| Keep out US pastor Mark Driscoll, Hillsong warned |
He is already being put in the same category as world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather and self-proclaimed pick-up artist Julien Blanc – barred and kicked out respectively.
US pastor Mark Driscoll, invited by Hillsong Church to its Australian conference, is under increasing fire for statements including preaching that women were created to house a man's penis.
World champion boxer Floyd Mayweather was blocked from entering the country over his history of violence towards women, ending plans for a two-day promotional tour.
And self-described pick-up artist Julien Blanc who promotes manipulating women into having sex was forced to leave Australia last November after the federal government cancelled his visa.
Libby Davies, chief Executive of the White Ribbon Foundation working to prevent violence against women, said his comments objectify women and position women as unequal.
"If what we are reading is the way in which he has referred to women and spoken about women and the role of women we would have grave concerns about him coming to Australia," she said.
"His words perpetuate the attitude that very much is behind the perpetuation of violence against women. To do that hiding behind a Christian framework is very concerning."
The "Mega-church" pastor Mark Driscoll was shunned by his own Seattle congregation, Mars Hills Church, in October last year after an internal review found he was "guilty of pride", as well as abusive, controlling and manipulative behaviour.
Jenna Price, co-founder of Destroy the Joint, which calls for gender equality and civil discourse in Australia, called on Hillsong to exclude the pastor from both its Australian and European conferences.
Ahead of a planned launch of a social media campaign, Ms Price said: "We would have to ask the Australian government why it will allow a person who promotes this sort of inequality to come to Australia."
Driscoll has been invited by Hillsong to appear on the main stage at its national conference in Sydney this month.
In one infamous oration, Mr Driscoll preached: "Ultimately, God created you and it is His penis. You are simply borrowing it for a while."
"Knowing that His penis would need a home, God created a woman to be your wife. And when you marry her and look down you will notice that your wife is shaped differently than you and makes a very nice home."
Driscoll was also accused of misusing tithes – funds bequeathed by church members that amounted to 10 per cent of their annual income. Mars Hill Church crumbled under the weight of the scandal and by November the church had collapsed.
During a sermon known as the "Testosterone Gospel", Mr Driscoll conjured an image of a enraged Jesus Christ who criticised modern men for being "wusses" and instructed women to serve men.
Mr Driscoll also referred to women as "penis-houses" and decried the United States as a "pussified nation", where men were being reared by "bitter penis-envying burned feministed [sic] single mothers", in comments he made under a pseudonym in an online forum in 2000. He has since apologised.
Appearing on ABC's Lateline on Thursday night, Hillsong's lead pastor Joel A'bell said the church wanted to learn from Mr Driscoll's "life lessons" and mistakes.
Brian Houston, Hillsong's founder, stressed that Mr Driscoll had been invited along before he resigned from Mars Hill Church, and would not be giving a lecture.
"Rather than having Mark preach or teach, I am excited about interviewing Mark and his wife, Grace, from our main platform during our Hillsong Conference 2015," he wrote in a statement released in March.
"Mark has been candid about mistakes he has made, and if we can, through our conference, help others through his life experiences, we think that will prove valuable."
A spokeswoman at the Department of Immigration and Border Protection asked comment on the debate declined to comment on case.
Instead it just provided a policy statement saying: "The Australian government supports freedom of speech. However, the exercise of this freedom involves a responsibility to avoid vilification of, inciting discord in, or representing a danger to, the Australian community.
"In cases where a person is assessed as representing a risk that they may vilify or incite discord, or otherwise represent a danger to the Australian community, a person may be refused a visa."
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