears and say 'Lalala' but that hardly improves anything.
Still, far be it from me to suggest you are talking about issues and things which you're not investing a second into understanding, then complaining that others are gullible. Ahem.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Yes, it has been denied

By all means, do you have a link?

 

[Howard Is]

Yep, a


You are joking right, someone in the press saying it obviously true carries no weight at all

And you, without knowing anything about it, or seeing the interviews with the main protagonists, know better ?

Narcissistic infallibility ?

 

[Darkforbid]

And you, without knowing anything about it, or seeing the interviews with the main protagonists, know better ?

Narcissistic infallibility ?

Actually i read story after story, I think the denial I posted was on page two of a Google search, if that helps

Didn't even see a 'inside source' claim

 

[Howard Is]

Actually i read story after story,

In five minutes.
After having reached your conclusion.
And based on that you have made yourself the subject of the thread.
I think that is disruptive attention-seeking behaviour.

You may be only the second person I have ever put on ‘ignore’ on a forum.

 

[Darkforbid]

In five minutes.
After having reached your conclusion.
And based on that you have made yourself the subject of the thread.
I think that is disruptive attention-seeking behaviour.

You may be only the second person I have ever put on ‘ignore’ on a forum.

Well if you didn't want me to respond why QUOTE my posts?

And there was me thinking atheists needed a higher level of proof that theists

 

[Howard Is]

Well if you didn't want me to respond why QUOTE my posts?

And there was me thinking atheists needed a higher level of proof that theists

What the hell has this thread got to do with your obsession about atheists ?
You have your own thread to beat that drum.

 

[Darkforbid]

What the hell has this thread got to do with your obsession about atheists ?
You have your own thread to beat that drum.

No I actually have many thread on many forums to beat that drum. And a few fake atheists accounts

 

[lewisnotmiller]

No I actually have many thread on many forums to beat that drum. And a few fake atheists accounts

*sighs*

Well, at least you're arguing in good faith.
Always nice to see people trying to share views, and grow as humans.
Hey, maybe you'll be able to trick someone into thinking you're a ******** with your fake accounts, and they'll decide all atheists are ********s. That'd be pretty sweet, right?

 

[Howard Is]

*sighs*

Well, at least you're arguing in good faith.
Always nice to see people trying to share views, and grow as humans.
Hey, maybe you'll be able to trick someone into thinking you're a ******** with your fake accounts, and they'll decide all atheists are ********s. That'd be pretty sweet, right?

Narcissists are never wrong, are habitual liars and manipulators, seek attention above all else, and seek other’s failure as proof of their success.

Based on that, admissions of ‘taking life’ and anything else either shocking or ‘special’ , such as belonging to a secret order, should be taken with a big pinch of salt.

 

[Howard Is]

Meanwhile...